The Control Panel

After registration and authorisation of the system the first screen you see on start up is The Control Panel which is where all the facilities available to the user are accessed. It consists of 6 tabs plus some information about the quantity of vehicles in the database together with the total you have seen and been hauled by. This information is shown in numerical form and also as a bar chart. Other Tabs are accessed in the usual windows manner by clicking the tabs along the top. On each of the tabs are various buttons which are used to access the detail forms which are available.

Next to the About tab, which gives some information about ERD including security information for obtaining your unique password, the Data tab is the central point where you access your data and from here you can open up the other windows from where you can view your data on countries, stock types, classes, stock, depots, operators, liveries and pool codes.

The next tab is the Recording Tab and from here you open up the windows for entering your sightings, stock reallocations, new stock, visits and haulage details.

After the Recording Tab you will find the Stock Summaries Tab from where you can obtain detailed statistical information on the quantities of vehicles in the database together with the number you have seen or been hauled by together with percentages.

The next tab is the Utilities Tab which helps you manage your data and will tell you, for example, if there are any vehicles in the database which belong to classes for which there are no details in the database. The Tab also contains a utility for calculating check digits which are applied to vehicles in Germany and some other EU countries.

The last Tab is the File Tab from where backups can be made from your data, your data can be restored from a backup, the data can be updated from the annual update CD and additional countries can be installed from CD.