FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

It depends on how you receive the Setup file asclub.exe
The fastest way is to download it from the AS Club download page. Under AS Club 2.1 simply click on 'Download', your web browser will then ask you where to store the asclub.exe file; point it to your desktop. 
   When downloading has finished, the AS Club setup-icon will appear on your desktop. 
   Double-click it to start the installation.

Installing from a CD/DVD is even easier, as inserting the disk will start the installer automatically. (If the Autostart feature is turned off on your computer, proceed by locating asclub.exe on the disk and launch it via double-click).
Any installer prompts are best acknowledged in the affirmative; AS Club will then be installed into the standard Windows folders.
(C:\Program Files\... and C:\Program Files\Common\...) 

AS Club has been tested both on Win Vista and Win 7 without problems.
Up until version 1.1.0.14, the AS Club Help system has been based on the traditional Windows Help standard ("Winhelp"), which Vista does no longer support. The AS Club Help system has since been converted to new HTML Help. The new version can be downloaded here and is also available on CDROM. 
It can be installed first time, or 'on top of' (i.e. replacing) previous versions. 

Following on point 1 is a somewhat lengthy discussion of the Software as a Service (SaaS) deployment model, also known as 'Web Service', and increasingly as "The Cloud". It is basically on-demand software running on virtual servers, leased out according to different financing arrangements. This is recommended reading if you believe that turning a club accounting application into a web service is in the interest of the user.
 
Let's first be clear about the meaning of 'network mode' in this context and distinguish between two principally different questions: 

1. Can AS Club run on a local network, a LAN?

AS Club is designed to run in a 'Windows Workgroup' environment, where a number of client workstations access the same database. Such a setup could be useful if a larger club wanted to share the workload among several of its staff. 
As there has so far been no demand for such a solution, we have not officially released it yet. Please contact us if you are interested in running AS Club on a local network.

2. Can AS Club be deployed as a web application on a remote Internet-server, allowing it to be used by clubs on demand?

This would be the Software as a Service (SaaS) model, and the short answer is: no, it cannot. As of now, the disadvantages of doing so outweigh the advantages by far. Worse still, the benefits that exist would be of an administrative nature, whereas the disadvantages are for the most part the result of hard, technical restrictions that can only reduce the usability of such a service; in the case of AS Club and similar applications they would do so severely.   

What are the advantages of the SaaS-model according to Wikipedia and how would they benefit AS Club?

 • Wikipedia: [It] alleviates the customer's burden of equipping a device with every application.
 • Austrosoft: AS Club is a single application that runs on only one 'device'. After downloading from the Internet, it installs itself and is ready to work in less than a minute (subscribing to a web service may well take longer than that). Afterwards, AS Club is self-maintaining; similar to e.g. anti-virus programs, it automatically downloads and installs its latest updates from the Internet.

 • Wikipedia: It also reduces traditional ... software maintenance, ongoing operation patches, and patch support complexity in an organization.
 • AS: This argument is valid when applied to large organizations, where hundreds of applications may be in use concurrently. 
AS Club on the other hand requires no software patches; none have so far been released and none are planned. The automatic update procedure mentioned makes AS Club look much like an SaaS-application to the user.

 • Wikipedia: Web systems are reliable enough: Despite sporadic outages and slow-downs, most people are willing to use the public Internet, the Hypertext Transfer Protocol and the TCP/IP stack to deliver business functions to end users.
 • AS: Web systems may be reliable "enough", but from an end users point of view, this is hardly a convincing reason for using them in this manner. A locally installed copy of AS Club is completely reliable and has a host of technical advantages, see below.

