[justify]COMFAR III Expert
These Release Notes refer to issues not covered by printed COMFAR III Expert documentation
(Manuals and notes for Version 1.0b for Windows).
The Release Notes are applicable for COMFAR III Expert as well as COMFAR III BusinessPlanner. Since COMFAR III BusinessPlanner does not facilitate a module for Economic analysis, the respective topics related to this module are not applicable for COMFAR III BusinessPlanner. Later, the Release Notes will always refer to COMFAR III Expert.
Contents
1 Version 1.0a, update of Version 1.0
1.1 New features
1.2 Corrections
2 Version 1.0b, update of Version 1.0a
2.1 New features
2.2 Corrections
3 Version 1.0c, update of Version 1.0b
3.1 New features
3.2 Corrections
4 Version 1.0d, update of Version 1.0c
4.1 New features
4.2 Corrections
5 Version 2.0, update of Version 1.0d
5.1 New features
5.2 Corrections
5.3 Future development
6 Currently known limitations and problems
6.1 Features not yet released
6.2 Technical problems due to the working environment
7 Language Modules
7.1 Language modules available
7.2 Language modules under preparation
7.3 Future development, possible cooperation
RELEASE NOTES
1 Version 1.0a, update of Version 1.0
1.1 New features
• Page Setup Changed: Date, time and project name added
• ESC-key active when input line for list box has been selected
• Faster algorithm for 'IRR' and 'Sensitivity of IRR' calculation
• Automatic adjustment of 'Standard production costs' input data when changing the 'Nominal capacity' for a product
• Possibility to interrupt (stop) calculation
• Loading of COMFAR III Mini Expert project files
1.2 Corrections
The following errors have been corrected:
• GPE (General Protection Error) when printing 'Distribution of profit'
• GPE when printing 'Discounted Cash Flow on Partners capital invested' for long partner names
• GPE when printing 'Income tax" under certain conditions
• GPE in 'Print job window' when clicking into Yearly/Periodical header
• GPE when leaving the result window with Alt-F4 and mouse cursor was inside of chart
• GPE during calculation under certain conditions due to a bug within the 'Income tax' model
• GPE and wrong 'Reference year' within the 'Adjustment of inputs / outputs window' in the economic analysis part of the browser
• GPE in parametric analysis charts of 'Discounted Cash flow on Partner Capital invested'
• Context sensitive help reference for 'Calculation window'
• Some corrections of the on-line help text
• Legend for line chart is now printed in color
• Coordinates within charts for expansion/rehabilitation projects
• Enable/disable of Copy, Cut, Split and Paste under certain conditions
• Copy, Cut, Split and Paste corrected (problems with some numerical operations)
• Range within charts after activating/deactivating the Expansion / Rehabilitation feature
• Change of color of input icon in the data input browser
• Error when changing structure of planning horizon
• Range for IRR iteration extended to 1000% (before limited to up to 110%)
• Selecting of a complete line in the result schedules list box
• Setup was requesting FILES=50 when files were already set to 50
2 Version 1.0b, update of Version 1.0a
2.1 New features
• The new installation program (SETUP) installs additional drivers needed to use of the protection keys for COMFAR III Expert under Windows 95 and Windows NT.
• Use of COMFAR III Expert under Windows NT 4.0 (requires the installation of the Service pack 1)
• Correction and extension of the calculation of the static and dynamic payback periods (starting with first year of outflow, information about the year when paid back)
• Size of browser nodes is adjusted in correspondence with the language selected
• Change of descriptions in the following schedules for consistency: Summary sheet, Financial flow, Cash flow for financial planning, Projected balance sheet
• Context-sensitive pop-up menu to be activated with the right mouse button in the browser window in order to facilitate quicker and easier menu-bar functions such as: Insert, Delete, Copy, Cut, Split, Paste, etc.
• Change of the default algorithm of the 'Profit distribution'. 100% of the profit is retained in the project until defined differently
2.2 Corrections
The following errors have been corrected:
• Several layout adjustments and corrections in the printing procedures
• Corrections of the example cases GROWMANIA and SAHARA in the tutorial manual (financing, foreign/local origin of items)
• Correction of messages displayed when changing the planning horizon
• GPE if pasting data from the clipboard different than text
• GPE if default save directory is not existing
• GPE if hardware toggle is removed from the parallel interface when located in a modal window
• Description of the chart 'Debt/Equity ratio' is changed to 'Debt/Net worth ratio'
• Correction of the legend of the chart 'Source of finance-Equity and loan flow' for project types other than industrial
• GPE if clipboard operations exceed 32 Kbytes. Clipboard operations are now limited to 32 Kbytes (may occur especially in the horizontal view mode)
• Some corrections and adaptations in the On-line help text
• Split calculation corrected for certain conditions in the 'Insert window'
• Adjustment of Summary sheet for the case when the 'Start of production' is not at a 'Balance date'
• Correction of the calculation algorithm for 'Accelerated depreciation' to include the case of a depreciation rate of 0%.
