OnRoad Expense V1.2 User Manual

Introduction

If you travel frequently, OnRoad Expense is tailored for you. This program offers many features that allow for easy and organized record keeping of your daily expenditures and income. It is straight forward to use and the program's features offer flexibility to suit your specific needs.

The program uses virtual pockets to track your money and expenses. Organize data records by item, payee, location or category, filtering the view of the class of expenses. The quick list feature enables you to save frequently used payees on the fly. The main screen displays useful summary and warnings.

OnRoad Expense allows you to manage (add, edit, remove) item list, payment type, payee, location, and currency to fit your operations. The report capabilities let you filter and search expense and income records to fill your reporting needs. For example, You are on a business trip. You create a pocket for cash, and pockets for your credit cards. You create a Trip category to group the expenses for the trip, and a Personal category for your other expenses. In the description field of each record, you enter the word taxable on all items that you must pay tax for when you return home. In expense report, you can select all records with the keyword taxable in the search field. You can also select records by Trip category, or by date and other criteria. With OnRoad Expense, you can file expense reports with ease and accuracy.

This program can export reports in text or CSV (comma delimited) format to memoPad, which can be synchronized to Palm's desktop environment. You can then print the memo file from your PC or import the CSV file into your favorite spreadsheet program.

Table of Contents


Features

OnRoad Expense offers the following features:

System Requirements

OnRoad Expense is an expense tracking tool that runs on any Palm device that supports Palm OS 3.5 and above. The application supports Palm Hi-Res (320x320) and Palm Standard (120x120) resolutions.

Purchase and Registration

Once OnRoad Expense is installed onto your Palm device, it starts the trial period. If you find OnRoad Expense suits your needs and wish to continue using it following the trial period you must purchase and input the registration key or the program will lock down once the trial expires. Registration keys can be purchased from www.palmgear.com.

If you have any comments and suggestions on how OnRoad Expense can be improved please let us know. You can send an email to sales@onroadmobility.com. Or you can use the online support form in our website.

If you find any bugs in our program, you can contact us at support@onroadmobility.com. We will try our best to answer any questions and provide help in a timely manner.

Installation

To install OnRoad, simply download and "unzip" the distribution file. Next, use the install tool in the Palm Desktop program to copy the OnRoadExpnz.prc into the installation folder. OnRoad Expense should be installed into your Palm PDA during the next HotSync.

You have 20 days free trial period to experiment with onRoad Expense. After the free trial period is expired, you have to register the program or remove it from your Palm device.

Upgrade

Follow the installation procedure to upgrade from previous version to version 1.2. Data records stored in the program is not affected.

Revision List

Version 1.1 adds the following features and bug fixes. Version 1.2 adds the following features and bug fixes.

Operation

Activate OnRoad Expense

Expense View

Income View

Detail Expense

Detail Income

List Management

Pocket Management

View Filter

Purge Data

Cashflow Report

Expense Report

Income Report

User Preference

Password Protection

Pocket

Lists

Categories

Currency

Export report


Activate OnRoad Expense

OnRoad Expense trial period will last for a few weeks before requiring you to enter a valid activation code. This period is provided for the express purpose of product evaluation prior to purchasing. If you have already purchased this product you should enter your personal activation code now. This will ensure that you are able to use the application on an ongoing basis.

Obtaining a OnRoad Expense registration key:

  1. Access www.palmgear.com with the web browser of your choice.
  2. Proceed to checkout.

Activating OnRoad Expense:

  1. Launch the OnRoad Expense application.
  2. Select the OnRoad menu.
  3. Under Options, select Registration.
  4. Enter registration key obtained.

Expense View

The Expense view displays an overview of the expense records of the current pocket. The number of expense records that you can track is limited only by the available memory on your handheld.

By selecting and editing the values in each column in the expense view you are able to make quick changes to dates, times, items, or amount spent of each record. At the bottom of the view the New button enables you to create a new expense record and the Detail button accesses records for more detailed adjustments. The E and I push buttons switch the main view between expense and income records.

