**********************************************************************
-> This file introduces EASI-PLAN Lite, explains how to get started 
   etc. It should be read by all first-time users.

-> The file has been supplied as an integral part of the shareware
   version of EASI-PLAN Lite, a financial planner for new & mid-size 
   businesses, specially developed for use on a 'try-before-you-buy' 
   basis by Invest-Tech Limited. For contact details, see end of this 
   file.

-> To print this file, type "PRINT README.TXT" at the DOS prompt.
**********************************************************************
                       
                            CONTENTS
                            ========

This file (README.TXT) covers the following topics in separate
sections below:

        1.  WELCOME

        2.  SUPPLIED FILES

        3.  GENERAL INTRODUCTION

            3.1  System requirements & set up
            3.2  Features - EASI-PLAN Micro
            3.3  Features - EASI-PLAN Lite
            3.4  Features - EASI-PLAN Pro
            3.5  Help system
            3.6  System requirements
            3.7  Registration
            3.8  Invest-Tech

        4.  HOW TO RUN EASI-PLAN

        5.  WHAT IS SHAREWARE ?

        6.  USER LICENCE AGREEMENT
        
        7.  REVISIONS TO EASI-PLAN Lite

**********************************************************************

The supplied file VENDINFO.DIZ also contains important information.
It can be accessed by entering READ_ME.BAT at the DOS prompt.

**********************************************************************

1.  WELCOME
===========

EASI-PLAN Lite is an easy-to-use software package for preparing 
comprehensive and fully integrated financial projections, 
budgets, funding applications, business plans etc. for three years 
ahead. It can also be used for strategic planning, financial 
appraisals etc. It is ideal for businesses with annual sales from 
250,000 to 2m pounds/dollars engaged in manufacturing, distribution 
or services. 

A more powerful version of EASI-PLAN for larger businesses, called 
EASI-PLAN Pro, contains additional facilities and accommodates a much 
more extensive range of variables. There is also a simpler version
called EASI-PLAN Micro for new and very small businesses.

This version of EASI-PLAN Lite has been developed to encourage users 
to explore EASI-PLAN on a 'try-before-you-buy' basis and, if found 
useful, to acquire a copy of the full version of EASI-PLAN Lite 
or one of its other versions. 

EASI-PLAN is NOT free software. If you continue using it after a 
30-day trial period, you must register with the author, Invest-Tech, 
to upgrade to the fully-operational version. 

In return for registering, you will be upgraded to the latest 
full release of EASI-PLAN and receive a spiral-bound 160+ page manual 
incorporating tutorial exercises etc. and access to full support.
Registration details are contained in Section 3.7 below and in
the REGISTER.TXT file.

EASI-PLAN is fully protected by copyright. However, this shareware 
version may be copied in its entirety and without modification 
for FREE distribution to friends and, subject to the conditions set out
in the VENDINFO.DIZ file, by shareware libraries etc.  This permission
DOES NOT APPLY to an upgraded copy of EASI-PLAN Lite.

We hope that you find EASI-PLAN useful. Please register so as to 
encourage us to develop other shareware products.

             Good luck with EASI-PLAN.

                  Brian Flanagan, Invest-Tech Limited 

**********************************************************************

2.  SUPPLIED FILES
==================

See VENDINFO.DIZ

**********************************************************************

3.  GENERAL INTRODUCTION
========================

EASI-PLAN is a range of powerful, easy-to-use software package 
developed by Invest-Tech Limited to help businesses of all sizes  
to prepare comprehensive financial projections for three or more years 
ahead.   

EASI-PLAN can also be used by professional advisers, consultants, 
training organisations and financial institutions. It is suitable 
for businesses engaged in manufacturing, distribution or services.

EASI-PLAN is available in three versions - Micro, Lite & Pro - to
suit businesses of different sizes and complexities. The supplied 
shareware version is Lite.

Based on your forecasts and assumptions, EASI-PLAN compiles 
integrated financial projections (P&Ls, cashflows, balance sheets 
& ratios) for one year ahead on a monthly basis and, in less detail, 
for a further two years on a quarterly basis. It produces numerous 
management and financial reports together with graphs for many key 
variables which can be displayed on the screen or printed. It 
also produces reports detailing all the underlying assumptions. 

