Teaching People How to Start Their Own Business

This is what Jim Cook, Program Facilitator for the YMCA/YWCA of Winnipeg Self-Employment Program, uses SurvivalWare for.  Last Fall, Jim was looking for software to do Integrated Financial Projections, and came across SurvivalWare after looking at 20 or 25 programs that just would not integrate the Income Statement and Cash Flow.  Together with Susie Romales, the Administrative Assistant for the program, he created the following set of intructions for how to use SurvivalWare to analyze a start up.  They ran the first set of students through the course in December, and start another batch of eight students in a couple of weeks.  He reported that the students are happy with SurvivalWare, and found it easy to learn and use.  Great job Jim and Susie!

Here is the PDF:

1. Setting up Your Business

2. Entering Data

3. If you are going to be borrowing money

4. Printing Reports

5. Analyzing the Reports

Monthly Confidence Reports for Fort Knox Model

The “Monthly Confidence Package” was something Philip Campbell talked about in yesterday’s webinar, “Winning at the Game of Busines”.  It is a carefully chosen set of reports to convey an accurate picture of a company’s financial condition and prospects for the immediate future.  You can download the report formats and packages used in the webinar.

Here is the link:

www.survivalware.com/download/Monthly_Confidence_Reports_1_26_2012_Webinar.zip

 This is a zip file that contains some new report formats for the Fort Knox model (these files go in ..\FortKnox), and three report packages (these go in ..\FortKnox\UserStuff).

The three report packages are:

Monthly-Confidence-Package.RPK

YearEnd-Confidence-Package.RPK – run it prior to RollOver

Monthly-Confidence-Package-with-Graphs.RPK – spiced up with trend graphs of all the key indicators

Free Webinar – Winning at Business:Financial Management as a Competitive Weapon

This is a free webinar coming up in a week  (1/26/2012 – 11 a.m. EST).  I think’s it going to be a good one.  

Philip Campbell, author of ”Never Run Out of Cash” kicks off the presentation with some sound advice about how to whip your company’s finances into shape.  He preaches the virtues of a Monthly Confidence Package for investors, lenders, and key members of your management team.  Philip is adamant that the monthly set of financial reports must include cash flow projections in addition to historical financial statements and commentary.  Entertaining as always, Philip shows you how to keep on top of your finances, and win the hearts and minds of those who can help you win financially in business. 

Rusty Luhring follows with a “hand-on”  demo of how to do what Philip preaches using SurvivalWare.  At the end of the Nuts and Bolts session of creating a Monthly Confidence Package, you get a sneak preview of SurvivalWare KPI Dashboard,  which takes KPIs out of SurvivalWare and puts them into the “cloud”, accessible through web browsers, iPhone, or iPad. 

 Thursday January 26, 2012   11 a.m. EST

Join Philip Campbell and me for a fast-paced, free webinar designed to get you motivated about taking the financial management of your company to the next level, and show you the tools to get it done.

It’s Thursday January 26th, at 11a.m. Eastern U.S. Time - 8 a.m. Pacific Time.  

There’s no cost! 

We always get a great turnout when Philip and I team up – so be sure to register early.  Cheapskates that we are, our GoToWebinar susbscription limits us to 100 attendees.

Importing Projections into SurvivalWare from an Excel file

I have seen several occasions where a consultant is called in to help a company do cash flow projections in SurvivalWare, and many of the base assumptions are already in Excel.  The question I get from the consultant: “Is there a way to load this data into SurvivalWare?”  The answer is Yes!

The key is to create an Excel file using the exact same names as the Fort Knox model, or whatever model you are using.   And label the columns in a way that SurvivalWare can understand – e.g. 1/1/2012, 2/1/2012, etc.

Also: make sure that you do not use the Excel percentage format for percentages.  Excel stores these as decimal numbers (e.g. 0.10 for 10%), and SurvivalWare expects any percentages to be 0..100.  In the sample below, we convert the Gross Profit Percentage to a SurvivalWare number by multiplying by 100.

Here’s what it looks like in Excel:

Then from the Projections Module select File / Import XLS file…

Here is the result of importing the Excel file.  You can import several different files if you want.  Each one affects only the variables for which it has values.

Resources

Sample Excel file with Sales Projections

Complete list of projection variables in the Fort Knox Model

Budgeting at the Combined Level for multi-unit AlphaGraphics owners

Here is the problem:

An owner has two units, each with its own set of books.  He wants to combine the two units, and then do a single combined budget.  When actuals come in again, he wants to combine the history, but leave the combined budget intact..

