BANCO Installation of Evaluation Version



Thank you for taking an interest in our software.  Catering and event management is full of details and Banco is a great tool for keeping track of them.  You will find that the software requires an investment of time to fully appreciate all of its integrated functions.  Please call us when you require assistance using the software or figuring out how to use it to meet your needs.  This version of the software is based on more than ten years of successful use of earlier versions by many different types of operations.  We value user feedback and welcome any comments and suggestions that you may have.

This is a fully functional version of the Banco Catering & Event Management package and is intended for evaluation purposes only.  The package will stop working after more than 250 orders and/or 300 room bookings have been entered.  This should give you plenty of time to familiarize yourself with all of the features available in the software.  This evaluation copy is restricted to a single user.

Please read this entire document before doing the installation.  If you have any questions concerning the installation or require help working with the software please call use at (800) 561-5388 or (416) 447-8770.  Our e-mail address is support@bancoems.com.

BANCO Versions 6 and above has been designed to run on 32-bit Windows platforms. It will not work in MS-DOS or earlier versions of Windows.  Computers that run the software must have SVGA or better display adapters - Banco has been written to take advantage of 800 x 600 or higher display resolutions.  While the programs will operate on lower resolutions, parts of their windows will be obscured which will prevent users for taking full advantage of the software.  Full hardware requirements for the software can be found in a following section.

If you are installing on a computer running NT, 2000, or XP, then you must be logged in with Administrator rights.  If you are installing onto a Novell server you must have full access rights to the directories in which the data sub-directories will be stored.

Your computer must have at least 50 MB (50,000,000 bytes) of free space on your hard drive in order to install Banco.  This space will be freed up when you uninstall the software.

The software can be uninstalled using the Add/Remove Programs function on the Control Panel or the Uninstall BANCO selection on the Start | Programs | Banco Evaluation menu.

Installation Instructions

1.      Close all programs running on your computer.

2.      Execute the Banco setup program (BancoEvalSetup.exe). This is the file that you downloaded from our web site.

3.      Follow the on-screen instructions.  In a number of places you are given the option of changing various installation options.  The first of these are special day names. If you are in Canada or the United States select the appropriate entry, otherwise choose Neither. For all other options we suggest that you accept the defaults that are displayed.

4.      Once the installation has completed, you may click on the Finish button.  However, if you do not have Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader installed you may want to click on the link provided on the screen to download a copy of Acrobat Reader. One of these programs is required to read and print the Banco Getting Started Guide which contains several tutorial to help you get started. 

5. You will find a Banco Evaluation icon on your desktop.  You can use this icon to start the software.  You will also find a Banco Evaluation sub menu off of Start | Programs.  This menu contains, in addition to Banco, entries to display the Getting Started tutorials, activate the Configure program, uninstall Banco, and view the Banco help files.  (You can also view help by pressing F1 within the software or clicking on a help button.

Getting Started

Each time you start the software a message will be displayed reminding you that you are working with an evaluation version.  Click Ok to indicate that you have read the message.  Once the program has fully loaded you will see the software’s “main control panel” on the right side of your screen, (running the full height of the screen).  Each of the entries on this panel is a button.  Click on one of the buttons to display a menu of available functions.  With a menu displayed press the F1 key to get general help on that area of the software.

The sample data that is installed contains a number of quotes, contracts (orders), and room bookings.  It does not contain any invoices or historical data.  You can create historical data by invoicing contracts.  To do this click on Accounting and select Invoice Orders.

Over 170 sample report layouts are included.  You can modify any of these layouts and create new ones to meet your particular requirements.  A number of sample quote and contract layouts are available.  Some of them expect certain settings in the detail lines that they print and may not produce the best results when used with particular sample quotes or contracts.

One of the first things that you should do in the software is set its tax and gratuity definitions to match your requirements. To do this, click on the Configuration button of the main control panel and select the Set Taxes & Gratuities option. This will bring up the Tax & Gratuity Definitions window. The upper portion of this window contains a grid of rate settings and their effective dates. The lower portion contains several general settings.

Right click on the first, and only, line of the tax rate settings grid and select Properties. This will bring up the Properties page showing the current tax and gratuity rates. Banco supports two tax authorities. The taxes collected by each authority can be reported separately. For each authority you can define up to four tax rates, excluding non-taxable. If you have a single sales tax, then make sure that the Tax 2 Tax enabled checkbox is not checked. Every line item on a quote or contract can have a different tax rate for each authority being used at your site.