• Replacement of the term 'Shadow exchange rate' by 'Foreign currency conversion factor' (see 'Global parameters' window in the 'Economic analysis' browser)
• Correction of the calculation methods for the chart 'Sensitivity of IRR'
• GPE in the results window, if more than one 'subsidy' subline is defined.
3 Version 1.0c, update of Version 1.0b
3.1 New features
• Local Area Network Version: The version 1.0c may be installed as a shared application within a Local Area Network.
• New installation program (Setup): For the version 1.0c a new installation (setup) program is available, which supports the following functions for COMFAR III Expert:
• Installation as a stand-alone application (on a single PC),
• Installation as a shared application (within a LAN),
• Uninstall of an installed COMFAR III Expert.
• Compare function in the Graphics menu: The version 1.0c allows for certain selected charts the graphical comparison of 2 or more projects.
• The loan repayment types 'Constant principal' and 'Annuity' are also available for 'Short-term finance'.
• Assign economic analysis: When assigning financial data ('Assign Economic analysis' in the 'Edit menu') to the Cost-benefit module, the FOB/CIF values are initialized with the respective financial value instead of 0.
• Cancel pushbutton, Escape key: The version 1.0c checks, in case the user presses 'Cancel' or 'Esc', if input data in the respective data input windows (investments, production costs, etc.) has been changed, and displays a warning.
• The same project is only loaded once into COMFAR III Expert, Version 1.0c.
• Load / Save project as window: The 'Load project' and 'Save project as' window is improved, by offering the following special commands: Page Up, Page Down, Home, End, automatic scrolling when typing the project name.
• Language selection: The version 1.0c allows to select the font-family for the display ('Language' in the 'Display menu') and the print-outs ('Page Setup' in the 'Print menu').
• Calculation: The version 1.0c allows to display and print possible calculation errors and warnings prior to a new calculation run ('View Errors' pushbutton in the 'Calculation' window).
• Discounting window: The version 1.0c displays and prints the reference points for discounting ('End of first year' or 'Beginning of first period') as dates (mm/yyyy).
• COMFAR III Expert, Version 1.0c can be ordered on CD-ROM.
• COMFAR III Expert Homepage: With the release of version 1.0c the COMFAR III Expert Homepage is updated and extended by:
• Multilingual (English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish) information
• Demonstration version of COMFAR III Expert (free of charge),
• Demonstration version of COMFAR III Mini Expert (free of charge),
• Download services such as:
• Latest release of COMFAR III Expert (free of charge for registered users),
• Latest release of COMFAR III Mini Expert (free of charge for registered users),
• Language modules (free of charge for languages already licensed),
• COMFAR III Expert manuals in PDF format (free of charge),
• COMFAR III Mini Expert manuals in PDF format (free of charge),
• Information on Training workshops for COMFAR III Expert and Mini Expert,
• Direct E-mail contact to the members of the COMFAR team,
• On-line purchase possibility.
The address of the new COMFAR III Expert Homepage is: http://www.unido.org/comfar
3.2 Corrections
The following errors have been corrected:
• Several layout adjustments and corrections in the printing procedures.
• The error 'Error in Delete Object' (appeared only with Windows NT 4.0 and some specific screen drivers) is eliminated in version 1.0c.
• Cost-benefit analysis: The error in the employment effect is eliminated.
• Depreciation: In case of 'Expansion/rehabilitation' and 'Sale of asset' during the production phase, no depreciation has been calculated for the year previous to the 'sales year'.
• Display error in Loans window: If the planning horizon of a project has been changed, the disbursements of existing loans have been displayed wrong. This error had no effect on the results, it was only a display error in the data input.
• Projected Balance Sheet: The balance sheet has been corrected, by eliminating the dividends from both, the asset and liabilities side. Through this correction, the ratios calculated in the projected balance sheet (Equity to total liabilities, Net worth to total liabilities, Long-term debt to net worth and Current assets to current liabilities) are corrected.
• The algorithm for the calculation of the Internal Rate of Return (IRR, IRRE) is further improved.
• Debt service ratio: The chart 'Debt service ratio' displayed and printed wrong data in case of a user-defined range and parametric analysis.
• Income (corporate) tax: When changing the income (corporate) tax rates of an existing projects, the command 'Save project' in the 'File menu' was not switched to active.
• Profit distribution: In the data input window 'Profit distribution' the Paste-command did not work correctly for the line 'Profit distributed'.
4 Version 1.0d, update of Version 1.0c
4.1 New features
• New installation program (Setup): For the version 1.0d a new installation (setup) program is available, which supports the following functions for COMFAR III Expert:
• For both, single PC and LAN installation, it is possible to select which of the licenced dialogue languages should be installed.