The main view displays a list of expense records using the criteria set in the view filter. The item column is configurable allowing you to choose to display item, location or type. The expense records are sorted in ascending or descending order and either by date or by item. You can select the display options in the user preference.

The Red 'E' indicator, when shown, means that the total expenses listed is greater than the total income. The Orange 'O' indicator, when shown, means that the total expenses listed is greater than the limit set in the pocket.

Expense View

Income View

The Income view displays an overview of the income records of the current pocket. The number of income records that you can track is limited only by the available memory on your handheld.

By selecting and editing the values in each column in the income view you are able to make quick changes to dates, times, items, or amount spent of each record. At the bottom of the view the New button enables you to create a new income record and the Detail button accesses records for more detailed adjustments. The E and I push buttons switch the main view between expense and income records.

The main view displays a list of income records using the criteria set in the view filter. The reason column is configurable allowing you to choose to display reason or type. The income records are sorted in ascending or descending order and either by date or by item.

The Red 'E' indicator, when shown, means that the total income listed is smaller than the total expenses. The Orange 'O' indicator, when shown, means that the total expenses listed is greater than the limit set in the pocket. The small 's' on the left side of the summary amount indicates that the amount is the sum of all displayed income. The letter 'd' indicators that the amount is the different between displayed income and expenses. You can select the display options in the user preference.

Income View

Detail Expense

To view expense details:

  1. Access expense view by tapping E button.
  2. Select the expense record to be viewed.
  3. Tap the Detail button.

While in expense detail view the user is able to modify or add details to the expense record. The currency of the record is determined by the currency used by the pocket. Choose items, type of payment, payee and location from the easy to use drop down lists or add new ones through list management to suit your needs. Check off the quick list box when writing in a new payee to add a payee to the list effortlessly. Add a description to the record to distinguish the record for searching purposes. Use the Note function to keep track of any additional information regarding the records. You can move the record to another pocket. Keep in mind that if the other pocket has a difference current, you have to update the amount to reflect the currency conversion.

To access the move command via shortcut:

  1. Enter shortcut stroke / .
  2. Enter X.

Expense Detail

Detail Income

To view income details:

  1. Access income view by tapping I button.
  2. Select the expense record to be viewed.
  3. Tap the Detail button while in income view.

While in income detail view the user is able to modify or add details to the income record. The currency of the record is determined by the currency used by the pocket. Choose reason for payment and type of payment from the easy to use drop down lists or add new ones through list management to suit your needs. Add a description to the record to distinguish the record for searching purposes. You can move the record to another pocket. Keep in mind that if the other pocket has a different currency, you have to update the amount to reflect the currency conversion.

To access the move command via shortcut:

  1. Enter shortcut stroke / .
  2. Enter X.

Income Detail

List Management

You can add, delete and rename the items in the (Item, Type, Payee, Location, Currency and Reason) lists to meet your needs when recording your expenses and income.

To access list management via shortcut:

  1. Enter shortcut stroke / .
  2. Enter M.

To access list management via menu:

  1. While in expense/income view select OnRoad option to access menu.
  2. Under Data select Manage List

To make changes to list items:

List Management

Pocket Management

To access pocket management:

  1. While in expense/income view select OnRoad option to access menu.
  2. Under Data select Manage Pocket /O.

Pocket Management Pocket Management

To select a pocket, tap on a pocket in the list to view the detail.

Note: - Currency is set and cannot be changed once pocket is created.

View Filter

The view filter allows you hide records that are not relevant to the task at hand. Choose from preset filters or choose your own range of dates to view from. Expense and income values are recalculated when a filter is applied using only the records that remain visible.

View Filter

Purge Data

To access purge data via shortcut:

  1. Enter shortcut stroke / .
  2. Enter P.

To access purge data via menu:

  1. While in expense/income view select OnRoad option to access menu.
  2. Under Data select Purge Data /P.

The purge data function allows you to remove multiple records quickly and easily. Choose from criteria of records that are to be removed including range of date, pocket, type, and category or use the search function to remove records that have the same description associated with them.

Purge Data

Expense Report

  1. Select OnRoad menu.
  2. Under Reports menu select Expense.
  3. Enter report criteria in the fields.
  4. Tap Gen to generate report.