In Toronto Canada, for example, there are two tax authorities – the province and the federal government. At the time of writing, the province levies 8% on most items and 10% on all alcohol. The federal government levies 7% on all items. These taxes are calculated independently of each other. The settings in the sample database reflect this tax structure.

If you need, for example, to setup a single state tax of 6½% do the following:

1.      Move down to the Tax 1 Tax Rates grid and set the Regular rate to 6.5%. Set the Liquor rate to 0%.

2.      Uncheck the Tax 2 Tax enabled checkbox.

3.      If your standard gratuity rate is not 15%, enter the appropriate percentage in the Site Wide Gratuity Rate field.

4.      If state tax is not charged on gratuities, change the Tax 1 Rate to Non-Taxable.

5.      Set the Tax 2 Rate to Non-Taxable.

Once you have completed the form, close it. This will return you to the Tax & Gratuity Definitions window. To complete our example do the following:

1.      Set the Tax 1 Short Name to “SST” or an appropriate short form for your tax. The short name is used on display forms. The long name is used on quotes, contracts, and invoices.

2.      Set the Tax 1 Long Name to “State Sales Tax” or an appropriate long form for the tax.

3.      In the Tax 1 Rate Names grid, erase Liquor.

4.      Set the Gratuity Short and Long Names to appropriate values.

Close the form to save your settings.

We recommend that you work through the Banco Getting Started Guide. You can read the guide by clicking on Start | Programs | Banco Evaluation | Banco Getting Started Guide. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view and print the guide, you can download a free copy of Acrobat Reader at www.adobe.com/acrobat/readstep2.html.

To get a quick overview of the events in the sample database, click on the main control panel’s Calendar button and select Event Calendar. At the top of the calendar you will see left and right single and double arrowheads. These buttons are used to change the month and year that is displayed. Click on the left double arrowhead to move back a year. Do this, repeatedly if necessary, so that a month in 1998 is displayed. Then click on the single left or right arrowhead to change the month to August. The calendar should now have several events displayed. (The number to the left of each entry is the expected number of guests.)

Place the mouse cursor over the August 12th entry for 18 guests. After a brief pause, you should see a summary pop up outlining the event. To view the full details, (with the mouse cursor over the entry), click the right mouse button, highlight Properties, and select the Order 100024 entry. This will bring up the contract for the event. When you close the contract (order) window you will be returned to the calendar.

To create a new event right click on the appropriate day, highlight Insert/New, and select the type of event that you want to create. A “Special Event” is an event that you want to be aware of but do not need to record extensive details or invoice. An example of this might be a street festival, a bus tour, or a concert that might affect your business.

You will find that most of the sample orders and bookings have event dates in early August 1998.  Thus, when you start the Room Book function, you will not see any bookings.  To see what the book would look like with active business, click on the drop-down arrowhead on the right side of the Active Date field.  Then click on the left pointing arrowhead repeatedly until August 1998 is displayed.  Finally click on August 11th.  Place the mouse cursor over a booking (shown as a red or blue bar) and let it sit for a brief time, a small window will pop-up giving you a quick summary of the booking.  To view the full details, click the right mouse button and select Properties.  If you sit the mouse cursor over a room name, a description of the room will pop-up – try it with the Pine room.

You do not have to place a room booking manually.  The software automatically verifies room availability and places bookings when you create new quotes and contracts (orders).

To view a list of open contracts, click on the Contracts button, (on the main control panel), and select Current Orders (Contracts).  This will display a list of contracts in descending date order.  To print a list of functions, press the Print button.  Select the desired report and press Print or Preview. You can control the orders that are listed by setting Limits on the right side of the print window.  Once you have finished printing, click on the Close button to return to the contract list.  To view the full details of a contract, right click on it and select Properties.

As installed the software has all modules except for the optional A/R Transfer module, (which is not included), active.  Modules can be turned on and off using the Configure Banco program (which you will find on the Start | Programs | Banco Evaluation menu).  This program also allows you to enable the software’s security features and set a number of other program options.

Many functions can print the data that they display in a number of different report layouts.  Press the Print button in a function’s window to start the printing process.  You can also print any report available in the system using the Reports button on the main control panel.

Recommended Hardware

These recommendations are for the full working version of Banco.

Notes

© 2018 Roberts Browne Limited. All rights reserved world wide.