There are two problems if you simply combine the two center files (of the form, USXXX.MTX):

1. The resulting combined file uses a different logic file (AG-Consol.XL instead of AG-Proj.XL).  This means that normal budget calculations, such as allocating sales according to sales mix, are not done.  Instead, each line in the combined file is the addition of the same line in the two center MTX files.  Percentages and ratios are calculated in the AG-Consol logic file so they don’t get added up.  You can check to see what logic file is being used by going to Rusty’s Toolbox, selecting File / Properties.

2. Each month that you update actuals in the two center files, combining them will wipe out the combined budget you entered into the combined file.  The budget would contain all zeroes because it would be the addition of the budget for each of the two centers, which contain zeroes in their budget columns.

Budgeting at the combined level

This implies that Budget vs. Actual reporting should take place at the combined level, too.  It also means that the monthly updating and combining of center financials should not disturb the budget.

There are four main steps to accomplish this:

1. Create a CSF file that combined the centers, and uses a special setting to allow the budget to be prepared at the combined level.

2. Combine the two centers using this CSF file to give a historical basis for doing the budget

3. Create a budget at the combined level

4. Each month: Run a special applet to combine the actuals

 1. Create a CSF File

Use Notepad or any Text Editor to create a CSF file that defines which files to combine.  This file must end in the extension .CSF (Not .TXT!), and reside in the ..\Data folder. 

In this example, we are combining the two centers, US998 and US999, and calling the combined result “Two-Centers-Combined.MTX”.

2. Combine the two centers using this CSF file

 From Rusty’s Toolbox, select Analyze / Cosolidate using CSF file…

Browse to the CSF file you just created:

Verify that it references the files you are trying to combine, then click “Combine.”  At this point the files are combined, and you are left viewing the combined file in SurvivalWare.

3. Create a Budget at the combined level

 Enter the budget module just as you would for an individual center.

 Here is a screen shot from the Revenue sub-module in the Budget.  Note that the name of the Combined file appears in the Window title.

4.    Each month: run the AG Combine applet

 Click on the Automator Icon from the main menu,  and select the applet, “AG-Combine-File-History-but-Leave-Budget.RCL”

Browse to the CSF file to use for combining, and also the last historical month to combine, then click OK.

Resources

Sample CSF file (put this in ..\ AlphaGraphics\data\) 

www.survivalware.com/download/Twin-Centers-combined.CSF

 Special combine applet (put this in ..\AlphaGraphics\UserStuff\) 

www.survivalware.com/download/AG-Combine-File-History-But-Leave-Consol-Budget.RCL

Bug Fix available for Fort Knox Model

Many thanks to Nattawut Tumpen from Thailand who found a problem in the calculation of Cash Flow from Investing for the Indirect Method.  Recall that the latest version of the Fort Knox Model in SurvivalWare 5.01 calculates cash flow using three different methods:

1. Direct Cash Flow (FAS95)

2. Indirect Cash Flow (FAS95)

3. Philip Campbell’s Peace of Mind schedule.

The Indirect method was erroneously double counting three variables (which fortunately are not always used):

“Int Income – ST Invest”

“Other Income (Expense)”

“Other Expense (Non-Operating)”

This can be fixed by downloading this zip file and extracting the two files within it to c:\Survware\FortKnox.  Feel free to contact customer support (mailto:custsupport@survivalware.com) if you have any questions about how to apply the fix.

SurvivalWare Basic 5.01 Released

In the fanfare on the release of SurvivalWare Pro 5.01, we neglected to mention the new version of SurvivalWare Basic 5.01 at the same time.  The same Fort Knox model included with the Pro version comes with SurvivalWare Basic 5.01.  This model was upgraded in several areas.  The most noticeable is the addition of two cash flow statements (Direct and Indirect following the FAS95 guidelines).  There are some minor additions as well, such as adding a total column to the Rolling 12 Month reports, and a new input line item to handle asset displosals.

The new version of SurvivalWare Basic is available as a 30-day trial, or for purchase at $495.

SurvivalWare Basic is identical to SurvivalWare Pro, except that these modules are disabled:

* Report Customizer

* Automator Development Environment

* Consolidation Wizard

* Company Stats (percentile analysis)

What’s new in SurvivalWare Pro 5.01

What’s the big deal with SurvivalWare Pro?  We’ll start with continued incremental improvement based on conditions “on the ground.”. Okay, so a few of these were Bug Fixes.  But there really is a lot more. This new version is a big deal because this is the first time we’ve published the technical specifications to allow you to develop your own models in SurvivalWare (or modify ours), and the first time we’ve published documentation on how to build applets. 

