Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 42

D10 Forms-handling software eats red tape for breakfast For every dollar it costs to create a form, it costs the average office $20 to fill it in and $60 to burst, mail, file and find the form when you need to use it again. Want to reduce the cost of filling, filing and finding? Use a forms-handling program. Don't believe us? Ask Stormin' Norman. His red tape processors placed a rush order, during Operation Desert Storm, for $100,000 worth of copies of PerFORM forms processing software. PerFORM, like most comprehensive forms software, actually contains two programs.

A form-creating program asks what you want to include and where you want it positioned. It suggests attractive layouts. It automatically draws boxes, dotted lines and other standard forms devices. It saves your form on disk as a template and prints it out on plain paper. The second program is a form filler.

It brings on screen whichever template you need. You can fill it in by typing in data. Or, if you set up the form to get its own data, it can do automatic fill-in from files on your disk. It prints filled-in forms on plain paper. the program decompresses it automatically.

PerFORM creates and fills in graphics as easily as data. If you're in real estate, you can use scanned images of buildings to "fill in the blanks." Personnel departments can fill in employees' photos from scanned-in or video files. Anyone can add signatures and corporate logos made with one of the popular drawing programs. PerFORM comes with 100 standard forms set up already. It also supports UPC and other major bar code standards.

Simply enter the code's number and PerFORM changes it to a bar code. PerFORM 2.1 is $300 and works on MS-DOS; PerFORM Pro costs $500 and runs on Windows. The two versions are essentially alike. PerFORM TRACER is an add-on program that reads scanned-in forms and traces them so you can use them as templates in PerFORM. It's a fast way to transfer complex old on-paper forms to computer.

Deluxe Corp. built an empire selling checks and other forms that fill in their data from popular accounting programs. For a significant portion of its forms, Deluxe uses North Winds software similar to what you can buy for less than $150. North Winds sells directly to consumers two forms processing programs, $150 FormZ and $80 For-mAll. FormAll is just a form-filler.

It comes with typical invoices, bills of lading, packing lists, purchase orders, statements and such already set up for you. You can just fill them in and print them onto plain paper. It writes to most computer printers. FormZ is similar to PerFORM in that you can create any form you need (including those that come set up in FormAll). It comes with 65 canned forms.

Unlike PerFORM, it works only with character-based format so it can't import fancy letterheads, logos or other graphics. But it can accept spreadsheetlike formulas and pull in data from spreadsheets such as 1-2-3 and databases such as Paradox. Bloc Development's $100 FormTool Gold is an update of the first product they made. Like most Bloc products, it's easy to learn. It comes with 150 files of canned forms ready to use or modify.

They include standard small business accounting forms, parts lists, personnel forms, calendars, planners, and computer and software maintenance forms. FormBase is made by Xerox, the Franklynn Peterson, i. is t. Business fly UUi.irUILK We tested a bunch of full-scale forms programs. We agree with the Army's choice.

Delrina's PerFORM does more than most other forms programs. It can fill in data from other programs' look-up tables, spreadsheets and databases. You can have it derive fill-in information using whatever formulas you like. With all that, it's easier to use than the other programs and has a better manual. It prints faster and more smoothly than the rest.

It can print 8.5-inch-by-l 1-inch "tiles" that you can assemble into big forms for commercial printing. Then it can print compiled proofs of the big forms onto ordinary paper. It can save its forms as files that many commercial printers can use as is, so you may not need artists or typesetters. If you like, it can save templates as compressed files. This frees up space on your hard disk.

When you want to work with a compressed file, 1 30 Year Amortization 2331 ROUTE 34 WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ 08720 VM I VI same company that makes Ventura Publisher. It's essentially a dedicated forms-handling version of the other program. It requires Windows and is only slightly easier to learn than the complicated desktop- publishing software. We recommend it only if you already know how to use Ventura Pub-Usher in which case, you don't need it anyway because VP can give you the same results. For Mac owners, we suggest $280 Forms Designer.

