FILE MANAGEMENT - CORPORATION - Revised 11-11-2002
(Typos in the Student Manual are on the last page)
INSTALLING THE PROGRAM - Instructor
Create a new folder on your c: drive titled Corporation. Copy the Zip file to your hard drive. Then Unzip the file. Click on Setup.exe to install the program on your computer. Consult Section 1 in the Instructor Manual (also see Section 3 in your student manual.).
FOR STUDENTS:
If you want to make a usable disk to utilize instead of your hard drive, copy the CORPSTUDENT.EXE to the disk and click on it to run the software. Same thing if on your hard drive: Click on CORPSTUDENT.EXE to run the program. If you choose your hard drive to store your history, it will be on a file named: C:/CorpStudentHistory
See Section 3 in your student manual.
File Problems
Most file problems are caused by not having the correct file location entered on the CONFIGURATION Screen, e.g., Having A: selected when the files are at on your hard drive or vice versa. Use Windows Explorer to ascertain you have your files in its correct place.
CHANGING SETTINGS TO ALLOW THE ENDINGS OF FILES TO SHOW
Action to take if the extensions of your Team and Data files do not show, e.g., you see “DATA(Your team number)” instead of DATA1.xx
- Pull up Windows Explorer
- Go to TOOLS, then FOLDER OPTIONS, and then VIEW.
- Scroll down until you see a box with “Hide file extensions for known file types.
- This should NOT be checked.
- If you are using AOL’s home page for the simulation, minimize it and pull up
INTERNET EXPLORER and use it for the simulation….NOT the AOL explorer.
SENDING FILES VIA EMAIL
If you send and receive your decision and data files via Email, you must set YOUR MAIL PROGRAM options so that the files do not open up in the body of the message you send your instructor. The files must remain as an attachment to your Email, INTACT. Problems have been reported by some users of AOL® and of the free mail servers. It is your responsibility to obtain the technical help needed to setup your computer correctly.
REMOVING .TXT FROM YOUR FILES
Since the files that you furnish the instructor and that he/she gives back to you are text files, it is possible your particular mail program will automatically assign .txt to the end of the file. If so, it may look like this: Data1.A1.txt If this happens, before your simulation program can handle it, it must be renamed with the .txt omitted, e.g. Data1.A1
One way to prevent this is when you save the attachment from the professor, do not allow the default “type of file” (text file) to remain in the save box but change SAVE AS TYPE to “all files (*.*).”
CRITICAL NOTE IF RECEIVING DATA BY EMAIL to print your report:
When your instructor sends you the history so that you can print your
report, it will come as an attachment to a message. DO NOT ATTEMPT
TO OPEN THIS ATTACHMENT as it is simply a file with data in it and is
NOT a self-executing program,( thus the name, DATAx.A3 or whatever).
COPY THIS FILE to either your A: drive or to C:/Corporation if you are storing data on your hard drive. Then use the Student simulation program to open the file and print it.
DO NOT TRY TO OPEN THE ATTACHMENT. COPY TO YOUR FLOPPY OR HARD DRIVE FIRST.
If the file has had the name changed and .txt added to the end, rename (right click)
and leave off the .txt ending.
If the program asks you if you no longer want it to be a txt file, just say yes.
Then, and only then will the system recognize the file and you can print etc.
MOST COMMON FILE PROBLEM CAUSING A “FILE NOT FOUND” ERROR
Most file problems are caused by not having the correct file location entered on the CONFIGURATION Screen, e.g., Having A: selected when the files are at C:CorpStudentHistory or vice versa. Use Windows Explorer to ascertain you have the (DATAx.xx) file in its correct place. Instructors may have selected C:/CorpHistory instead of A:
SENDING FILES VIA EMAIL
If you send and receive your decision and data files via Email, you must set YOUR MAIL PROGRAM options so that the files do not open up in the body of the message you send your instructor. The files must remain as an attachment to your Email, INTACT. Problems have been reported by some users of AOL® and of the free mail servers. It is your responsibility to obtain the technical help needed to setup your computer correctly.
REMOVING .TXT FROM YOUR FILES
Since the files that you furnish the instructor and that he/she gives back to you are text files, it is possible your particular mail program will automatically assign .txt to the end of the file. If so, it may look like this: Data1.A1.txt If this happens, before your simulation program can handle it, it must be renamed with the .txt omitted, e.g. Data1.A1
One way to prevent this is when you save the attachment from the professor, do not allow the default “type of file” (text file) to remain in the save box but change SAVE AS TYPE to “all files (*.*).”
OTHER PROBLEMS WITH FILE ENDINGS
Some email programs and/or mail systems will not accept the endings that are on the TEAM and DATA files. So students may need to “zip” the files in order to send them to the instructor. The could also rename the files to bypass the program’s end-catcher. For example, you may have to rename TEAM4.m7 to TEAM4m7 and the instructor can rename it, placing the period (or dot) back in e.g., TEAM4.m7
In the same order, DATA3.T2 is changed to DATA3T2 and the instructor changes it back to DATA3.T2
Or a file is zipped and is contained within a Zipped file, e.g., DATA3.T2 is zipped to DATA.T2.zip and is handled with the Zip program.
A STUDENT SUGGESTION FOR SOLVING FILE ENDINGS
Student’s Question:
For the last two quarters (4 & 5), I have only been able to download results in .txt format. (Before this I didn't have any problems.) I have tried Save As, changing the doc type when downloaded, renaming the file, etc., but I still can't download/save/open as a data file. (Note—this happens to me on several computers, not just one.) Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can fix this?
Another Student’s Response to this question:
Go to your Start menu go to Run. type "command", this will give you a dos prompt. type "a:", then after A:/> type "dir" this will list all of the files you have on your floppy 3.5"(you can see which are text in the second column). type "rename Data1.M5.txt {space} DateX.MX" and it should change
the file type to MX (where 'X' is the respective period)...this is the only way I could get it...good luck....just remember to copy the file after rename exactly as it appears in the dos menu. Author’s Note: This gets into DOS commands which many students are not familiar with but it still works!
STAND ALONE FEATURE OF THE STUDENT FILES – YOU MUST KNOW WHICH INCIDENT IS TO BE USED.
The decision process has been made "stand alone," which means any member
of the team may enter decisions and print results using their own program. In other
words there are no files that must be read before decisions can be entered. This is
a great feature. However, there is no way to the team which Incident is to be used
although the maximum values for the incidents are shown if you enter the incident
designation (A, B, C, etc).
This information is provided on the previous quarter's report so you will need to
have it on hand. On page 2 there is a statement, USE INCIDENT __ NEXT QUARTER.
When you are entering decisions, you must check the incident for the maximum value
that can be entered for the given quarter.
TYPOS IN THE FIRST PRINTING OF THE MANUAL
Page v – The prime rate is 8% and Bank Loan interest rate is 9%. Bonds are 10% and the rate is
guaranteed for the length of the simulation. Prime rate and Loan rates may change.
Page 2 – Sales($000) for Period 0 = 1700, 2135, 2485
Page 6 – There are two item #4’s listed. Product Research should be item #5.
Page 11 – Item 15 should have as choices: Area 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Page 31 – Taxes are 30%, not 40%
Page 37 – Minor errors in a few numbers but the most important, Your Beginning Cash is still 560.
Page 65 – Incident M does not have a choice 5, only 1 through 4.
We wish you good simulating. Jerald Smith and Peggy Golden "The SIMULATION Guys"