• Installation of the latest version of the drivers for the software protection keys (see also 4.2 Corrections).
• Adaptation and expansion ofCOMFAR III Expert Summary sheet. COMFAR supports now the more precise analysis of the investment costs vis-a-vis the defined financing components (equity, long-term and short-term loans) of the project for the construction, the production phase and the complete project.
• The Remarks function has been extended. It is now possible to enter for every group of project input data (e.g.: investment costs, production costs, etc.) as well as for every group of calculated results (e.g.: sources of finance, business results, etc.) descriptive text up to 5,000 characters.
• With the release of COMFAR III Expert, version 1.0d, new languages are available. For details please refer to chapter 7.
• With the release of version 1.0d, the COMFAR III Expert palette will be extended by a new product - COMFAR III Business Planner. This new system is fully data compatible to the existing products. It has been designed to support the financial analysis only, includes the full functionality of COMFAR III Expert, excluding the economic (cost-benefit) analysis. For administrative reasons, COMFAR III Business Planner will be commercially available by October 1999.
• COMFAR III Expert Homepage: For the download services (release updates, demonstration versions) a new FTP server has been installed. The address of the COMFAR III Expert Homepage remains unchanged: http://www.unido.org/comfar
4.2 Corrections
The following errors have been corrected:
• Several layout adjustments and corrections in the printing procedures.
• The installation problem using Windows NT 4.0 and Service Pack 4 and 5 (appearing on certain hardware configurations only), that produced a ‘blue screen’ is eliminated.
• Long- and short-term loans: COMFAR III Expert ignored disbursements defined for the date ‘Last disbursement’.
• Commitment and guarantee fees: The calculation rules have been changed. The respective fees are only calculated per annum and are paid together with the interst.
• Inflation rates: If the planning horizon of a project has been changed, the existing inflation rates have been transferred wrongly into the new structure.
• Depreciation adjustments: In the scrap value of the ‘Cashflow for financial planning’ and the ‘Discounted cashflow’ the depreciation adjustments have not been taken into account.
• Standard production costs: the calculation algorithm for the switch between the options ‘at planned capacity’ and ‘per unit of output’ has been changed if the unit costs have not been specified yet.
• Local Area Network version: the saving procedure has been changed, so that any intermediate files are now produced on the defined working directory. The version 1.0c produced an error, if the device from which a project has been loaded is ‘read-only’.
• Local Area Network version: during the installation of the workstations for the LAN version the setup program collapsed, if the mapping to the location from which the workstations should be installed has been defined to the installation folder only, but not to the level above this folder.
5 Version 2.0, update of Version 1.0d
5.1 New features
• The new version is a 32-bit version and is therefore only available for Microsoft Windows 95/98 and Microsoft Windows NT/2000.
• The user interface of the new version has the 'look-and-feel' of Windows 95. COMFAR facilitates now:
• a toolbar with icons for the most important commands from the menu bar,
• notebooks (instead of radio buttons) for the switching between different panels within a specific window. This change is applicable for the following windows: Discounting, Sales programme, Working capital, Loans and Starting balance,
• All windows are now "child windows" within the "main window" (browser) of COMFAR.
• The new version has been designed for the resolution 800*600 (SVGA).
• The installation program (Setup) automatically creates a Shortcut for COMFAR.
• Adaptation and expansion ofCOMFAR III Expert Summary sheet. COMFAR shows now additonal information (Exchange rates and Net present value on Equity capital).
• The layout of the Production cost window (data input) has been changed.
• The File-menu (menu-bar) has been extended by the list of the (max.) 5 last projects in use. By clicking on the respective project it is automatically loaded.
• The toolbar facilitates two new commands, "Next project" and "Previous project". If more than one project is loaded these commands may be used for switching between the loaded projects.
• The user emblem can be loaded from a file (Bitmap, TIFF and GIF).
• The clipboard operation "Copy" is now also available for the "Summary sheet" and for every "Chart".
• For the print-out every chart is resized to fit on one page.
• For every chart it is now possible to switch between the display of the chart or the corresponding numerical values. On the print-out the numerical values are printed below the chart.
• The following limitations of the version 1.0d concerning printing have been eliminated:
• More than 100 print jobs may be generated,
• Print to a file is now supported,
• The commands and options in the Print Window (change of printer, the properties, etc.) at the beginning of each print operation within COMFAR are now supported and are valid for all print-jobs.
• The EMF spool data format is now supported.
• The algorithm for the calculation of the "Internal Return of Return on Partner Capital" has been changed. COMFAR allows now also to distribute the "Net worth" at the end of the project between the Joint-venture partners.
• The algorithm for discounting cashflows has been changed. COMFAR discounts now also the “Scrap value” at the end of the project.
