Q.  How do I use my Palm Pilot with the DCMS?

The good news is that I have embraced the PalmPilot as an essential tool in my life. It took me a while to do so. The bad news is that I have a ways to go to bring the DCMS fully up to the capabilities of the PalmPilot.
 
I have a project in planning stages called DCMS Palm, which will bring in your personal data, customer purchase records, and inventory into one application which will stand alone and Hot Sync to your PalmPilot. Then, I intend that you will be able to process a sale at the class using the PalmPilot and uplink your sales information and updated inventory to the DCMS.  This process is going slowly, but I expect to have DCMS Palm delivered by Summer 2005
 
That being said, I still use my PalmPilot every day to provide Angie with the information she needs on the road.
 
At present, you can "Export" the names and professional information of the people in your database to a file on your computer and then "Import" them into the PalmPilot desktop Address Book application. From there, you can HotSync the data to your PalmPilot (or compatible - I use a Sony Clie). 
 
For each person in your records, the DCMS will download  Name, address, phone numbers, best time to call, email address, birthday, spouse name and birthday. Customers' records will also contain total sales to date, credit or balance info, date of the last call and why, and forecast date of the next call and why.  Your Unit members' info will contain their consultant number, status, recruiter, and yearly and quarterly wholesale production to date. Offspring Directors' records will contain unit size, yearly adjusted retail unit production, consultant and unit number and total commissions to date.
 
The DCMS will transfer the database through either the PalmPilot's own (native) Address Book "import" function, which can be accessed from within the Palm Desktop program that came with your PalmPilot, or through Microsoft Outlook, which can be added to your PalmPilot or compatible device.  Either way, the DCMS will create an intermediate file that can be imported into Outlook or Address Book, which you can then HotSync into your PalmPilot.    (Please note that if you prefer, the same data can be transferred to the Palm through Outlook Express, using a similar Export/Import procedure.)
 
The process for doing  that follows.
 
"Tag" the names of the people you want to download to your PalmPilot (or, you can export all of your names if you wish). Then open the Utilities Menu of the DCMS and choose the "Transfer Data to PalmPilot" option.
 
The first screen of the utility asks if you want to transfer To or From the PalmPilot, and further asks if you want to use  the Palm Address Book or Microsoft Outlook to perform the transfer. (Please note that as of this writing, only the Address Book option is available) Choose one of the options.
 
The next screen does all the work. 
 
First, from a menu, select the category which best describes the names you want to export to your PalmPilot software. The options are "All Records", "Mary Kay" , "Customer", "Personal", "Household", "Miscellaneous", "Pros. Recruits", "Pros. Customers", "Tagged Files", "Unit Members" and "Offsprings'."
 
Next, the utility will create a "comma-separated" file (CSV) which you can then import into the Address Book function of your Palm Desktop software, which you can then HotSync to your PalmPilot. However, in order to find the file after you create it, you should name it and remember the name and folder location. Please ensure that the filename extension is ".CSV"
 
Next, you are ready to create the file. Click the button at right to have the DCMS extract your names as chosen in the first step. above and fill the file with them.
 
Then, you are ready to close the DCMS and start up your Palm Desktop program on your main computer. Choose the Address Book feature. If you want to add the selected files, do not delete the names already in your address book. If you want to replace the names in your address book, open the Edit Menu and  choose "Select All" to highlight all the name. Then press Delete to erase them.
 
Then, open the File menu and choose "Import". You will see an Import window. At the bottom, beside "Files of type:", choose  "Comma Separated (*.csv; *.txt)" and then point the program to the file you saved above. You will be asked to "Specify Import Fields. You don't have to do anything - just click OK. 
 
On your next HotSync, the updated and added names should be on their way to your PalmPilot.
 
Hope that helps.
 

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