But that’s not all.  SurvivalWare Pro is designed for the Analyst or Developer who uses SurvivalWare intensively, whose productivity is key.  We want SurvivalWare to work for you, not the other way around. 4

So we are changing our focus to Knowledge Transfer.  You’ll see blog articles on our website blog, “What is” type articles on our WordPress blog (“What is Cash Flow?”), SurvivalWare Pro is all about putting the information you need at your fingertips to accomplish the task at hand.  Workshops help you see how the pieces fit together.  The total package – of online workshops, real world examples, reference guides, software, and customer support -  works together to get you up to speed quickly, and productive early on. 

Finally, we’ve made some improvements to the Fort Know model.  You can now print or view three different kinds of Cash Flow Statements: 

• Indirect Cash Flow Statement (According to FAS95 Guidelines)
• Direct Cash Flow Statement (According to FAS95 Guidelines)
• Peace of Mind Schedule (pioneered by Philip Campbell in his book, “Never Run out of Cash.” 

A couple of line items have been added (such as “Gain (Loss) on Disposal of Assets”), and there are some new reports. 

Here are the top 10 new things to like about SurvivalWare Pro:

  1. 30 Day Trial Version.  Previously not available.

  2. Technical Reference Guide – all 489 pages of it – published for the first time(and available in the context-sensitive Help system)

  3. SurvivalWare Pro User Guide – 183 pages

  4. Saturday Morning Webinars – Free 90 minutes hands-on sessions

  5. New Automator commands and functions

  6. Reporting improvements

  7. Consolidation Wizard enhancements

  8. Expanded selection of Cash Flow Statements

  9. Sample applets and system applets source code library – over 150 real world applets to get ideas from, or copy code snippets to use in your applets

  10. Ability to run on a server in a local area network

30 day Trial for SurvivalWare Pro

 It is the full version.  You do have 30 days from the time you install it on your PC to try it out.  You can attend our Saturday morning workshops during this period, and sample our world-renowned customer support.  If you have a specific project to work on, we can advise you on how to proceed.

 WARNING: If you try SurvivalWare Pro, chances are you’ll buy it.  Better factor that into your budget.

Technical Reference Guide  (489 pages)

 Tell me it isn’t so – we’re using a technical reference guide as a selling point??

 I guess the techies won that battle.  But why?  Who cares? 

1. It took a lot of work.
2. It has a lot of value for SurvivalWare Analysts who want to analyze groups of similar companies, or consolidate multiple legal entities.
3. It has a lot of value for SurvivalWare Developers in building, maintaining, and tweaking customer models and reporting systems,

 Overview

 The technical reference guide consists of these major sections: 

1. Automator – Sample Files
2. Automator – Commands and Functions
3. Automator – Matrix and System Variables
4. Report Commands and Functions
5. Report Variables
6. Logic Commands and Functions
7. Input Form Commands and Functions
8. Path names
9. Control Files and File Formats
10. Using the ENCORE! Editor
11. Making changes to Logic

Pro User Guide

The SurvivalWare Pro User Guide consists of three major sections:

1. Analyzing Multiple Company Files

2. Customizing Reports

3. The Automator Development Environment

 Saturday Morning Webinars

Every Saturday morning we plan to put on free 90 minute webinars to help Business Owners,  SurvivalWare Analysts and Developers learn how to get the most of out SurvivalWare Pro. 

Each week we start with a quick review of a financial management topic, followed by an in-depth review of a SurvivalWare applet or customer problem.

 November / December Schedule

New Automator Commands

 Since the documentation for the Automator is new, all the commands will probably seem new!  Here are the commands added since version 4.0:

New Reporting Features

 You can now create your own report packages by turning on Report Recording.  When turned on, each subsequent report or graph you preview will be added to a report package to be printed (or sent to PDF) in bulk.

 Multi-company reporting has been improved with ByRow and ByColumn reports in the consolidation wizard.  These also can be added to report packages.

Consolidation Wizard enhancements

 You can set it to include only those companies with complete data, time period by time period.

 You can now use long company names in the ByRow View and reporting.

Columns can be sorted.

  Expanded selection of Cash Flow Statements

 This is for the Fort Knox model that comes with SurvivalWare Pro or SurvivalWare Basic.

