JBCL Menu Help

Overview

JBCL Software

• Professional Time Recording
• Miscellaneous Notes keeping and searching
• Automated Time recording
• Event scheduler for commands and reminders
• A good Calculator
• Desktop Clocks
• Interscreen messaging system
• Automated backups

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Altering Setups

How to Change Main JBCL Setups

How to change JBCL  setup

If you are on a Network then the drive letter of the Beyond Folder will usually be different, eg F:\SB or M:\BEYOND.

(In BCL - The Network drive letter can be found by looking at the properties of the shortcut used to start Beyond, or in the Beyond Administration menu look at the top right of the screen. 

If you wish to check what JBCL programs you are registered for, click the "Registered Info" button which will show information like:

How to Use JBCL

The Sections below describe some of the main programs

JBCL Contacs Inquiry

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JBCL Hawk backup

This program comes in two flavours - both look similar but do different types of backup:

JBCL Hawk Offsite Backup        for general users (Can be used for backing up BCL, JBCL or any folders you wish to use it for - it is customisable)

JBCL Hawk Backup        (For users of BCL software only, as it is highly tailored to how the BCL software operates)

Hawk Offsite Backup (for General Users)

This program can be used to make lightning backups of important folders to a USB drive.

• The idea for this program came from some users of JBCL software after the Christchurch earthquake of 22 Feb 2011 where offices with tape or internet backups were left with no accessible backups that were up to date.  
• Tape backups made nightly were not of much use as the tapes were available but the tape drive was inaccessible on a server in a damaged office that could not be accessed
• Restoring tape backups usually involves not only access to the tape drive, but also the tape backup software (which is usually expensive and licenced only for the server) and often the network providers to run the restore.   In some cases many or all of these were not available.
• Offsite backups on external drives or CD's or DVD's were a week or more old
• Some sites with offsite backups made over the internet to a network providers server also found these were inaccessible as both offices were damaged and inaccessible.
• The JBCL Hawk Backup program (the sister program to the Offsite backup program) makes multiple snapshot backups during a day but these backups are on the server
• In all cases sites eventually recovered servers and resumed work, but having an external drive with a backup from the same day or day before would have been a great advantage.

• This backup can be tailored for any site - they can set up several different backups and choose themselves how quick or comprehensive each one is
• When first run, the program automatically sets up Full and Quick backups for JBCL and BCL files - these give excellent examples how to set these up
• The backups are manual - that is an operator can run this quickly when they know they have finished work for the day before leaving the office with the external drive.
• The backups are very quick to run and require just 2 or 3 clicks.
• An operator can run a comprehensive backup eg once a week or once a month, and a quick important data backup daily
• The backup is compressed  using the standard ZIP format, so that it can be opened and used on any computer running Windows 7, 8 or Windows 10
• Doing a backup will keep the previous backup, renamed with a -OLD filename so that even if the current backup fails the previous backup will be present.
• The program comes with easy options to do two kinds of backups - either a full backup of a folder, or just a quick backup of core data files and settings.
• The idea is that in case of fire or emergency, the USB drive can be grabbed while running from the office, and will contain a very recent backup.
• It would be possible to have these backups run automatically as well (eg at 4:50pm) - however being quick and simple to run manually this may be preferred as the operator still needs to take the drive with them ideally which cannot be automated!
• To be added will be an extra option to copy backup files to a remote server out of town - this requires a licence to store files on a secure server farm eg in the North Island and might cost a site around $75/month.   (We will be looking for best deals on this).  Contact JBCL if you are interested in this option.

• The files backed up are shown in the list on the screen.   The right two columns are the uncompressed size and the compressed size.
• The summary shows the number of files and the time taken.
• The Windows Disk icon button will open the backup archive using Windows Explorer or Winzip so you can check files have been backed up.   It is a good idea to check the files are being backed up!
• Click the Close button to close the information window and do another backup.