 • Wikipedia: A compelling reason for developing SaaS applications is the opportunity to implement alternative pricing models that focus on establishing and maintaining recurring revenue streams. Most SaaS vendors charge some kind of monthly "hosting" or "subscription" fee. There are also opportunities to charge per transaction, event, or other unit of value to the customer. These alternative pricing models are made possible by the fact that customers actually "lease" the software from the vendors and the vendors have the ability to view all transactional activity within the system.
 • AS: As indicated, quite a few advantages of the SaaS-model benefit the software vendor more than the end user: the ability to "focus on establishing and maintaining recurring revenue streams" would be one of those. - In contrast, AS Club-clients may continue to use the software after one year without any further payments, for as long as they wish. One year of service and maintenance is automatically included with the first license fee, the extension of the service contract is optional.

Wikipedia also mentions a few SaaS-drawbacks:

 • Wikipedia: [The adoption of SaaS] requires areas of IT that are ubiquitous and commodity-like. SaaS is therefore not suitable for innovative or highly specialized niche systems...
 • AS: The latter part would characterize a club accounting system such as AS Club, which is neither ubiquitous nor commodity-like (as for example a word-processor program or a spreadsheet would be)

 • Wikipedia: Users of SaaS must be able to trust the provider of the service, particularly if the application stores the user's data. The provider needs to be trusted with both the intention and the ability to safeguard this information.
 • AS: The AS Club database is stored locally and is password-protected against unauthorized write-access. Third parties have no access to any club or member data.

 • Wikipedia: As with manufacturing, a lack of substitutability and second sourcing options with any commodity creates a strategic weakness for any customer in terms of security, competition and pricing. Various forms of this weakness, such as 'vendor lock-in', are often cited as a barrier to adoption of SaaS as the current industry lacks portability and interoperability between vendors. This means that to change from one vendor to another will take a considerable amount of effort and time... Whilst the severe lack of substitutability is unresolved, many vendors counter the concerns over potential security and operational risk with the argument that the professionals operating SaaS applications may have much better security and redundancy tools available to them.
 • AS: Interchangeable industry-standard and open-source services were one of the promises of the technology. Given the limited market for a club accounting application, it would be futile to expect such services to be created in the near future. Again, without the advantages, why put up with the disadvantages?

Of those, there are serious ones of a technical nature, which would affect AS Club particularly:

a) The data rate (throughput) on Internet connections is currently orders of magnitude below that of local hard disks. The user would therefore experience vastly inferior response times while operating the system. Large-volume data (e.g. when transmitting print data, or photographic images) could take hundreds of times longer to transmit, even over so-called 'broadband' connections such as DSL or ADSL. As much faster local solid state storage is going to replace mechanical hard disks over the coming years, the difference will likely grow further still.

b) The responsiveness of an application depends significantly on a factor called 'latency', the time taken by each link in the transmission chain to produce the required output. It forms a portion of the overall response time that is unaffected by transmission speeds and will therefore not automatically be reduced by increasing bandwidth. The latency of a web server in particular can vary widely as it depends on the load put on it, depending on a number of parameters. Erratic server behaviour and varying time delays due to changing density of web traffic are systemic and can make high-volume on-line work through a web application rather frustrating.

c) The graphical user interface of a genuine SaaS application is restricted to the functionality a web browser such as MS Internet Explorer provides. Compared to the sophisticated controls of the full Windows GUI this still rather primitive sub-set would seriously incapacitate AS Club, and a 'dumbed-down' redesign of the program interface is hardly in the user's interest.

d) Web servers are quite frequently attacked by 'hackers'. A DoS-attack and various forms of malicious program code (a 'computer virus') can knock out a server for hours or even days at a time, depriving users of access to their applications. Again, given the lack of compelling benefits, one has to wonder why without pressing need one should have to put up with yet another drawback?

e) The modern desktop computer is an extremely powerful data processing machine, one that a few years ago would have compared favourably to the super computers of the day. It seems to make more sense to utilize the locally available processing power of your computer instead of sending the data to some faraway place for processing, causing unnecessary web traffic while your machine waits idly for the results to be returned.

f) SaaS-services do have one undeniable administrative advantage: the end user can leave dealing with questions of data security to the web service provider, who will have established adequate data backup procedures for the client data.
To counter this potential disadvantage, AS Club has built-in backup functions that work partly 'behind the scenes' to automate data backup, such as sending your database to the Austrosoft web server for safekeeping and partly make backing up your data a single mouse-click operation. For instance, before the month-end consolidation, AS Club takes an automatic backup of the pre-consolidation state, allowing you to revert to it at any time with one click. Another one-click operation is saving your database to an external data carrier, such as a flash memory stick. 