EASI-PLAN Lite incorporates facilities for graphing key results; for
undertaking 'what-if' analysis; for preparing 'first-cut' three-
year projections, generating a textual summary report; rolling 
projections forward a month at a time; and exporting an EASI-PLAN 
model to Lotus 1-2-3 and other spreadsheets.

EASI-PLAN is very suitable for users with limited or no prior 
experience of computers or financial planning as well as for 
more experienced users who do not wish to go to the very considerable
trouble, or waste valuable time, developing their own planning 
system on a spreadsheet. Bear in mind that EASI-PLAN involved
thousands of hours of development and years of "know-how".

EASI-PLAN Lite is primarily aimed at businesses typically with 
annual sales in the range of 250,000 to 2m pounds/dollars. A more 
powerful version, EASI-PLAN Pro, is for larger businesses and their 
subsidiaries with sales from 100 thousand to 99 million pounds/
dollars. EASI-PLAN Micro is for companies or sole traders with 
sales of under 250,000 pounds/dollars. Instead of registering 
EASI-PLAN Lite, you can opt to register for EASI-PLAN Micro or 
Pro. See below for further information.


3.1  System Requirements and Set Up
-----------------------------------

To run EASI-PLAN you need the following system:
 
 * Industry-standard PC with DOS 3.30 or higher and a hard disk.
 * Micro and Lite versions of EASI-PLAN need conventional 
   memory of 640k. Pro also requires 384k of expanded memory (if 
   not being run from within Windows). 
 * VGA, GCA, mono, Hercules or LCD display (or equivalent).  

A printer (dot-matrix, ink-jet or laser) is desirable. If you wish, 
you can run EASI-PLAN as a DOS program within Windows (an icon, 
EASIPLAN.ICO, has been supplied).

EASI-PLAN Micro or Lite need 560k, or more, of 'free' conventional 
memory. This should not present any problem as it is well within 
the capacity of most PCs with 640k of RAM. If, for any reason, 
EASI-PLAN runs short of memory, it will use any expanded memory 
which might be available or it will create some 'virtual' memory on 
the hard disk. Refer to the Section - Securing More Memory - for 
further information about EASI-PLAN Lite's memory requirements.

If you are using a PC with a Hercules display, you will not be able
to view EASI-PLAN's graphs unless you run the supplied MSHERC.COM 
before you load EASI-PLAN.

If you are running EASI-PLAN on a portable PC with a B/W LCD 
display, you may need to change EASI-PLAN's video setting once it 
has loaded in order to clearly distinguish the rectangular cursor 
which appears when you are viewing reports on the screen. To do this, 
press I (for Initialise) at the Main Menu, V (for Video) and L (for 
LCD/B&W). The Manual accompanying the full version of EASI-PLAN 
explains how to make these changes permanent.

If, when using EASI-PLAN, the  pound symbol (L) fails to print, i.e.  
() appears instead of (L), or is replaced by another character 
e.g. #, you can make it appear by changing the character or 
symbol set being used by your printer to an IBM Extended Character 
Set. If the pound sign is missing, you may notice that some rows get 
slightly knocked out of vertical alignment. If using a HP LaserJet or 
compatible laser printer, the default symbol set (e.g. HP Roman-8) 
may not print the pound sign. Check the printer manual and use the 
control panel to switch to another symbol set, for example, HP IBM-US 
or PCMultilingual. If using a dot-matrix printer, check the manual 
for guidance and use the control panel or dip switches to alter the 
character set being used. If you change the symbol or character set 
you may be able to keep the new settings as your permanent or default 
settings without upsetting any of your other software.

3.2   Features - EASI-PLAN Micro
--------------------------------

EASI-PLAN Micro is primarily aimed at businesses with annual sales in 
the range of 50,000 to 250,000 pounds/dollars. It can handle a very 
wide variety of variables and financial functions. These include the 
following: 

  - Sales forecasts for up to six product/market groups which can be 
    defined by the user.   

  - Provision for specifying the cost of materials/goods as percentages 
    of sales and for indicating stock targets.

  - Direct labour inputs and four other user-definable direct/variable 
    cost categories.

  - Fourteen user-definable categories of overhead expense.

  - Fixed assets with provision for handling depreciation, additions or 
    disposals.