Version 1.2 is able to read a scanned form and trace it for use as an editable template. For IBM compatible owners, PerFORM and FormZ are faster and easier. (If you can't find these programs locally, telephone their makers: Form-Tool Gold: Bloc Development, (305) 445-0903. FormZ and Formall: North Winds, (412) 832-9799. Forms Designer Softview (800) 622-6829.

PerFORM products: Delrina Technology, (800) 268-6082.) Columnists Franklynn Peterson and Judi K-Turkel answer questions mailed with a self-addressed, stamped envelope to PJK Associates 3006 Gregory Madison, Wise. 53711-1847. rice and vegetable oil were canceled or reduced when projected shortages failed to materialize, the report said. Among the various programs: Catholic Relief Services, a humanitarian organization, was given a $4.2 million grant to provide equipment such as chain saws and sprayers to private farmers in Poland. A $1 million grant supported the farmer-to-farmer program carried out by the Volunteers in Overseas Cooperation Assistance.

Under the program, American farmers provide general management training and advice on how to improve marketing skills and set up cooperative banks. USDA conducted training seminars in Poland on transportation, distribution and storage of perishable agricultural products. The Agriculture Extension Service placed a senior adviser in the Polish Ministry of Agriculture to counsel officials on setting up an extension service. Some $225,000 went to the Cochran Middle Income Country program to provide managerial training in agribusiness to 25 Polish and 17 Yugoslav mid-and senior-level executives. USDA worked with ConAgra, a private U.S.

agribusiness, to help a group of Poles learn American business practices and give them practical management skills. Agriculture Department providing goods, training to Eastern Europe LASER TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS NO MATTER HOW YOU SLICE IT, IT PAYS TO RECYCLE YOUR TONER CARTRIDGES (FOR LASER PRINTERS CANON PC COPIERS) I COST I I "YIELD I moouus roam NEW CART TMDCE RECYCLING RECYCLING I 59 I 12Q I TO BEGIN RECYCLINC YOUR TONER CARTRIDCE JUST CALL: (908) 842-7556 11111 rr. "A lot of the problem is they don't have any system of collecting data, accurate information," said one analyst. That means fanners and policymakers have little idea how to plan. Should a farmer plant corn in his region or is there a surplus? Should he reduce his cattle herd or maintain it' A big part of USDA's program involves technical assistance.

"Our strategy is to bring them more in line with Western farming practices," said the analyst, who spoke on condition he remain anonymous. Poland has been a major recipient of the department's largesse, according to a report to Congress on aid activities in Eastern Europe in 1990. Aid was provided under the SEED Act legislation, passed to help encourage democratic institutions in the region. In 1990, then-Agriculture Secretary Clayton Yeutter and the Polish Ministry of Agriculture set up four working groups for continued U.S. assistance in the areas of infrastructure, scientific research, production, marketing and internal trade.

Despite the food aid shipped to Poland in 1990, which was needed because of rapid changes, Polish fanners adapted quickly to the new market economy, the report to Congress. Planned shipments of butter, wheat, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON From Poland to Bulgaria, the Agriculture Department is providing commodities as well as technical assistance to farmers in the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. Historically, Eastern Europe could feed its people, but the fallen communist regimes skewed the market system and created distortions in agricultural marketing, distribution and transportation systems. In addition, the region has experienced drought for the last several years. As a result, several countries have experienced food shortages since the Berlin Wall fell in late 1989.

For instance, the United States has provided $96.8 million in food aid to Poland, roughly 500,000 tons of commodities. Romania received about 500,000 tons valued at $71 million. Some 300,000 tons have been shipped to Bulgaria so far this year. The bulk of the assistance was feed grains for livestock, with smaller quantities of wheat, rice, soybean meal, cotton, pork bellies and butter. The Foreign Agricultural Service, an arm of the Agriculture Department, says it's difficult to generalize, but there are common problems.

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