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In most cases, once a draft of a document has been created, must to be personalized to meet the needs of the particular client or customer for whom it was created. That is the role of the Instant Database module.
- Scan for variables: After you have assembled a document, the [bracketed variables] contained in the source document(s) are carried over into the draft currently on the screen.
Use the <Scan> feature of Instant Database to locate each [bracketed variable] and present them one an easy to complete 'replacement screen.'
Then, type in the spaces provided the apprpriate replacement text (a name, an
address, etc.). Press the <Next> button and Pathagoras will quickly replace each variable with the appropriate personal value.
- Personal Data Records: You can save the variable-to-personal-data pairings into a
Personal Data Record. The next time you compose a document for the same
client, the saved personal information can be reused. (This is the 'Database' part of
'Instant Database.')
- No separate intake form required: The Instant Database self-generates its own 'Intake Form.' Pathagoras eliminates the need for you (or a system administrator) to do so. No complex forms to create. No guessing at to what all of the possible variables in a particular document might be.
This is a major time saver, not only early on in program setup, but later in program use.
For example, if an interview worksheet required by other programs fails to include a particular document variable, document assembly
will grinds to a halt while the worksheet is edited to include the variable.
This will never happen with Pathagoras. If a Personal Data Record does not include a variable needed to complete a new document, just Scan the document. Any new variables are instantly added to the list where they can be completed and saved for another day.
- Calendar features: If the variable contains the word 'date' in any form, a button to activate a built in calendar will present. The user can click on a particular date and it will be inserted into the replacement field. The user can also perform 'date math' using addition tools provided in the calendar screen.
- Calculator features: Pathagoras offers a simple calculator feature. If variable "A" and variable "B" are numeric values, variable "C" can be determined by composing a simple formula that can be maintained in a 'mask' (see discussion of 'masks' below).
- CSV storage of Personal Data Records: Pathagoras saves its data in Comma Separated Value ("CSV") files. The benefits are two-fold.
- CSV files can be read by other programs, so data put in once via Pathagoras can be readily used by other programs --database or otherwise -- that have the ability to read CSV files.
- Pathagoras can read data from other programs that has been exported to a CSV file. Many Pathagoras customers export selected information from their main databases into a CSV file stored in the folder where Pathagoras looks for its data. After a document has been assembled and ready to be personalized, the user simply calls up the Personal Data Record.
NOTE: If there are variables in the document that are not in the exported record (and that is frequently the case since most database systems do not attempt to store all variable data needed by every possible type of document), the user can simply
Scan the document for the remaining variables. Pathagoras will find them and put them at the end of the variable list. The user then provides the personal information and completes the replacement process. Nothing could be easier.
- 'Spell out' features: The IDB module provides tools to expand numbers to their 'spelled out' equivalents. So "$22,150" and be transformed to "Twenty-two thousand one hundred fifty and 00/100 Dollars."
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The world is your library: Since there are no underlying codes or fields that tie you to a
specific program, any document and any term composed on any computer or derived from any source, is automatically 'Pathagoras ready.'
Many 3rd party sources distribute sample forms and sample text with placeholders for personal information denoted between brackets. All of those documents are readily useable by Pathagoras.
So, if any document has variables denoted by [brackets], you are ready to roll.
Even if those markings aren't present, Pathagoras plain text editing makes it easy to add them.
- Intake Form Masks: When you scan a document, the order in which Pathagoras will present the variables it finds will be in the order 'discovered' during the scan. This may not be optimal way to present the variables for completion.
Pathagoras lets you reorganize the entries, add completion tips and save the result as an Intake Form mask. This mask can be easily edited for clarity, and it can be linked with various types of documents which contain the same variables. Multiple Intake Form masks can be created to take the various types of documents that you firm or company produces into account.
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