  - Facilities for setting different VAT rates for outputs and inputs, for 
    specifying VAT payment months and for handling VAT on a cash-received 
    or invoice basis.

  - Separate interest rates for cash balances, overdraft and long-term 
    debt and for increasing and decreasing long-term debt.

  - Share issues, dividends, corporation tax and subsidies/grants. When
    set up for a sole trader/partnership, EASI-PLAN can handle income
    tax, drawings and cash introductions.

  - Facilities for phasing out opening balance sheet values and for 
    setting different payment terms (ranging from cash sales to 
    four+ months credit) for current-year trade creditors and debtors. 

  - Preformatted account layouts for either a limited company or a
    sole trader (or partnership).

By altering or disregarding certain variables, EASI-PLAN can handle 
most types of manufacturing, distribution and service businesses as 
explained in its User Manual.

EASI-PLAN incorporates many special facilities including the 
following:

 - QUIK-PLAN to enable a user produce first-cut projections for three 
   years quickly (i.e. within about 15 minutes).

 - Fast-entry function keys for inserting constant values etc.

 - Six-page textual summary report to compliment graphs and tabular 
   reports. 
 
 - Set-ups for laser and dot-matrix printers. 

 - Selective "what-if" or sensitivity analysis covering months and/or 
   quarters for the three years. 

 - Facility to suppress the printing of rows which contain zero 
   values.


3.3   Features - EASI-PLAN Lite
-------------------------------

EASI-PLAN Lite is primarily aimed at businesses with annual sales in 
the range of 250,000 to 2,000,000 pounds/dollars. It uses 000's pounds  
instead of single pounds as its basic currency denomination. It can 
handle a much wider variety of variables and financial functions 
including the following: 

  - Sales forecasts for up to ten product/market subgroups within two 
    main groups which can be defined by the user.  Different VAT rates 
    can be set for each main group. 

  - Provisions for specifying the cost of materials/goods as percentages 
    of sales and for indicating stock targets for each main group.

  - Direct labour inputs and four other user-definable direct/variable 
    cost categories.

  - Nineteen user-definable categories of overhead expense.

  - Fixed assets with provision for handling depreciation, finance 
    leases and additions or disposals.

  - Facilities for setting different VAT rates for inputs & capex, 
    for specifying VAT payment months and for handling VAT on a
    cash-received or invoice basis.

  - Separate interest rates for cash balances, overdraft and long-term 
    debt and for increasing and decreasing long-term debt.

  - Share issues, dividends, corporation tax and subsidies/grants.

  - Facilities for phasing out opening balance sheet values and for 
    setting different payment terms (ranging from cash sales to 
    four+ months credit) for four groups of current-year trade 
    creditors and debtors. 

  - Preformatted account layouts for either a limited company or a
    sole trader (or partnership).

By altering or disregarding certain variables, EASI-PLAN can handle 
most types of manufacturing, distribution and service businesses as 
explained in its User Manual.

EASI-PLAN Lite incorporates the following additional facilities:

 - Fast-entry function keys for inserting incrementing assumptions 
   in various forms etc. e.g. initial value increased by a fixed 
   percentage each month.

 - The six-page textual summary report can be printed directly or 
   exported as an ASCII file for inclusion in other documents.

 - An advance facility to enable rolling 12-month projections to be 
   maintained without having to re-enter assumptions.

 - Assumptions and projections can be exported to Lotus 1-2-3 and 
   many other spreadsheets for editing, desktop publishing, 
   consolidation etc. 

 - Global, as well as selective, "what-if" or sensitivity analysis 
   covering months and/or quarters for the three years. 

Users can register to acquire Lite instead of Micro. Alternatively, 
they can upgrade, at a discount to its normal price, to Lite when 
they outgrow Micro. 


3.4  Features - EASI-PLAN Pro
-----------------------------

EASI-PLAN Pro is the most powerful version in the EASI-PLAN range. It
is suitable for larger businesses, professional advisers etc. It is 
mainly aimed at businesses with annual sales of between 1 million and 
99 million pounds/dollars. 

Pro handles many more variables than Lite - it contains 10,500 
built-in formulae (vs. 6,500 for Lite) and can accommodate up to 3,000 
assumption values (vs. 2,000 for Lite).   

