The Retail Price Index Maintenance form is accessed via Fleet System Management / Miscellaneous Options / Retail Price Indices and is used to create, edit and delete retail price indices which are used as part of thecalculation which updates live agreements on the anniversary of their start dates with a revised rental that reflects a percentage of the increase in the Retail Price Index.
This form is used in conjunction with the following three processes in order to control Retail Price Index rental adjustments:
This program runs down the Agreement file and selects those agreements flagged as "RPI upliftable" which are due for updating within the next 60 days. The selected agreements are displayed and maintained within the Maintain Rental Uplift Log file (accessed via Fleet System Management / Miscellaneous Options / Rental Update Log File ).
This form presents any Agreements that match the selection criteria from the Create RPI Rental Update Log process, displaying the Revision Date, the Old and New Rental and a text field for a brief summary. The Status flag of C or P denotes whether the RPI update is ( C )onfirmed or is still ( P )ending. RPI updates may also be amended within this form.
Running this option actions any (P)ending Log transactions so that the relevant Agreements are updated to a ( C )onfirmed status.
The Retail Price Index may be sourced from the Financial Times which reports on any movements two months in arrears, (for example, the February 2001 retail price adjustment is printed in April 2001 issues). This information is manually transferred and held within the Retail Price Index Maintenance file.
The form is split into three areas. These are the Titlebar , the Retail Prices Index Maintenance Record Table and the column of Command Buttons at the bottom of the form.
In addition to displaying the form name the Title Bar provides a number of useful buttons.
This form displays a record table of all retail price indices currently set up on the system. This table is user-defined and may be added to on a regular basis:
The first column in the table displays and allows input of the appropriate RPI calendar year e.g. 2001 .
The second column in the table displays and allows input of the appropriate RPI calendar month e.g. 1 (denotes January).
RPI Index Value
The monetary RPI Index Value (as obtained from a source such as the Financial Times).
The list displays up to a maximum of twenty five retail price indices at any one time. To view the remaining records the Scroll Bar immediately to the right of the second column can be operated in a number of ways:
To edit the Retail Price Indices table a single-right-click of the mouse in either of the two columns displays a small menu box with the following options:
- Edit Row
Allows the currently selected row to be edited. Alternatively, single-left-click into the row, enter the appropriate data and use the Tab key to move to the next column.
- Insert Row
Inserts a blank row above the selected record so that a new retail price index may be added. The system automatically inserts the entry into the correct calendar sequence within the table.
- Delete Row
Deletes the selected retail price index record..
- Copy
Enables the retail price index for one record to be copied to other records to speed data entry.
- Filter
Presents a Selection Criteria Box which enables selection of only those records meeting the selection criteria. The following mutually exclusive selection criteria option buttons/fields are available:
- Equals
Searches the selected column for a description matching that entered in the data entry box at the bottom of the form. Any records equaling the criteria are displayed.
- Not Equal
Searches the selected column for a description matching that entered in the data entry box at the bottom of the form. Any records equaling the criteria are not displayed.
- Greater Than
Searches the selected column for any records with a text character string which is alphabetically higher than the character(s) entered in the data entry box at the bottom of the form. Any records greater than the criteria are displayed.
- Less Than
Searches the selected column for any records with a text character string which is alphabetically lower than the character(s) entered in the data entry box at the bottom of the form. Any records less than the criteria are displayed.
- Contains
Searches the selected column for any records with a text character string containing the character(s) entered in the data entry box at the bottom of the form. Any records meeting the criteria are displayed.
- Range
Searches the selected column for any records with a text character string which is alphabetically equal to or between the character(s) entered in the two data entry box at the bottom of the form. Any records meeting the criteria are displayed.
- No Filter
No filter is applied to the record search. The Reset command button also activates the "No Filter" option.
A number of command buttons are available. Some buttons are context sensitive and are greyed-out and only become available dependent upon the particular process that is being accessed. The full list of command buttons is as follows:
Exits the Retail Price Index Maintenance form and returns to the Miscellaneous Options Menu .
Provides online access to a context sensitive Help form.
Sorts the records by the chosen keypath. Upon selection, a Keypath List Box is displayed from which the appropriate keypath (if there is more than one) is selected.
A checkbox that, when ticked, sorts the records in descending order.
Redisplays the records on the form with any new modifications.
A checkbox that, when ticked, automatically redisplays all records on the form after an amendment.
Restricts a Sort by allowing entry of a text string from which to start.
Restricts a Sort by allowing entry of a text string at which to finish.
The purpose of this field is to allow the display of a user-defined selection of fields for every record. This is intended to reduce data entry errors. Selection of this option displays a Field Selection Box . A double-left-click on a field places that field within the current selection. Following selection of all required fields the OK command button returns and initiates the new field selection criteria to the Retail Price Index Maintenance form. This option is not really applicable to this record table.
Selection of this button displays a further form that provides an Ad-hoc Report Generator for the creation of quick query reports to form. An enquiry is formulated by completing a simple set of verbs and field names. A saved formulated query can be retrieved for future use.
Displays each field in a record by row, with the field name in the left-hand column and the field data in the right hand column. Within this option, records may be created, amended or deleted.