Hawk Backup (for BCL Users)

(older version of help)

• This program knows how the BCL system operates, and backs up company files after they have been used
• The default settings are to do backups for  BCL Debtors,  Private Ledger, Contacs and Beyond Database/ (JBC Owl Database)
• These backups are the same type as the BCL General Backup/Restore Program option "Backup ledger to Multiple Online", and are interchageable with these.
• It will do backups at the end of any hour a ledger or company has been updated in.
• The backups take from a few seconds to a minute to complete.
• The program monitors the amount of free disk space, and tailors its operation to fit.
• Older Backups are deleted  as newer ones are made, so the disk space used  remains fairly constant.
• The last backup for a financial period is retained.
• The program shows the numbers of backups stored and the disk space used.
• Backups can be deleted manually  using the convenient "Admin" button.
• Backups can be made manually - click the "Manual Backup" button.
• Backups can be restored using this program - click the 'Admin" button.  This will give a list of backups stored, and you can right click on the one you want and restore.
• The restore also has a new option "Restore to another Company".  This means you can restore a ledger to a different company number while still continuing work on the original company.   Note this makes it very convenient to run reports again, or look at past information while the current work on the main company number continues uninterrupted.  This is especially useful for legal sites where you or the Auditors may want to run reports again for a previous period.
• You still need to do regular backups to either tape drives or CD's or DVD's as well, however this option is much easier to restore from and gives many snapshots of points in between the backups.

2 - The backups above have been done:

Note the number of files changed since the last backup, and the time taken are shown in grey under the backup list for the last backup that has run.

(In  normal operations these backup would have  run on the hour at 16:00).

3 - How to administer or delete or restore from these backups:

This example shows how to pick and restore from one of the Private Ledger backups.  You click on the "Admin" button next to Private Ledger, and the backups are shown.  The names of each are the dates - eg the one  highlighted 07062904.JBC is for 29 June 2007, and was number 4 for that day.  Rightclicking on this backup shows the options below.

If you want to either delete or copy several backups, you can click on the "Windows Explorer" button, and this will open Explorer which is a very convenient way to do this.

How to run JBCL HawkBackup automatically

For BCL users it is useful for the main operator to have this program run automatically on their PC.  The program is configured to start with all the default options set and needs no further setups.  As long as it is running it will:

• Start monitoring BCL systems for ledgers to backup immediately
• It will do snapshot backups on the hour for all ledgers and companies that have had updates
• Note this program is designed to run on only one screen on a network, so the screen that is in se by the operator is the most likely screen to be active and is the best to run this program on
• The backups typically take from a few seconds to a minute or two depending on the size of the data files.  Further input to the ledger is blocked until the backup finishes.
• The program also cleans up older backups as it goes.
• Once running, there is nothing the operator need do, except check from time to time that the program is performing backups, which is easily done by looking at the backup window and noting that backups are being listed in the lower right corner of the screen.
• Manual backups can also be done at any time with the Manual Backup button
• If automated backups are pending but not due for some time, these can be forced to run now by clicking the "Run Now" button.  ALl this does is change the due time to now rather than the start of the new hour, and the backups will run shortly.

There are some refinements in the program to make it display how long it actually locks out the ledger as it takes a copy of the data files.  It only starts the backup when the ledger is not in use - if it is it waits until the ledger is not in use.  On a typical network you can expect the time you are locked out for is only about 10-30 seconds - the program copies the data files elsewhere before it compresses them so most of the backup time is done not on the working copy, and the ledger is then again available for input even before the backup is completed.   And the further advantage is that an extra backup is left off the server - on the PC running the Hawk Backup - as an extra backup.

The time and other details taken for the last backup is displayed in light grey below the backup list.

Further smart features are planned to be added to this program to backup logs and reports.

Note - Great ideas appear in more than one place!

This  backup idea seems to have become popular now.   Since I wrote this program, Apple OSX Leopard has released an acclaimed backup program Time Machine with many similar ideas.  Here are comments from a review of the Leopard

http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=disaster_recovery&articleId=9044339&taxonomyId=83&intsrc=kc_feat

At midnight, or as soon thereafter as your computer is on and the backup drive available, the most recent hourly backup will be saved as a daily backup, and earlier hourly backups will be deleted to save space. Each daily backup is maintained for a month. After a month, Time Machine converts one of those daily backups into a weekly backup that it preserves indefinitely (or until your backup drive becomes full).