Pro has additional facilities including:

 - Projections for five years instead of three.

 - Special graph printing utility which gives users a higher degree 
   of control over the appearance of graphs than is possible by 
   using Lite in conjunction with DOS's Graphics program.

 - Facility for comparing monthly actuals and projections with 
   additional reports and related graphs. 

 - Special function key for entering assumptions based on a 
   seasonal pattern etc. specified by the user.

 - Facilities to defer the actual cash payments relating to 
   certain categories of expenses, capital expenditure, grant 
   receipts, dividends etc. in some of the Monthly Assumption 
   Reports.

 - Automatic importation of data from spreadsheets using a
   a file linking technique.

Pro uses more memory than Lite or Micro. It requires 384k or more of 
expanded memory (EMS) or needs to be run as a DOS program from 
within Windows.

Users can register to acquire Pro instead of Lite. Alternatively, 
they can upgrade, at a discount to its normal price, to Pro when 
they outgrow Lite. 

3.5  Help system
----------------

EASI-PLAN is entirely menu-driven and incorporates very 
comprehensive context-sensitive help facilities. These include 
extensive menu prompts, error trapping, on-line Help Pages, pop-up 
Hint & Guidance Windows and annotated variable descriptions. 


3.6  Specification   
------------------
  
  =================================================================
                                     Micro    Lite     Pro
  -----------------------------------------------------------------
   Number of reports                 29        30       31  
   Number of graphs                  13        14       20  
   Approximate maximum number 
   of user assumptions               1,200     2,000    3,000 
   Approximate total number of 
   built-in formulae                 4,000     6,500    10,500 
  ==================================================================
        

3.7  Registration                     
-----------------

EASI-PLAN Lite is not FREE software. If you decide that you would 
like to retain and continue to use EASI-PLAN after a 30-day trial 
period, you must register with Invest-Tech, the author and 
copyright holder. 

In return for registering, you will be upgraded to the latest 
fully-operational release of EASI-PLAN Lite with its 160+ page 
spiral-bound printed manual (incorporating tutorial exercises etc.) 
and gain access to full support.

The Registration Fees for EASI-PLAN are given below. See REGISTER.TXT 
for further details.

    ===========================================================      
                             Fee (IR)    Fee (stg)    Fee (US$)
                               Pounds       Pounds         See
                            See Notes    See Notes       Notes
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    EASI-PLAN Micro                45           45          70
    EASI-PLAN Lite                 75           75         120
    EASI-PLAN Pro                 145          145         230

    Switch from Micro to Lite      40           40          60
    Switch from Lite to Pro        70           70         110
    Switch from Micro to Pro      100          100         160
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Note 1  Plus VAT at 21% for Irish customers and for purchasers 
            in other EU States who are NOT registered for VAT.

    Note 2  No VAT applies to customers in EU States (other than
            Ireland) who are registered for VAT and who quote their 
            VAT number at time of ordering.            
        
    Note 3  No VAT applies to purchasers outside the EU.    
    
    Note 4  Users outside the UK and Ireland should add 10% to
            cover additional post and packing.

    Note 5  You can also register EASI-PLAN Lite via "PsL" 
            (Public software Library) and CompuServe (see 
            REGISTER.TXT for full details).

You can also upgrade and register directly with Invest-Tech via 
our World Wide Web (WWW) site on the Internet using a credit 
card and its special built-in forms. See bottom of file for 
details of its location.  Our Web site, called PlanWare, 
contains downloadable versions of *ALL* our financial planners 
for businesses and the home. It also offers useful advice in 
the form of text files on such topics as business planning, 
cashflow forecasting etc. as well as lots of other interesting 
stuff.


3.8  Invest-Tech Limited
------------------------

We are management consultants specialising in financial and 
business planning software. Formed in 1983, Invest-Tech is a 
Registered Practice within the Institute of Management Consultants 
in Ireland. Our banker is Bank of Ireland, Dublin, and our auditors 
are Deloitte & Touche, Dublin.

Shareware versions of EASI-PLAN Micro and Pro are also available.
Look for files called EASI*.ZIP.

