CHAPTER 2. GETTING STARTED


Install Quicken
Install The Grant Tracker Files
Practice With The Sample Data File
Customize The Startup Screen
How To Set Up Multiple Grants
Changing the Names of the Grant Tracker Files
How To Search (Find)
Password For A Grant File
Password For Personnel Data



INSTALL QUICKEN 2000.

Follow the directions from Quicken, and install Quicken 2000 on your hard disk. Click on "Custom Install", and select U.S. or Canadian style. You don't need Internet Explorer for Grant Tracker, but you can install it if you need it for other purposes. You do not need to install the "MS Money 98 File Converter", so uncheck it. In this Manual we assume that you installed Quicken in a folder called "quickenw".

Almost everything that you need to know about Quicken in order to run Grant Tracker can be found in the Grant Tracker manual, but there is an "Onscreen Manual" for Quicken under "Help".

After installing Quicken you will note that there are four (4) icons on your desktop:

    1. Visit Wingspan.com
    2. My Schwab--Customize
    3. Visit Quicken.com
    4. Quicken Basic 2000

The first icon (Wingspan.com) is an Internet link to a bank. You don't need this for Grant Tracker, so move it to the Recycle Bin.

The second icon (My Schwab--Customize) is an Internet link to Schwab (a stock broker), that allows you to set up a free home page that displays certain types of data of your choosing. This is not needed for Grant Ttracker, but you might find it useful personally. If you don't want it, then move the icon to the Recycle Bin.

The third icon (Quicken.com) is an Internet link to the Quicken Home Page. Rather than cluttering up your Desktop with this icon, move it to the Recycle Bin, and enter www.quicken.com as a bookmark in your web browser.

Install the Grant Tracker files BEFORE clicking on the Quicken Basic 2000 icon (see below), otherwise you will see a "New User Setup" screen that you don't want. Cancel out of this this Setup screen, and install Grant Tracker.

NOTE: If you have a newer version of Quicken, that is no problem. The newer version of Quicken will convert and update the Grant Tracker 2000 files (see below).

[ TOP ]



INSTALL the GRANT TRACKER FILES.

Grant Tracker Has Two Sets Of Files:

(1) Sample Data Files.

    sampdat.qdf
    sampdat.qel
    sampdat.qsd
These files contain sample data for a grant so that you can try out the different features of Quicken. These features will be discussed in detail in the following chapters of the Grant Tracker Manual.

(2) Grant Tracker Files.

    GT1.qdf
    GT1.qel
    GT1.qsd
These files are the same as the Sample Data Files, except that they contain no data. You will use these files to enter new data for one of your grants.

Copy The Grant Tracker Files.
Using Windows Explorer, drag (copy) ALL of the Grant Tracker files that you downloaded to your Quicken subdirectory, probably called "quickenw".

[ TOP ]



PRACTICE with the SAMPLE DATA FILE.

After copying the Grant Tracker files to the Quicken folder, click on the Quicken Basic 2000 icon on the desktop to start up Quicken. You should see a small window with a number of files present. The ones of interest to you are Gt1.qdf and Sampdat.qdf. Click on Sampdat.qdf, and the Sample Data files will load.

If the small window doesn't appear automatically, as described above, then under "File" at the top left end of the screen, select "Open", and the above mentioned small window will open. Click on Sampdat.qdf.

When you feel familiar with the Sample Data, then load the GT1 Data file and begin entering the data for your grant (see Chapter 3).

[ TOP ]



CUSTOMIZE the STARTUP SCREEN.

After the Sample Data are loaded, the first screen will show a list of the Accounts and their Balances. This screen also has a lot of Quicken stuff that is not of importance to Grant Tracker. You can remove this extra material by Customizing this page.

Click on the down arrow following the word "Customize" that is on the left side of the screen, and five (5) color bars down from the top of the screen. Select "Customize this view", and "Remove" all of the "Chosen Items" EXCEPT for "Accounts". Click "OK".

Now this screen will only show the list of Accounts and their Balances.

By the way, the words at the right end of the gray bar say "How Do I", not "How Dol". Click on this for Help.

Click on one of the Account names to see the Register that lists the individual expenses in that Account.

Try out the different buttons and menus to familiarize yourself with Quicken. Obviously, there are a lot of items that are not relevant to Grant Tracker, e.g., Banking, Investing, and Household, so try to ignore these.

Try out the Reports and Graphs (see Chapters 7 & 8).

[ TOP ]



HOW TO SET UP MULTIPLE GRANTS.

Copy the three empty GT1 files that you downloaded to an EMPTY subdirectory on your hard disk (it is convenient to have a subdirectory on your hard disk called COPY).

Now rename the three files in your COPY subdirectory from GT1 to GT2 (of course, maintaining the three letter code after the period in the names). Now select all of the GT2 files in your COPY subdirectory, and copy (drag) them to your Quicken subdirectory. Just repeat this process to generate GT3, etc.

[ TOP ]



CHANGING THE NAMES OF THE GRANT TRACKER FILES

You may want to change the names of these files to be more recognizable for specific grants, e.g., instead of GT1.qdf, use the grant number or nickname, e.g., CA123456.qdf, or lipids1.qdf. You also need to change the names of the GT1.qel and GT1.qsd files.

[ TOP ]



HOW TO SEARCH (Find).

Three ways to activate the Find routine:

    (1) Under Edit on the Menu Bar, select Find & Replace.
    (2) Use the Ctrl and F keys.
    (3) Click on the [Find] button on top of each Account Register.
You can Find one item at a time, or you can "Find All". The Find All routine lists all of the found data on the screen. You can print this list by clicking on the [Print] button at the top of the Find screen.

[ TOP ]



PASSWORD for a GRANT FILE.

If you do not want others to have access to your Grant Tracker files, then you can set a Password.

Under File on the Menu Bar, select Passwords, and then select File, and follow the directions.

Be sure to keep a copy of your Password in a safe place. If you forget your password, you will have to send your data file to Quicken (see the Onscreen Manual Topics, Index: passwords, forgetting).

[ TOP ]



PASSWORD for PERSONNEL DATA?

Quicken has the provision for a password for the whole file (see above), but not just for one Account in a grant file such as Personnel.

There is a solution, however, just divide the grant into two files, one that contains Expenses, and one that contains Personnel information. Now you can make the Expenses Files available for others to use, and keep the Personnel Files private.

Expense Files: Copy all three original files (*.qdf, *.qel, *.qsd) for a given grant to an empty subdirectory (folder), and rename the files by adding the letter "E" at the end of the file name. Then from within Quicken, under File select Open, and go to that subdirectory. You will see the new *E.qdf file for that grant. Select it and then go to Accounts, and delete the Salary Award and Staff Benefits Award accounts. You will have to divide the Indirect Cost Award between the Expense File, and the Personnel File (below).

Personnel Files: Repeat the above, but add the letter "P" at the end of the grant name, and delete all of the expense accounts, EXCEPT for Indirect Costs, Salary, and Staff Benefits. Adjust the Indirect Cost Award account to reflect that portion of the Indirect Costs that are appropriate for Salary and Staff Benefits. Now you can move these renamed files back to the Quicken subdirectory (folder), and then set a Password for this file.

[ TOP ]