 

As is often the case with software problems, there can be more than one reason why this might be happening. The underlying cause is generally that the database configuration file (IDAPI32.CFG) cannot be accessed at launch time. The reason for this can unfortunately vary, but after installing AS Club successfully (no error messages there), the most likely explanation is that Windows denies non-privileged users access to a particular folder where IDAPI32.CFG is stored. A recent case of this was thought to be connected to the installation of Windows XP SP3 (service release 3), after which this error message suddenly appeared. It was solved by making one particular folder sharable and you may want to try doing this first, especially if you are also running Windows XP SP3.
 
1. launch 'My Computer' and navigate to the following folder:
    C:\Program Files\Common Files
2. right-click this folder, left-click 'Sharing and Security...' on the pop-up menu
3. on the 'Sharing' tab, under 'Network sharing and security', enable both check boxes:
     'Share this folder on the network' and 'Allow network users to change my files'
4. click 'OK', then launch AS Club

This question relates to the scheduled posting of debits, controlled by settings on the MAINTENANCE • Memberships & Facilities pages. An example:

 

If set up this way, a subscriber will pay nothing when subscribed to a monthly "Newsletter".  "Parking" will only allow quarterly and monthly subscriptions - the facility will cost 20/month, longer term (quarterly) it will be free. 
The main purpose of no-charge entries is to maintain a record of subscribers in order for them to show up on reports. For instance, printing a member report (page PROCESSING • Reports • Members), with the filter option set to "Newsletter" will produce a listing of monthly newsletter recipients, even if newsletters may be received free of charge.
Note that only fields with a tick-mark will be selectable on the Members • Edit  page.     

The smallest font size utilized on the AS Club screen display is 7 point, depicted on the screenshots below. If small text on your monitor resembles that on the left picture and you own an LCD flat panel monitor, you may want to check whether the Windows ClearType™ option has been enabled on your system. The screenshots below show the noticeable difference ClearType makes: 

ClearType Off	On

In Windows XP, turn on ClearType by right-clicking free space (the background) on your desktop, left-click Properties on the pop-up menu, then the Appearance tab and the Effects... button. 
Mark Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts, then select ClearType from the combo box beneath. 
The other option, Standard, will look better on the older CRT-monitors (the bulky ones). Try which setting works best for you.
Note: beginning with version 2.0.0.1, AS Club attempts to turn on ClearType automatically  

Visitors is a new build-in membership category particularly suited to be applied to temporary club members and visitors. Two new AS Club features support Visitor Accounts:

1. Suspending/Reopening of accounts. Upon departure of a visitor his/her account can be suspended, and may stay so indefinitely, consuming hardly any "system resources". On return of a visitor, one mouse-click can reactivate the account. Note that suspended accounts do not count with the calculation of AS Club maintenance fees. 

2. A Statement of Account, which used to reflect the most recent month end figures, may now optionally include up-to-the-minute transactions and can be issued at any time (e.g. before a visitor leaves). A new single-account Print button has been added for this purpose on the PROCESSING • Output • Statements page; it is duplicated on the MEMBERS • View page. 
Clicking Print 000003 would produce a to-date statement of account 000003, whereas clicking Generate Statements would create month-end statements. 

 

3. All other AS Club features can also be utilized, e.g. visitor accounts can be scheduled for automatic debiting like any other account, etc.

4. The new statement type will work with all membership categories.  

Note that suspended accounts are taken into consideration when the tally of sub-accounts is calculated.