In addition to EASI-PLAN Micro, Lite and Pro, our range of financial 
planning software includes the following products:

PERS-PLAN: A personal or household cashflow and financial 
           planner which can be used to plan 12 months ahead. It 
           accommodates a very wide range of income and expenditure 
           variables and can handle income tax, interest, credit 
           card calculations etc. Supplied with a 90-page manual. 
           Price: 29 pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (US$40).
           Available as shareware in a file called PERSP*.ZIP.

YOUR-PLAN: Shareware version of PERS-PLAN available from good 
           libraries in the UK, US etc. Only covers a six month 
           period and handles fewer variables than PERS-PLAN.
           Look for a file called YOURP*.ZIP.

BANK-PLAN: Specialist cashflow planner for small businesses covering
           12-months ahead. Runs 'stand-alone' with similar general
           structure to EASI-PLAN. Compliments EASI-PLAN. Price: 50
           pounds (sterling or Irish) excluding VAT (US$70).
           Shareware version available in a file called BANKP*.ZIP.

CASH-PLAN: More powerful and advanced version of BANK-PLAN aimed at
           larger businesses. Price: 95 pounds (sterling or Irish)             
           excluding VAT (US$150).

FIN-PLAN:  Wide range of comprehensive and fully-integrated
           financial planners (P&Ls, cashflows, balance sheets,
           ratios etc.) covering 12-months plus 8/16 quarters. 
           Versions are available to run on Lotus 1-2-3 (any
           release for DOS or Windows). Extensive menus with 
           numerous features and facilities. Easily expanded 
           by user. Price: 95 pounds (sterling or Irish) 
           excluding VAT (US$150).

Comprehensive descriptions, specifications and 'demos' are
available for each of the foregoing products.

**********************************************************************
 
4.  HOW TO RUN EASI-PLAN 
========================

Note that you can run EASI-PLAN as a DOS program within Windows.

Before exploring EASI-PLAN, you need to know that:

        All commands are executable from a Main Menu, sub-menus
        or function key menus. At any stage, the Main Menu can be
        retrieved by pressing the F10 function key once. You can
        access context-sensitive Help Pages by pressing F1 at any
        time.

        Whenever a report is being displayed on the screen, you can
        use certain function keys to perform the actions explained 
        in the menu strip displayed at the bottom of the screen.
        Additional function key commands can be used to call up 
        special facilities for entering data etc. These can be 
        accessed by holding down the ALT key on the keyboard while 
        tapping one of the indicated function keys (press ALT+F1 
        for help).

If you get lost at any stage, try pressing the function key F10 
to return to the Main Menu. If a system error is encountered, 
press the RETURN key (or CTRL+BREAK) and then F10. If a 'secured 
cell' message is encountered, press RETURN to clear it.

The following guidelines assume that you have already installed
(i.e. copied, unzipped, unarchived, uncompressed etc.) the
complete set of EASI-PLAN files onto a hard disk.

    Note: If you are using a B/W LCD display, you may need to run
    the supplied MSHERC.EXE utility before loading EASI-PLAN

 a) Get into the sub-directory on your hard disk where you have 
    copied/installed all EASI-PLAN's files (for example if the 
    sub-directory EASIL3 was used, type "CD EASIL3" and press         
    RETURN at the DOS prompt).        
    
 b) Print this README.TXT file by typing "PRINT README.TXT". 
 
 c) Run an introductory program called GO.BAT by typing "GO". If your
    PC uses a very old display, do not select this option - choose
    d) or e) below.
 
    *or*

 d) For guidance about the syntax for loading EASI-PLAN
    etc. type "EP". 
 
    *or*

 e) Type "EP MASTER" to load EASI-PLAN along with a set of
    specimen assumptions in a file called MASTER.ASS.

    Once EASI-PLAN loads, move through the introductory screens, by 
    pressing any key, to reach EASI-PLAN's Main Menu.
 
By following the on-screen Hints and Guidance Notes and by 
accessing Help Notes and Help Pages, have a go at building your       
first set of projections by using QUIK-PLAN. Print the results        
in the Textual Summary Report. Review the individual reports on 
screen, make additional assumptions, recalculate, view the 
graphs etc. 
                                        Good luck !

Securing More Memory
--------------------
EASI-PLAN Lite needs 560k, or more, of 'free' conventional memory (not
extended memory). This should not present any problem to the vast
majority of users as it is well within the capacity of most PCs with 640k
of RAM unless they have been specially configured etc.