• With the release of COMFAR III Expert, version 2.0, new languages are/will be available. For details please refer to chapter 7.
• With the release of version 2.0, the COMFAR III Product palette has been extended by a new product - COMFAR III Business Planner. This new system is fully data compatible to the existing products. It has been designed to support the financial analysis only, includes the full functionality of COMFAR III Expert, excluding the economic (cost-benefit) analysis.
5.2 Corrections
The following errors have been corrected:
• The calculation of the "Income (corporate) tax" was incorrect, if more than one "tax bracket" and a different unit than "absolute" (e.g. millions) for the Accounting currency has been defined.
5.3 Future development
For the future development and orientation of COMFAR III Expert UNIDO would like to respond to the needs and requests of the users of our software package. For this purpose we would appreciate any suggestions concerning the future orientation and development of COMFAR. We are also kindly inviting you to our COMFAR III Expert Homepage (http://www.unido.org/comfar) to learn about any new developments concerning COMFAR.
In advance, we would like to thank you very much for your suggestions, efforts and cooperation.
6 Currently known limitations and problems
6.1 Features not yet released
The following features are planned to be released in future versions of COMFAR:
• The modules Materials Flow, Analyze and Project Data Base;
• Database links within the Project Identification window;
6.2 Technical problems due to the working environment
The technical problems listed below have been identified, but cannot be solved by us at present, because they are linked to Windows or to the runtime libraries of Neuron Data Inc. and, therefore, beyond our control. Users are recommended to take precautions as appropriate. Updates will be made available as soon as problems have been solved.
• All printouts (columns) are resized automatically in order not to cut off text. As the size of a character printed depends on the printer, COMFAR offers within the Page Setup an input field called Width correction factor. In case text is cut off on your printer, increase this figure from 5% to e.g. 15%.
• The commands “Cascade windows”, “Tile windows horizontally” and “Tile windows vertically” are inactive due to a bug of the development environment mentioned above.
7 Language Modules
A language module consists of the following components:
• Software dialogue,
• On-line help,
• Reference, tutorial and technical manuals.
7.1 Language modules available
With the release of COMFAR III Expert, Version 2.0, the following language modules are available:
• Chinese language module (please refer also to chapter 7.2)
The Chinese software dialogue including the on-line help is available.
Manuals are in English, only.
• Czech language module
The Czech software dialogue is available.
The on-line help is available in English, only.
Manuals are in English, only.
It is not planned to prepare the on-line help and publish the manuals in Czech.
• French language module
The French software dialogue including the on-line help and the manuals is available.
• German language module
The German language module including the on-line help and the manuals is available.
• Polish language module
The Polish language module including the on-line help and the manuals is available.
• Portuguese language module (please refer also to chapter 7.2)
The Portuguese software dialogue is available.
The on-line help is available in English, only.
Manuals are in English, only.
It is not planned to prepare the on-line help and publish the manuals in Portuguese.
• Russian language module
The Russian language module including the on-line help and the manuals is available.
• Slovak language module
The Slovak software dialogue is available.
The on-line help is available in English, only.
Manuals are in English, only.
It is not planned to prepare the on-line help and publish the manuals in Slovak.
• Spanish language module
The Spanish language module including the on-line help and the manuals is available.
7.2 Language modules under preparation
• Italian language module
The Italian software dialogue will be available soon (July/August 2000).
The on-line help will be available in English, only.
Manuals will be abailable in English, only.
It is not planned to prepare the on-line help and publish the manuals in Italian.
• Japanese language module
The Japanese software dialogue will be available soon (July/August 2000).
The on-line help will be available in English, only.
Manuals will be available in English, only.
It is not planned to prepare the on-line help and publish the manuals in Japanese.
7.3 Future development, possible cooperation
Some of the above mentioned language modules have been (are) developed in cooperation with partners (organisations or companies) interested in this respective language. In this case, UNIDO is giving the necessary technical support, while the actual translation work is carried out by the partner. Due to our experience, the volume of translation work and the time required for the different parts of a language module are as follows:
• Software dialogue: app. 15 standard pages (4,500 - 5,000 words)
app. 4 weeks including file transfer via e-mail.
• Manuals: app. 400 standard pages (330 words per page)
• On-line help: app. 190 standard pages (75% copied from manuals) for both, manuals and on-line help app. 5 - 6 months are required.
As shown above, it is not necessary to translate all three parts (Czech, Slovak, Portuguese). The preparation of the software dialogue only into a specific language is a relatively short effort and enables a user to operate (screen) and print projects calculated with COMFAR III Expert in this language.
At the end of the translation the partner is receiving the language module incorporated into COMFAR III Expert free of charge. The copyright and ownership of the language module remains with UNIDO. For further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
موضوع: COMFAR III Business Planner 
الإثنين فبراير 20, 2012 12:36 am
