GETTING STARTED Help and Assistance. No manual has been provided with PRFORMS (windows). However, you can receive help and comprehensive instructions from the program help system supplied with PRFORMS. Help is available from the main tool bar, from the Help menu, or from any window where the help icon is displayed. You may print any topic or section of the help system from within the program. For example, to print the Getting Started instructions, open the help system by clicking the Help icon on the toolbar. Highlight the "Getting Started" book in Contents frame (left side of the help window) and click the Print icon on the Help window toolbar. Setting Program Defaults. The defaults menu should be reviewed and default values entered prior to using PRFORMS. If you are using the automatic file backup feature, you must set the backup path at this time (Defaults > Set Backup Path menu). Activating PRFORMS. If your print menu and Print icon on the toolbar is not enabled ("greyed out"), you program has not been activated and is operating in the demonstration mode. Go to the Utilities > Activate Program Features menu selection and enter your program serial number. Converting your DOS Files. If you are a user of the DOS version of PRFORMS (discontinued in August, 2004), you may convert your 2004 files to the windows format. NOTE Do not convert files from years prior to 2004 into the windows format. Conversion of DOS files is a two step process. The first step will require you to create two intermediate files from the DOS program. To do so, follow this check list. In the DOS program, do the following: Start the PRFORMS DOS program. If you cannot run PRFORMS DOS in a windows 2000 or Windows XP environment, use the PRXP.BAT command to start the PRFORMS program. Remember the folder where the PRFORMS (DOS) program is located. Select the company you will convert at the File > Select Employer Menu. Select the File > Convert PRFORMS file menu selection. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each company to be converted. Close the PRFORMS program The DOS program will create a company translation file (C0xxxx.X01) and a check translation file (P01xxxx.X01) if you use the payroll portion of the PRFORMS program. In the Windows program, do the following: Start the PRFORMS (Windows) program. Set the import data path to the location of your PRFORMS (DOS) program. For instructions, see Setting the Default Import Folder. Select the File > Convert DOS files menu item. The Select Conversion Employers window will appear. Check the location of your PRFORMS program folder. If it is incorrect, you can change it by clicking on the Change button. Click the select column of the files you wish to convert. You may select all files by clicking the "Select" header. NOTE If you must convert a company a second time, you should delete the company prior to starting the conversion process. If you fail to do so, you will create a duplicate company record, with duplicate employees and checks. This can cause confusion during program operation. For instructions on how to delete a file, see Deleting Companies . Click the Convert button to start the conversion process. You can monitor the conversion process by monitoring the center status panel at the main menu. A conversion log (convert.log) is created with each creation process. You can print this log at the completion of the conversion process. We recommend that you do so. This log will be overwritten and replaced with each suceeding conversion process. The location of the convert.log file is in the Prforms\files sub-folder under the program folder. Selecting a Company. Before you can use any PRFORMS payroll function, you must select a company (and group) to work with. Click the Select icon on the toolbar, highlight the company and click the Select Company button. (You can also add, modify, and delete companies at this window) Selecting an Employee. You can add, delete or modify employee information by clicking the Employee button on the toolbar. Using Payroll Features. Payroll features are available to all users. You can enter payroll information in summary format at the Employee financial data windows (see modifying an employee) or you can enter this information by entering checks after-the-fact. PRFORMS does not compute and process payroll checks. IMPORTANT Before entering checks, you must enter payroll period information at the Payroll > Reset Payroll Period menu selection. Enter the start date and the end date of the current payroll period for the checks you will be entering. Enter your payroll checks by clicking on the Payroll icon on the toolbar. To access an existing check, enter the check number. If you do not know the check number, use the Check Finder. Reviewing and Printing Forms. You can review and print Forms 941, 940, 940-EZ and State forms by clicking the Forms icon on the toolbar. Select the form you want to add or modify. Data will be pulled from the employee payroll records when a form is created or if the Refresh menu item on the form screen is selected. Form data will only be saved if you click the Save menu item. You can print the form from the Forms window. Printing Forms. You can review and print Forms W-2, W-3, 941, 940, 940-EZ and State forms by clicking the Forms icon on the toolbar. Select the form you want to print. Data will be pulled from the payroll record or from an existing Form file for printing. Printing Reports. Print reports from the Print > Report menu. You can print listings, and payroll reports from this selection.