Try loading EASI-PLAN. Consult the remainder of this Section *ONLY*
if EASI-PLAN appears to load very slowly (i.e. takes more than two
minutes and the hard disk seems to be continually starting and stopping).

To skip to the next Section, press "PageDown" four or five times.

We discuss below some ways and means of running EASI-PLAN with different
permutations and combinations of memory etc. in order to speed up the
loading time. Only consult this Section if a problem has been
encountered.

If you are concerned about memory availability and if the shareware
PLAN may load and calculate too slowly to be of any practical use or 
it may "hang" when loading. If your PC is a modern one and has a 
"fastish" hard disk, this should not be a problem and you may not 
even notice that EASI-PLAN is using virtual memory.

The amount of "free" conventional memory available is a function of
the version of DOS being used, the degree to which memory is required
by devices, TSRs and other programs, and several other factors. After
you install EASI-PLAN and before running it, check the following:

1. Version of DOS being used. Type "VER" at the DOS prompt. If VER
   proves to be a 'bad command', you are probably running DOS 3.x.

2. Memory availability and utilisation. Type "MEM" at the DOS prompt.
   Be careful to identify "free" conventional memory and do not
   confuse extended (XMS) and expanded (EMS) memory. If MEM is a bad
   command, try typing "CHKDSK".

If you encounter an out-of-memory message when loading EASI-PLAN, free
up some additional hard disk space to accommodate further 'virtual'
memory especially if you appear to have adequate "free" conventional
memory.

If the PC on which EASI-PLAN is being run has some expanded memory (e.g.
384k or more), it does not really matter how much conventional memory is
free as EASI-PLAN will be able to utilise both conventional and expanded
memory without any deterioration in performance.

If the PC has less than 560k of free conventional memory but also has
extended memory, some of the latter can be converted to expanded. All
386, 486 computers have at least 1mb of this memory. You can easily
reconfigure some of its extended memory as expanded (see your PC or DOS
manual or DOS's Help about EMM386.EXE, or contact your dealer) by
entering the following line into your CONFIG.SYS file:

                   device=C:\dos\emm386.exe xxx

where C is the drive containing DOS and xxx is the amount of 'free' 
expanded memory (EMS) required e.g. 512.

(Make a spare floppy "system disk" before you change CONFIG.SYS in case
you make a typing error etc. - see DOS manual for further details)

When inserting this line, place it after the line relating to HIMEM and
before any lines which refer to drivers which use EMS. If appropriate,
remove any other lines referring to expanded-memory managers.

You can run EASI-PLAN very satisfactorily as a DOS program within Windows
in its Enhanced Mode without creating any expanded memory. If you use
Standard Mode, you must use EMM386 to create some expanded memory and you
may need to create/edit a PIF file.

If the PC has no expanded or extended memory but uses MS-DOS 3.x, there
should be enough free conventional memory provided that no memory-
consuming devices, TSRs etc. are being used. You may be able to
disable/remove these in order to create as much as 590k of free
conventional memory.

If the PC has no expanded or extended memory and it uses MS-DOS 4.x,
there may not be enough free memory and the only solution might be to
upgrade to MS-DOS 5 or 6.

If the PC has no expanded or extended memory and it uses MS-DOS 5 or 6,
the best approach is to load DOS high and remove/disable sufficient
devices etc. to create at least 560k of free conventional memory. For
guidance, refer to the your DOS manual, PC supplier or local support
person.

If you are still encountering problems loading EASI-PLAN and the hard
disk to which it has been installed uses file compression (e.g.
DoubleSpace, Stacker etc.), re-install EASI-PLAN to the uncompressed
portion of the hard disk and the loading time should improve (especially
if the PC is a "slow" one).


Running EASI-PLAN through Windows
---------------------------------
To set up EASI-PLAN to run within Windows, install it using the DOS
commands etc. before you load Windows.