When a drive becomes nearly full, Time Machine analyzes its backups and deletes files in a method designed to preserve as wide a range of backup dates as possible while still allowing you to have a fully restorable backup of your current system. If you are concerned about losing any potential backup files, you can configure Time Machine to warn you when it runs low on disk space.

Time Machine's approach of keeping frequent recent backups and fewer older backups may seem unorthodox, but it really is brilliant when you think of Time Machine as a safety net. If you want to revert to an earlier version of a file you're working on or if you accidentally delete something, you usually know it very quickly. Having hourly backups means you can go back through your version choices easily -- it functions almost like a universal-undo feature. It also means that if you have a hard drive failure, you will have an extremely recent backup to restore from, and there will be almost no data loss.

The balance to this is disk space and the ability to find files. Sorting through hourly backups from six months ago would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, and storing all those backups could theoretically require several terabytes of disk space. Having a day's worth of hourly backups, however, offers an incredible value and makes Time Machine more useful in the daily use of your Mac. It really is revolutionary to add this capability on top of the typical once-daily (or less-frequent) approach of other backup tools.

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JBCL Printing

To print, right click on a file and select one of the options:

View/Print/Delete/Email.

There are also options to see files in the report folder that are not in the Register.  Often a file you are looking for which cannot be found in the Register can be found this way.

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Advanced Options

• All programs and settings are stored in a central place - in a network on the server.  This makes configuring and updating simple for the network administrator.
• Programs do not have to be installed on each work station.
• Updates are loaded in one central place.
• Some JBCL programs are unrestricted, some programs are licenced.  Licences are for concurrent access - that is in an office of 20 screens if only 3 will be using a certain program at once, then only 3 licences are needed, and these can be used by any of the computers on the network, but only 3 at once.
• The JBCL programs work with the same data as the older BCL  programs.  No conversions are needed.  JBCL and BCL programs can be used at the same time interchangeably.

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How-To and Common Questions

JBCL Folders

For a network PC, setup a shortcut called "JBCL Start"  to the program "F:\JBCLMain\JBCStart.exe"   (if F is the mapped drive letter)

Note - on older sites the Folder may still be called JBCLUpd, this is no problem.

As long as the folder name agrees with the settings files, this will work fine.

These settings are in the file JBCLMain.ini in this folder which is also copied to the C:\JBCL folder.  

• JBCL installs nothing in the registry
• All settings and configurations are stored centrally in the JBCLMain folder, (and in the Settings folder below that)
• Individual screens need no installation - just creating a shortcut to the startup program is enough.
• For a standalone PC, setup a shortcut called "JBCL Start"  to the program "C:\JBCLMain\JBCStart.exe"
• For a network PC, setup a shortcut called "JBCL Start"  to the program "F:\JBCLMain\JBCStart.exe"   (if F is the mapped drive letter)
• This startup program does all local folder setups and copying of program updates as required.
• Program updates can loaded into the JBCLMain folder even while the JBCL programs are in use.
• Once JBCL is set up and running on a PC, an alternative quick start shortcut can be set up to run the JBCL Menu program in the local folder
• For this quick start this setup a shortcut called "JBCL Menu" to the program "C:\JBCL\Prog\JBCLMenu.exe" 
• (this quick startup will tell you when program updates are available).
• Note - Set the "Start in" folder to be "C:\JBCL"     (not C:\JBCL\Prog)
• JBCL on a network can be migrated to a new server by simply copying the JBCLMain folder to the new server, and setting the same drive letter (eg F:\) on the PC's  to point to the new folder
• JBCL recommends you follow this twin folder setup even if you are running only one or two programs, as it is simple to administer and troubleshoot.
• All settings for for the folders are centralised in one settings program call JBCLSets.exe.  This stores settings in files called JBCLMain.INI etc
• If a program stores data or settings, it is better to use this folder structure.
• Some programs such as JBCLCalc or ATClock which need no stored settings can be placed in any folder and run from there.

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Future Ideas