Export ReportExpense Report

In the Expense Report menu bar, you can choose between TEXT or CSV format. CSV format can be imported by a spreadsheet program.

Income Report

  1. Select OnRoad menu.
  2. Under Reports menu select Income.
  3. Enter report criteria in the fields.
  4. Tap Gen to generate report.

In the Income Report menu bar, you can choose between TEXT or CSV format. CSV format can be imported by a spreadsheet program.

Cashflow Report

  1. Select OnRoad menu.
  2. Under Reports menu select Cashflow.
  3. Enter report criteria in the fields.
  4. Tap Gen to generate report.

The cashflow report shows the difference between the total expenses and total income.

Cash ReportCash Report

Export Report

Export Report2

Export a report put the content as a memo under the "Unfiled" category. The first line of the memo is '[Type] report [time stamp]', which Type is Expense, Income or CashFlow. Memo is transferred to the desktop computer next time you perform a 'hotsync'. From the desktop computer, you can print the memo or copy the CSV formatted memo to a file and import the file to a spreadsheet program for further processing.

User Preference

The preference menu allows the user to customize/change the way records are categorized and sorted.

To access the preference menu:

  1. Select OnRoad menu.
  2. Under Options menu select Preference.
Preference

Password Protection

To access password protection options:
  1. Select OnRoad menu.
  2. Under Options menu select Password.
Login

Enabling password protection allows you to safe keep your personal expense information. The password is a string from four to eight characters long, and is case insensitive. The Password dialog will prompt you for the current password only when you change or remove the password protection. Once a password is set, OnRoad Expense prompts you for the password each time you invoke the program.

Note: If you forget your password, the system has no way of recovering the lost password for you.

Login

The password login screen has an option to show or hide your password as you typing it.

Pocket

A pocket stores expense and income records. The use of pockets helps to organize your records by grouping the same types together. Pocket is similar to an account. You can also use a pocket to represent project or cost center. For example, pocket "Conf" to store expenses and money (income) records allocated to a conference trip. Type can be used to represent spending in cash, Visa, MasterCard etc.

The number of pockets you can create is only limited by the memory of your handheld, so you can create as many as needed to help organize your records. For more details on how to add/edit pockets refer to pocket management

Pockets

Lists

Lists are utilized for customizability and quick use when adding/editing records. Choose from existing items or add your own to the list. For more details of how to edit the lists to fit your needs go to list management

Expense records:

Income records:

Both Expense/Income records:

Lists

Categories

Categories are used to filter income and expense records in pockets. If records are categorized when you choose the category to view, you will only see records of the same category.

To add categories while in main expense/income view:

  1. Select the drop down list to the top right.
  2. Select Edit Cat...
Categories

To add categories while in expense/income detail view:

  1. Select the drop down list labelled tag.
  2. Select Edit Categori...
Categories

Currency

When creating a pocket you can choose the type of currency that is being used. Currencies can be added from list management menu by selecting the Currency from the dropdown menu. A pocket contains records of the same currency. Once a currency is chosen for the pocket during creation, the currency of that pocket can not be changed.

Currency

Developer

OnRoad Expense for Palm handheld devices

(c) Mugen Computing Inc.,  2006

EMail: support@onroadmobility.com

Website: www.onroadmobility.com



Mugen Computing Inc., makes no warranty, either expressed or
implied, including but not limited to any implied warranties of
merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, regarding any
programs or book materials and makes such materials available
solely on an "as-is" basis.

In no event shall Mugen Computing Inc., be liable to anyone for
special, collateral, incidental, or consequential damages in
connection with or arising out of the purchase or use of these
materials, and the sole and exclusive liability of Mugen Computing
Inc., regardless of the form of action, shall not exceed the purchase
price of this application. Moreover, Mugen Computing Inc., shall
not be liable for any claim of any kind whatsoever against the use
of these materials by any other party.

OnRoad Expense is copyright 2006 and trademark Mugen Computing Inc. All rights reserved.
Palm, HotSync and Graffiti are registered trademarks of Palm One, Inc. or its subsidiaries.