 There are now three cash flow statements to choose from: 

1. Indirect Cash Flow Statement (according to FAS95 Guidelines)
2. Direct Cash Flow Statement (according to FAS95 Guidelines)
3. Peace of Mind Schedule (pioneered by Philip Campbell in his book, “Never Run Out of Cash”)

Sample Applets source code library

 Over 150 real world applets to get ideas from, or copy code snippets to use in your own applets

Server version for Local Area Network

 With the appropriate license,  you can now run SurvivalWare on a local area network.  Everyone uses the same SurvivalWare executable and logic files, so updating becomes simpler.

How to add your own Key Performance Indicators using the FortKnox Plug-In Logic

SurvivalWare Pro includes the ENCORE! Editor and documentation to show you how to create your own logic, input, and report files.

Recently I was able to test this feature out for a new customer who runs an auto repair shop in Alberta, Canada.  He wanted to track Parts vs. Labor Sales, Number of Invoices, Shop Hours, and various measures per hour and per invoice.  He also has a target billing rate for labor, and wanted to track the number of hours used per job vs. the number billed for.

I just had to make sure we mapped the Labor Sales to “Sales 1 – $”, and the Parts Sales to “Sales 2 – $” in the Fort Knox Model.

Here are the steps to customize the plug-in.

1. Copy all the files in  ..\SurvWare\FortKnox\Base_Plugin_Files to ..\SurvWare\FortKnox\User_Plugin_Files 

• GLDet300.LOG
• FortKnox-Plugin.Log
• FortKnox-Proj.Log
• FortKnox-Bench.log,
• FortKnox-Consol.log
• FortKnox-Plug.log
• FortKnox-Proj.XL
• FortKnox-Bench.XL
• FortKnox-Consol.XL
• FortKnox-Plug.XL
• FortKnox-Budget-Plugin.INP
• FortKnox-Datatviewer-Plugin.INP
• FortKnox-Projections-Plugin.INP
• FortKnox-Summ.Rep

 Working on the files in ..\ FortKnox\User_Plugin_Files: 

2. Make changes to FortKnox-Plugin.log

 Enter a comment on line 1 of the Plug In logic file.  This line will be displayed when the user looks at File / Properties in Rusty’s Toolbox. 

Any valid logic line can be used in the Plug In logic.  Remember that this logic is calculated after the rest of the model logic.  In this example, for an auto repair shop, we assume that Labor Sales are mapped to “Sales 1 – $” and Parts Sales are mapped to “Sales 2 – $” so that we can access these numbers in the KPI calculations. 

Additional Non-Financial inputs should be assigned to the class “ImportOth”.

3. Compile four logic files:

• FortKnox-Proj.Log
• FortKnox-Bench.log,
• FortKnox-Consol.log
• FortKnox-Plug.log

 FortKnox-Proj.Log has an include statement referencing the Plugin File.  This should be compiled first, and then the other 3 logic files.  This should be done in the same folder where the changes to FortKnox-Plugin.Log were made (i.e. in in ..\SurvWare\ FortKnox\User_Plugin_File\).

To compile the logic files, open each one in the ENCORE! Editor, then select File / Compile Current Document.

4. Make changes to three INP files

• FortKnox-Budget-Plugin.INP
• FortKnox-Dataviewer-Plugin.INP
• FortKnox-Projections-Plugin.INP

There are three INP files which reference the custom stats, and cause them to be displayed in the grid in the Budget Module, DataViewer, and Projections Module respectively.  The DataViewer INP also controls what appears in Rusty’s Toolbox. 

Essentially you replace the generic tab, “Custom Stats” with your new set of variables.

5. Make changes to KPI report

• FortKnox-Summ.Rep

 Add the new variables where you want them to appear on the report.

6. Copy all these files from ..\SurvWare\FortKnox\User_Plugin_Files\ to ..\SurvWare\FortKnox\, replacing the generic plug-in files.

7.  Open up an MTX file, go to the DataViewer, Budget Module, and Projections Module to test. 

If you mis-spelled a variable name in one of the INP files, you will get an error message.

You can also go to Rusty’s Toolbox and select File / Properties to make sure the right Plug-In is active.

To restore to the generic Fort Knox model

 Copy all the files in ..\SurvWare\FortKnox\Base_Plugin_Files\ to ..\SurvWare\FortKnox\

An Applet to mass print multiple report pages for all MTX files in a folder

Filename

c:\SurvWare\SystemApplets\SurvWare-MassPrint-FK.RCL

Description

This applet allows a user to select one or more MTX files from the same folder, and then prints a full set of financial statements (7 pages in all) for each one.

