A1-Law / WCFMS Newsletter
Jan 2001
Happy
New Year To All
Important
Notice
To Unsubscribe from this newsletter, please send me an Email saying Unsubscribe
or Remove Me.
A1-Law for Windows has been released and already shipped along with WCFMS DOS
version 2.9 and the 2.8 bug fix. If you like, you can install A1-Law for windows
while still using your DOS program (if you want to “play” with it until you
are formally ready to switch over).
CAAA
Convention
It’s this month in Palm Springs/Rancho Mirage, Jan 19-22. I’ll be exhibiting
there as I have for the past 14 years.
In
This Issue
Is our WCFMS DOS program slowing your windows’ programs to a crawl? Looking
for quick ways to switch between WCFMS DOS and windows programs? How to
make a smooth conversion from DOS WCFMS to A1-Law.
Read on….
Introduction
Well, here we are; I have now formally released A1-Law case management for
Windows users. A1-Law, although clearly more powerful than WCFMS for both
workers’ compensation and all other types of law, is newer and does require
faster computers along with users who have a good understanding of the window’s
paradigm. DOS support will continue as it has, only now it’s even better since
I will offer additional support through this newsletter along with my website
which is pending.
A1-Law
Windows vs. WCFMS DOS
Many users definitely want windows and want to switch. Others are happy with
what they have and may switch and still others definitely will not switch no
matter what - WCFMS is their haven. Great, because I plan to continue (even
better) support now for both programs through this newsletter and the website
which is coming soon.
Notes: WCFMS refers to my DOS case management system (Workers’ Compensation
File Management System, A1-Law refers to my new case management system for
windows 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000). A1-Law will not work with Windows 3.1.
Tip
of the Month
1. A1-Law / WCFMS
Some tips apply to both case managers as this one does. It’s called BACKUP.
There are 3 ways to do a backup and only one way is the right way.
The first way is not enough or not at all.
The second (which is probably the most common) is not getting a good backup. The
problem here is that relational database management systems have shared files
that may be open all the time on the network (even when users log off).
Therefore, it’s very important to check the “error log” from you tape
backup utility to make sure you have a good backup.
The third way of course is performing good backups. This means checking the
error log. Once you know you have a good backup, you need to “rotate” the
backups. That means using more than one tape or backup media. Be sure you have
at least one backup out of the office each month. Computers have gotten stolen
(along with the backups) right out of office buildings. Many other factors can
cause you to lose your backups (fire, theft, earthquakes, etc).
Please check with your network consultant and make sure you have a good backup.
It’s too costly to replace data without a backup. Think of it as “cheap
insurance.”
2. A1-Law - Make Your Transition as Smooth as Possible
It seems like the offices who do best switching to A1-Law are the ones who have
never used the DOS program at all or the ones who dump WCFMS. The offices who
use “both” appear to be having the toughest time adapting. It reminds me of
when I first announced WCFMS in 1986 and the idea of using it without the
physical file was too difficult because the computer could not be trusted. What
wound up happening to those offices was half the information was in the file and
the other half was in the computer. If you have switched to A1-Law it will take
some “getting used to” and there may very well be a “slow down” period
at first. But, what could be a better time to convert than right now as the
holiday season nears?
Start using the task manager and see the first task question of the month about
dates below. To learn more about tasks or any other feature in A1-Law, just
press the F1 key for context sensitive help.
3. WCFMS: When the DOS case manager is loaded and I try and load any windows
program, it takes forever to load and is extremely slow. What’s wrong and how
can I fix this?
Answer: This problem seems to appear in Windows 95 and up (not in 3.1). The
problem is more a windows’ problem than a problem with the case management
system. So, the fix is going to be done through windows. Right click on the
WCFMS icon on the windows desktop. Then, click properties. Next, click the Misc
tab. You will then see a checkbox Always Suspend. Be sure this is checked. This
may drastically speed up the load and execution times of other programs while
WCFMS is loaded. However, if you are running a report, it will be “paused”
while you are in another window and will not run “in the background.” But,
the trade off is probably worth it.
4. A1-Law / WCFMS
Many users are not aware of quick ways to access and/or switch from one case
activity to another. First, we should point out that you can have more than one
case activity. In other words, you can have case activity for telephone calls,
settlement, general, medicals, etc. You can have up to 26 case activity sections
in WCFMS and 999 in A1-Law.
WCFMS - Did you know that you do not have to type C and press Enter and then N
for new to switch case activities. You can type C2, C3, C4, etc. right from the
client card.
A1-Law - You can press Alt-1 from the client card and then Alt-1, Alt2, Alt3,
etc. to quickly switch from one case activity to another. You can also type
Alt-0 to open the categories (like N for new in WCFMS DOS) and then select a
category.
Questions
of the Month
1. A1-Law: I’m trying to run the conversion program to convert all of my WCFMS
DOS information to A1-Law but I keep getting an error that says Access Denied.
What’s going on?
Answer: You have encountered a windows network error where you don’t have
access rights to that folder. A1-Law creates new folders while it runs the
conversion program. You may have rights to create the folder but then no rights
to write files in it. Talk to your network administrator and make sure everyone
has full rights to the A1-Law folder and any folders that are created from
within that folder (we encountered this error on NT workstations and an NT
server).
2. A1-Law: My Task list is not in date order. I have tasks for November, then
October and then November again. The dates are listed below, what’s wrong:
11/29/0200
10/02/2000
11/02/2000
Answer: A1-Law lists the tasks chronologically by date from the oldest task to
the most recent. The idea being that all the task dates should be today or in
the future or the tasks are overdue. However, if you look at the dates
carefully, you will notice that they are listed in that order from the oldest to
newest.. The first task in the list was probably not correctly entered since it’s
1800 years overdue (the year 0200 should have been entered as 2000).
Next
Month
So…..someone gives you a floppy disk out of the office with a word processing
document or maybe a picture. Yes, you can attach that right to a client card and
then call that document up automatically. Since A1-Law is compatible with Word,
Word Perfect and many other word processors, it’s nothing more than the click
of a button to call up that document.
WCFMS / A1-Law : Case Activity - Advanced features.
Coming
Soon
1. Website
2. Palm Pilot Integration (June 2001)
3. Microsoft Outlook Integration (June 2001)
Until next time.