Features

Ag Payroll
Labor Reports
Receivables
Payables
General Ledger
Query/Data Export
User Interface
System Requirements
Pricing
Ordering Information
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System Requirements

The Labor Contractor's Office is designed to run under Windows 2000, XP or Vista. Windows 2000 and Windows XP are the recommended operating systems to use.

A Pentium III processor, 256 Mb of RAM, and 50Mb of available hard disk space are minimum requirements. (For a workstation on a multi-user network, 512 Mb of RAM is the recommended minimum.)

You will of course experience better performance with a newer Pentium IV, Celeron or Intel Core processor (or equivalent AMD processor), and more RAM.  This is the recommended system.

Your monitor's display resolution must be set to at least 800 x 600.  (Some optional features will work best with your resolution set to 1024 x 768.)

Internet access is highly recommended to assist in support (updates can be downloaded from our web site).  High speed access (cable modem, DSL, wireless) is recommended.

A USB Flash Drive, tape backup or ZIP or Jaz drive or similar removable media for backups is highly recommended.  USB flash drives have become very popular because they can hold several backup files, they are small, and are very inexpensive.

An Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) is highly recommended for your computer.  If your power goes out, you will be able to finish what you are doing and shut down your computer without the possibility of losing what you are working on.

All printers supported by the Windows operating system will work with The Labor Contractor's Office.  We recommend that you have a page printer (either a laser, ink jet, or bubble jet) for printing reports.  (While dot matrix printers can be used, the Windows operating system prints to dot matrix very slowly due to the fonts that are used.)  If you have a laser printer with multiple bins or paper trays, The Labor Contractor's Office will automatically print from the bin or tray that contains your checks.

Currently, only the blank paper format is supported for California quarterly reporting (the DE-6) and this requires a page printer (laser/ink jet/bubble jet).

Dot matrix printers are directly supported for printing checks, labels, and other continuous forms (such as W-2's or invoices).  (We print these forms using the fonts built in to the printer instead of Windows fonts so that printing is not slowed down.)

Check Ordering Information

Several different check layouts are pre-programmed into The Labor Contractor's Office.  If you currently have checks that do not match one of our pre-programmed formats, a custom format can be easily programmed to work with your existing checks.  The Labor Contractor's Office supports page checks used in both laser and ink jet printers as well as continuous checks for dot matrix printers.

If you already have computer checks and would like us to verify that they will work with our software, void a check and mail it to us for us to compare with our supported formats.  If you need to order new checks, we can provide you with samples of the standard check format used by our program.  (The sample check is provided by Advance Forms Management in Fresno.  They have worked with many of our customers, providing checks, W-2's, invoices, and other forms, and are familiar with the standard Datatech check formats.)

Checks may of course be ordered from any forms supplier.  Here are some of the part numbers from two national forms companies that are pre-programmed in The Labor Contractor's Office:

When ordering checks for laser or ink jet printers, the forms company should check to see what kind of printer you have.  Different models feed paper differently, and depending on how your printer works, you may need to get the checks in reverse order (highest check # on top) or in regular order (lowest check # on top).  Make sure you have the make and model of the printer ready when you call the forms company.

Blank Check Stock

The Labor Contractor's Office can also print checks on blank check stock, where the company name, logo, bank information, and checking account/routing information are not pre-printed on the checks.  Printing on blank check stock requires an extra cost option (see Pricing page).  It also requires special magnetic toner to be used for the bank account/routing numbers that must be printed at the bottom of the checks.

This option is useful for payroll services, bookkeepers and accountants that do payroll for multiple labor contractors.  Blank check stock may be left in the printer and the program will print all of the necessary information that is normally pre-printed on checks, including the company name/address, logo, bank information, and the bank account/routing numbers at the bottom of the checks.