Private Lesson Business

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I purchase EZBeans software?
2. How do I get a trial version?
3. How do I get a full version?
4. What is the best way to learn about this product?
5. Where is the best place to start entering data?
6. How do I schedule recurring appointments?
7. Why did I get a Security Warning when starting the application?
8. Where are BACKUP FILES saved?
9. How do I DELETE DATA?
10. How do I enter PARTIAL PAYMENTS?
11. How do items show up on BILLING STATEMENTS?
12. How do I get items to STOP showing up on BILLING STATEMENTS?
13. Where should I enter MILEAGE?
14. How do I change the CUSTOM LOGO on BUSINESS CARDS?
15. What do I do if a student's billing amount changes after appointments have been scheduled?
16. Why did I get a Cannot Open File message when starting the application?
17. What do I do for a cancelled lesson that has already been paid for?
18. How do I replace a LOST PRODUCT KEY?

1. How do I purchase EZBeans software?
Purchase it from the web site at www.ezbeanssoftware.com. After your purchase, you will be given a product key to enter. (An Enter Product Key page will continue to display when you start the program until you have entered the product key.)
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2. How do I get a trial version?
Download one from the web site at www.ezbeanssoftware.com.
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3. How do I get a full version?
The full version is the same as the trial version. The Enter Product Key page will cease to appear once you purchase and enter a product key.
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4. What is the best way to learn about this product?
Read Getting Started, Help, FAQ, and Product Features pages. Then practice entering data and printing business cards in print preview mode.
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5. Where is the best place to start entering data?
It is usually best to start with PEOPLE. When scheduling an appointment or a billable task in TIME, you usually want to select a contact. The same is true when recording receipts or expenses. If you use EZBeans' schedule-based billing, you will want to schedule appointments in TIME before recording receipts so that you can identify the appointments that are being paid for.
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6. How do I schedule recurring appointments?
"New - Copy" is a special button on the Schedule Detail page that allows you to create a series of appointments quickly. It starts a new appointment (just like "New" does), except that it also copies data from the current appointment and adds the specified "plus x days". It copies all data from the currently displayed appointment except for the Date, Status, Paid and Sponsor Paid boxes.
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7. Why did I get a Security Warning when starting the application?
EZ Beans products are given a Digital Signiture. A security warning about a possible security concern will appear the first time you start an EZ Beans application, but it will no longer appear once you select the option to "trust all from publisher". See Help - About Security Warnings for other situations in which you may get a security warning.
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8. Where are BACKUP FILES saved?
Files created by the backup function of the Utilities menu are saved in folder "C:\Program Files\ezBeans\ezBeansPLv1\Backups" with the date and time added to the end of the backup file name. You should copy backup files from this location to a CD or a flash drive for secure storage. Older backups can be deleted from this location to save disk space.
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9. How do I DELETE DATA?
Normally, you don't. This prevents accidental deletion. When a contact is no longer needed, change its status from 'Active' to one of the other status choices. It will no longer appear in drop-down lists but will remain available for any reporting needs (if referenced). A typical use of the other status choices could be 'Inactive' for a contact that is setup for future use, 'Cancelled' for a contact that was never used, 'Completed' for a Student that you no longer give lessons to or a Vendor you no longer use.

If an appointment is cancelled, change its status to 'Cancelled'. Uncheck 'Billable' if the cancelled appointment is not to be billed. (Leave it as billable if you want to bill for the cancelled appointment.) Optionally, you can change completed appointments to 'Completed' or just let it be assumed that 'Active' appointments for past dates were completed. 'Inactive' could be used for appointment planning purposes.

Receipts and Expenses can be changed to $0 if appropriate. Items entered in error can be identified as such in the description or can simply be reused for a future, valid entry.
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10. How do I enter PARTIAL PAYMENTS?
This situation occurs when someone pays an amount that only covers part of the Lesson Amount for a Schedule Item. When recording the receipt, first check paid on any items that are fully paid. Then click on the P* button at the right of the item list on the Receipt Detail page for the item to be partially paid, then enter the portion of the item that has been paid and click the OK button. This records the amount of payment on the existing item and creates a new billable item with the same date for the remaining amount that will show up on billing statements.