Next, run the Windows Program Manager and proceed as follows:

  1. Select the Applications Group which you want to contain EASI-PLAN.
  2. Select File and New options from the Program Manager's menu.
  3. When the New Program Object box appears, select Program Item
     and OK.
  4. When the Program Item Properties box appears, proceed as
     follows:
       
     - Type "EASI-PLAN Lite" as the Description.
     - Type "C:\EASIL3\EP X" as the Command Line. Make sure you enter
       a single space between EP and X. This command assumes that
       EASI-PLAN has been installed to the EASIL3 sub-directory on
       a hard disk called C.
     - Enter "C:\EASIL3" as the Working Directory.
     - Select Change Icon and select OK when the Change Icon message
       box appears.
     - When the next Change Icon box appears, enter
       "C:\EASIL3\EASIPLAN.ICO" as the File Name and select OK.
     - Once you return to the Program Item Properties box select
       OK twice to complete installation.

To run EASI-PLAN within Windows, double-click on its icon and wait while
it loads. Press RETURN to ignore the 'File does not exist' message and
then use the cursor keys and RETURN to select the desired *.ASS file in
response to the instruction 'Enter Data File Name" which appears at the
top of the screen. If more than five such data files exist, press the F3
Function Key to display them in a larger window.

***** WATCH OUT ****

If you try to display graphs when running EASI-PLAN in a DOS Window
(i.e. less than full screen) when running in Enhanced Mode, the graphs
may not show and the display may lock. To unlock it, return to a full DOS
screen by pressing ALT+RETURN. Always use a DOS full screen when
displaying EASI-PLAN graphs.

Using a LCD display
-------------------
If you are running EASI-PLAN on a portable PC with a LCD display, you
will probably need to change EASI-PLAN's video setting once it has loaded
in order to clearly distinguish the rectangular cursor which appears when
you are viewing reports on the screen. To do this, press I (for
Initialise) at the Main Menu, V (for Video) and L (for LCD/B&W). The
Manual explains how to make these changes permanent.

Other Information
-----------------
The following text files contain more detailed information about
EASI-PLAN etc.:

  Register.txt     -   Registration details, form etc.
  Readme.txt       -   Extensive introduction to EASI-PLAN
  Manual.txt       -   Comprehensive manual

To read a text file:
      - Enter "TYPE *.TXT|MORE"
      *or*
      - Use DOS Edit or Windows Notepad.

**********************************************************************

5.  WHAT IS SHAREWARE ?
=======================

"Shareware" is a method of software distribution designed to
give users a chance to test a package before purchase at a very
competitive price. Copyright rules apply to shareware and the
authors retain all the rights except as indicated in their 
licence agreements. As you will see from EASI-PLAN, shareware does 
not signify cheap (in the nasty sense) or poor quality software.

**********************************************************************
        
6.  USER LICENCE AGREEMENT
==========================

See VENDINFO.DIZ.

**********************************************************************

7.  REVISIONS TO EASI-PLAN Lite
================================

r2.0   27th March 1994
----------------------
First shareware release of EASI-PLAN Lite.   

r3.0   23rd February 1995
-------------------------
A major upgrade. Improvements include:
 
 - Range of financial variables has been extended.
 - Now handles VAT on cash-received as well as invoice basis. 
 - Textual Summary Report includes more ratios.
 - User can opt to use account formats for sole trader as an alternative
   to those for a limited company. 
 - The printing of unused rows in reports can be suppressed.
 - Many minor changes to Help Notes, menu prompts, Help Pages
   and text files.

r3.2   10th September 1995
--------------------------
Minor improvements. Introduction of remote upgrading capability.

r3.3  15th October 1995
-----------------------
Minor changes including change to method of calculating tax in 
3rd year. Addition of info on Web site etc.

**********************************************************************
EASI-PLAN Lite (c) Copyright Invest-Tech Limited 1992-95   
All Rights Reserved     

    Invest-Tech Limited  
    27 Ardmeen Park, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland
    
    Irish Tel: 01-283 4083      UK Tel: 01232-315454
      (Call 9 to 9 weekdays and 10 to 6 weekends - GMT/BST)  
    Fax: 278 2391 
      Fax codes: Irish:01-  UK:00-353-1-  Inter'l:+353-1-
    
    CompuServe:    100606,2665
    Internet:      brianf@iol.ie
    WWW Site URL:  http://www.planware.ie/resource/planware

**********************************************************************
  
          To print this file, type "PRINT README.TXT"
               *** End of README.TXT file ***
