• What is TIP?
• Installing and Starting TIP
  System Requirements
  Installation
• Getting Acquainted with TIP
• Overview of How to Work with TIP
• How to Make and Modify Job Descriptions
• How to Evaluate Employees
• How to Print from TIP
• How to Exchange Data with Other Software
• When Things Go Wrong
• Networking
• Keeping your Data Safe and Secure
• Appendix: System Administrator's Guide

Installing and Starting TIP

System Requirements

TIP requires:

• Windows 2000, XP, or a later version.
  (TIP will run under Windows 98 and ME, but there may be minor problems.)

• At least a 600 MHz (0.6 GHz) processor with 128 MB of RAM.
  (This is also what you need to run Windows XP, so you almost certainly have it.)

• At least 0.2 GB (200 MB) of free disk space.
  This includes room for installing TIP and swap space for Windows to use as it runs.

  TIP itself occupies less than 10 MB on disk. However, if you have not already installed other Microsoft .NET applications, the Microsoft .NET Framework, which is supplied with TIP, may require as much as 40 MB.

• Video resolution of 1024×768 or higher, with a color screen.
  For the very best performance, we recommend a flat-screen monitor with 1280×1024-pixel resolution.

Installation

Preparing for installation

Depending on your computer, installing TIP may proceed three different ways.

• You may have to install the Microsoft .NET Framework and then install TIP.

• You may already have the Microsoft .NET Framework, so that all you're doing is installing TIP (or installing a new major version of TIP).

• You may be installing a new release of the same version of TIP.

If you're not sure whether you have the .NET Framework, don't worry; the TIP installer will take care of that.

Reinstalling, upgrading, or removing TIP will not require a reboot and will not delete any TIP files that you have created (job descriptions and evaluations).

Starting the Installer

To start installation, insert the TIP CD into your CD-ROM drive. Wait a moment, and installation will probably start automatically. You'll see the following screen:

If this screen does not come up within about half a minute after you insert the CD, then open My Computer, right-click on your CD-ROM drive, and choose Autoplay, or else look at the files on the CD and launch TIPinstaller (also known as TIPinstaller.exe). This will get you to the screen shown above.

Installing TIP Afresh

Choose INSTALL.

If you don't have .NET Framework installed, the installer will tell you so and will ask your permission to install it. Let it do so.

Then start the TIP installer again (by removing and reinserting your CD) in order to finish installing TIP.

If you already have the requisite version of .NET, TIP will install right away.

You do not have to reboot between steps or after installation.

Updating TIP

Choose UPDATE.

This is for installing an updated release of the same version of TIP (e.g., a new release of TIP 1.0 over an older release of TIP 1.0).

On the next screen, choose Repair, then click Finish. The new version of TIP will be installed over the old one.

If for any reason this does not work, simply remove TIP from your machine and reinstall it afresh.

Removing TIP

To remove TIP from your computer, do not use the TIP CD-ROM. Instead, go to Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, find TIP, and choose Change/Remove.

Removing TIP will not delete any TIP files that you have created.