If you don't use EZBeansPL's schedule-based billing, there is nothing you need to do differently for a partial payment.
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11. How do items show up on BILLING STATEMENTS?
For Students or Hosts, items must be added to the schedule (under TIME) with:
(a) A contact selected
(b) The "Billable" box checked
(c) A Lesson Amount greater than $0
(d) The "Paid" box must be unchecked
Then, when you print Billing Statements (under MONEY), unpaid schedule items less than or equal to the "Bill-Through" date will be selected when the Student or Host contact type is selected.

For Sponsors of student lessons, the student's contact information must first identify a sponsor and the lesson amount breakout between the student and the sponsor. Then, items must be added to the schedule (under TIME) for the student with:
(a) A contact selected that has a sponsor
(b) The "Billable" box checked
(c) A Sponsor Amount greater than $0
(d) The Sponsor "Paid" box must be unchecked
Then, when you print Billing Statements (under MONEY), unpaid schedule items less than or equal to the "Bill-Through" date will be selected when the Sponsor contact type is selected.
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12. How do I get items to STOP showing up on BILLING STATEMENTS?
For items that have been paid by the account, check the "Paid" box on the appropriate schedule item on the Receipts Detail page when receipts are recorded. (This can also be done after the fact and is the only way to associate payments with schedule items that are being paid.) Items can also be updated on the Schedule Detail page by changing the Lesson Amount to $0, the Sponsor Amount to $0, by checking either "Paid" box or by un-checking the "Billable" box.
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13. Where should I enter MILEAGE?
You can enter mileage on Schedule, Receipt or Expense Detail pages. It is usually best to record mileage on Schedule Items since mileage is best kept by date and can usually be associated with a lesson or another appointment or just a trip. If you make a special trip to pick up a receipt or to pick up an expense item, EZBeans will let you record mileage with those items instead of making an extra Schedule entry just for mileage, but you'll want to be careful not to record the same mileage twice.

Note that mileage on Schedule pages will default to the mileage specified on the Contact Data Entry page if entered there.
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14. How do I change the CUSTOM LOGO on BUSINESS CARDS?
To use your own image on the Custom Logo business cards, Copy your image file to the directory "C:\Program Files\ezBeans\ezBeansPLv1\logos" replacing the existing logo.wmf file. The "stretch" feature is used to place your logo into the same square space as the example logo so that spacing of the text is not affected. (Note: The third node of the directory path, "ezBeansPLv1", will be different for different products and different versions.)
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15. What do I do if a student's billing amount changes after appointments have been scheduled?
First, change the student's default amounts in PEOPLE so that new appointments will have the correct amounts. Next, change each appointment that has already been scheduled (that should be changed) to the new amounts. The easiest way to do this is to go to each appointment and re-select the contact, this will cause the default amounts to be re-read from TIME. New appointments can be scheduled as normal (or with NEW-COPY).
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16. Why did I get a Cannot Open File message when starting the application?
This indicates that Microsoft Access(TM) cannot be found on your system. This is easily solved by downloading and installing the Access 2007 runtime from our web site. Other errors will occur with Access versions that are older than Access 2003. See the System Requirements section of the Product Features and Specifications page.
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17. What do I do for a cancelled lesson that has already been paid for?
If the student has another lesson that is unpaid, add the lesson to the schedule (if not yet scheduled), and then change the receipt detail by unchecking paid for the cancelled lesson. Then check paid for the new item to be paid.

If the student has no future lessons, then you can change receipt detail by unchecking paid for the cancelled lesson. The overpaid balance can be paid to the student as a refund. A refund that you pay to the student could be recorded either as a receipt of type "refund" with a negative amount, or as an expense of type refund. After that, the schedule item can be changed to unbillable.
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18. How do I replace a LOST PRODUCT KEY?
Send us an email with some kind of proof of purchase and we'll send you another one. Normally, the email address that you used with your purchase is enough. (Email us via our support page or at support@ezbeanssoftware.com.)
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