Key Concepts

• Multi-selecting files
• Cycling through a list of files one at a time
• Printing Reports
• Sticking multiple reports in a single PDF file
• Figuring out the last actual month for an MTX file
• Elapsed time confirmation

Source Code

{********************************************************************************************************************************

   Special Applet to mass print a full set of financial statements for each of several selected MTX files

*********************************************************************************************************************************}

<NumFiles> = FileMenuMultiSelect <DataPath>, "*.MTX", "Select all files you want to do reports for"

//******  Confirm it is OK to run the reports **********************************
<YesNo> = AskYesNo "OK to run the reports for <NumFiles> files?","Confirming OK to Run Reports"
IF <YesNo> NE "Yes" THEN
  Begin
    Exit
  End

//******  Select a Printer (or PDF) **********************************
<OK> = AskPrinter
IF <OK> NE "OK" THEN
  Begin
    Exit
  End

<StartTime> = Now
{ ****************************************
   Cycle through the files
     Read in the MTX file
     Print the reports
  ***************************************}
<Ctr> = "1"
SetPageNum "1"

HourGlass ON     

  <RepFile1> = "FortKnox-Summ.rep"
  <RepFile2> = "FortKnox-PL.Rep"
  <RepFile3> = "FortKnox-Opex.Rep"
  <RepFile4> = "FortKnox-BS1.Rep"
  <RepFile5> = "FortKnox-BS2.Rep"
  <RepFile6> = "FortKnox-CF-POM1.Rep"
  <RepFile7> = "FortKnox-CF-POM2.Rep"

  <RepName1> = "Key Performance Indicators"
  <RepName2> = "Income Statement"
  <RepName3> = "Operating Expenses"
  <RepName4> = "Balance Sheet - Assets"
  <RepName5> = "Balance Sheet - Liabilities & Equity"
  <RepName6> = "Cash Flow Statement - Part 1"
  <RepName7> = "Cash Flow Statement - Part 2"

While <Ctr> LE <NumFiles>
  <MTXFileName> = GetFileName <Ctr>  
  GetMatrix "<MTXfilename>"
  <LastActMonth> = GetLastActMonth
  PrintReport  "<ModelPath>FMMASTER.REP" ,"<ModelPath><RepFile1>","<RepName1>","<ModelPath>CS-12MON.REP","Rolling 12 Months", "<CompName>",<LastActMonth>
  PrintReport  "<ModelPath>FMMASTER.REP" ,"<ModelPath><RepFile2>","<RepName2>","<ModelPath>CS-12MON.REP","Rolling 12 Months", "<CompName>",<LastActMonth>
  PrintReport  "<ModelPath>FMMASTER.REP" ,"<ModelPath><RepFile3>","<RepName3>","<ModelPath>CS-12MON.REP","Rolling 12 Months", "<CompName>",<LastActMonth>
  PrintReport  "<ModelPath>FMMASTER.REP" ,"<ModelPath><RepFile4>","<RepName4>","<ModelPath>CS-12MON.REP","Rolling 12 Months", "<CompName>",<LastActMonth>
  PrintReport  "<ModelPath>FMMASTER.REP" ,"<ModelPath><RepFile5>","<RepName5>","<ModelPath>CS-12MON.REP","Rolling 12 Months", "<CompName>",<LastActMonth>
  PrintReport  "<ModelPath>FMMASTER.REP" ,"<ModelPath><RepFile6>","<RepName6>","<ModelPath>CS-12MON.REP","Rolling 12 Months", "<CompName>",<LastActMonth>
  PrintReport  "<ModelPath>FMMASTER.REP" ,"<ModelPath><RepFile7>","<RepName7>","<ModelPath>CS-12MON.REP","Rolling 12 Months", "<CompName>",<LastActMonth>

  <Ctr> = <Ctr> + 1
EndWhile

// Close up the PDF file if you're printing to PDF
PrintEndDoc
HourGlass Off    
<Time> = ElapsedTime <StartTime>
MsgBox "<NumFiles> Reports Printed. <CR><CR> Elapsed time: <Time>"

Screen Shots

FileMultiSelect

“AskYesNo” confirmation

“AskPrinter”

Elapsed Time confirmation

Link to zip file with source code

MP3 Review of the source code