It's really quite simple:
Members make contributions to a club's finances. The payments members make are accounted for in the global club-account, the moneys themselves would most likely end up in a bank account. 
Members are however not paying directly into the big pot, the funds are rather collected via club sub-accounts to make accounting more transparent. Each membership type, for instance, will have its own sub-account, that way it's easy to see how much members of each category are contributing. Likewise, any other chargeable service the club offers (AS Club knows them as facilities) has a club sub-account attached to it which collects money on behalf of the global club-account. 
On the other hand, members need to know where they stand. To bring order into the system, AS Club maintains member-accounts, one for each member. The way AS Club sees it, each member account is connected to one or more of the club sub-accounts, and each connection quantifies: how much is to be charged, how often, starting when, ending when?

But you can! - and it's actually quite well described on the Help-page Maintenance • Database • Memberships (and also on the neighbouring Facilities page). The feature is called One-Off charges. To activate it, do the following:

1. go to the sub-account in question, e.g. "Ordinary Boating Member",

 

the cursor points to the field you need to activate

2. click to create a tick-mark and preset the field to any amount you like.
Click Commit to make the change permanent   

3. Switch to the Members • Edit page: under Membership categories a new square yellow button has been created (hovering the mouse cursor over it shows the preset amount). 


 
4. Clicking this button assembles a debit transaction which can then be posted from the ACCOUNTING • Debiting and Crediting page. Before committing it, you may change amount and/or reference.  

Steps 1 and 2 of this procedure applied to the Maintenance • Database • Facilities page creates the same buttons for Facility sub-accounts, which can be used in the same way.

You create a sub-account by opening it on one of 3 pages (see also question 3.1 below):
MAINTENANCE • Database • Memberships 
MAINTENANCE • Database • Facilities 
MAINTENANCE • Database • Transactions
Which page you choose depends on the type of sub-account you require. The "Tutorial" has more on the differences between sub-accounts.
Once sub-accounts have been opened, they appear automatically on the relevant pages. In that sense, you cannot or need not  'switch' to them. For instance, on the MEMBERS • Edit page you'll find the Membership and Facility sub-accounts you have opened so far. Here you switch sub-accounts by clicking on the sub-account you want to use. Example: sub-account Junior Boating Member
 

Membership and Facility sub-accounts enable automated debiting. You select a Start Date and a payment interval, and AS Club will debit the member account with the chosen amount, at the chosen intervals, beginning on Start Date.
Transaction sub-accounts appear on the  ACCOUNTING • Debiting and Crediting page.
 
The answer is therefore that you rather switch member accounts (by clicking account numbers on the dark-grey navigation panel on the left). For each member account you then have access to all sub-accounts (on the pages mentioned).
Please drop us a line if you wish to be more specific about your question.

  

This is very easy but could be somewhat time consuming, depending on how many member accounts you need to open. If you have already member records in some computer-readable format, we may be able to help with the conversion. 
Generally, begin by deleting the currently active database from the Administration page (click MAINTENANCE • Database • Administration)
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the red 'Restart' button. The entire database will be cleared of all user data. 
Then switch to the MAINTENANCE • Database  • Club Identity page and enter your club's particulars. 
Next declare the sub-accounts your club will be utilizing: 
Proceed to the Memberships page and define the membership types your club provides (remember to hit the F1-key if in need of help).
Items on the Facilities page result in sub-accounts just as Memberships. The difference? While only one membership can be (must be) active at a time, no such restriction applies to facilities. 
Important to note is that both sub-account types support only automated, scheduled debiting at 1/3/6/12 months intervals (disregarding the One-Off feature at the moment).   
For sub-accounts requiring manual posting of debits/credits at random intervals use the Transactions page.
Create, edit or delete personal titles on the Titles page.
Having set up the club sub-accounts, proceed to the Members • Edit page and begin to open member accounts, clicking the "New" button once per account. An account comes into existence the moment you click "Commit", provided no error is reported. 
To correct errors, make the necessary changes, then click "Commit" again. You can change anything, except the account number.

  

Deleting member accounts is straight forward for as long as they show only the opening balance and no other account movements, in other words, they have not been activated yet.
  
A) If this is the case, take the following steps:
  
  1. Switch to page PROCESSING > Statistics > Overview
  2. Click button Generate
  3. Click button more... (next to 'Dormant Accounts')
  4. A table opens up showing all member accounts that may potentially be deleted;
      click the red Delete button for each account to be removed
 
B) The first movement on a member account activates it and it can then no longer be deleted. However, provided an account is fully settled and shows a zero-balance, it can be 'archived', i.e. removed from the active portion of the database. To archive an account, take the following steps:

  1. Switch to page ACCOUNTING > Accounts Archive   
  2. You will see two nav panels, select the desired account from the left one
  3. Click Suspend
  4. The account will be moved from the left to the right nav panel

Should you need to re-activate the account later on, you can do so by clicking the Reopen button after selecting the account from the right nav panel.  

  

By default, AS Club is set up to dispatch email (and SMS) through the Austrosoft SMTP server. You may wish to utilize another email server for email dispatches though, preferably the one your Internet Service Provider (ISP) has allocated to your email account. If your club has a website, it will often be best to route email through the SMTP server assigned to your website, as ISP's frequently impose strict limits on the number of emails they will handle at any one time; this may be as little as 25 (Telkom SA). To assign another SMTP server, you would click the 'Setup Email Service' button on the Email page (click PROCESSING • Email). AS Club will import the email settings of your 'Default account' from Windows XP if yours is a regular POP3/SMTP account. You only need to add your email account password, which won't be imported.
Please note that the import function currently works only with Windows XP, with other Windows versions you would have to manually enter the necessary settings.

The time taken to send out one statement depends mainly on two factors: the data volume per statement and your Internet connection, i.e. its speed and quality. As statements of account are not identical and have to be sent out individually, their number is a multiplier. 
The file size per AS Club-produced statement rendered to email (HTML) might be 15 KB on average .
Speed and quality of your Internet connection combine in the 'throughput'-figure, measured in bytes (or bits) per second. In most cases the throughput when sending from your computer ('uploading') will be significantly lower than when receiving ('downloading'), on average by a factor of 3 to 5. 
The new multi-threaded AS Club email dispatcher should be able to keep your transmission running at full line speed. If your upload speed is 30 KB/sec, 2 statements / sec will be sent out.   

The second option, copies of the same document emailed through AS Club, will be sent as 'blind carbon copies' (BCC), resulting in only one message being dispatched to the email server which passes it on to all recipients. This mode is triggered when you select 'Bulk Email (+ opt. Attachments)' from the combo box on the PROCESSING • Output • Email page.

AS Club is being offered internationally, which makes personal support on site all but impossible, especially given the affordable price point of the product.
Given the nature of problems computer users can face, it is sometimes more effective for issues to be resolved via email rather than over the phone, but users are free to choose their means of communication. There is no restriction on the number of enquiries a user may make. 
  
The email system serves to inform of new program versions and distribute updated files, which we aim to make as simple to use as possible, requiring no more than mouse clicks to install. 
A special feature of AS Club is a single-click database submission system. This is a big boon should Austrosoft ever require the actual user database for diagnostic purposes: data compression is applied to the database to reduce its volume (it will generally be brought down to around 10%), the data contained is encrypted to make it indecipherable by third parties und the resulting password-protected "zip-archive" is automatically transmitted as an email attachment to Austrosoft, where proper testing and diagnosis can take place. 
In case of such an emergency, you only need to:

1. connect to the Internet, 
2. select PROCESSING • Output • Email, 
3. select: 
    AS Club Database => Austrosoft  from the combo box,
4. enter a brief description of the problem 
5. execute by clicking 'Send'

We will get back to you after receiving your message.
Licensed users benefit from the new automatic update feature. From version 1.1.3.11, AS Club makes a daily trip to the Austrosoft website and checks if any new updates are available. If so, they will be downloaded and automatically installed. This happens in the background, AS Club remains fully functional during downloads and no user action is required.
(But licensed or not, your feedback regarding AS Club is always appreciated!)