Chapter 2 - System Requirements

The Virtual Environmental Manager (or Virtual Environmental, Health & Safety Manager) (VEM) is intended for installation on a personal computer or workstation with the following minimum system requirements:

Pentium or higher processor
Microsoft® Windows 2000 or XP operating system
64 Mbytes of RAM (128 Mb or higher recommended)
120 Mbytes of hard-disk space
CD-ROM drive for installation
VGA or higher resolution monitor (Super VGA recommended)
Mouse or compatible pointing device
Internet and e-mail programs and connectivity

VEM is a database application built on the Microsoft® Access database management software. Access 2000 or later must be installed on the system for VEM to function. In addition, we recommend installation of the free Adobe® Acrobat® Reader (version 4.0 or later) to view the electronic file copy of this user guide included on the VEM compact disc.

User

Although no particular expertise is required to use VEM, we anticipate that the user will have some familiarity with Microsoft® Access or related products (such as Excel and Word). A working knowledge of Access database tools, commands and operations will allow the user to format screen forms and reports according to personal preferences (for example, inserting a company logo or letterhead onto printable forms), as the Access standard and formatting toolbars are made available while VEM is running.

A Note About Formatting

VEM is formatted for optimal viewing in 800 x 600 pixel screen mode. As a result, extraneous lines or blank spaces may appear on screens set to a higher resolution. We recommend that you reset your monitor resolution to 800 x 600 for best viewing. Alternatively, an experienced Access user can adjust the form size and appearance in design view (but see the IMPORTANT NOTE below).

In addition, verdana is used as the selected font for VEM text boxes and labels. This font and its varying sizes will not be rendered exactly as formatted on all computers. As a result, text or labels may appear truncated or misaligned in some cases. Again, these formatting issues can be resolved by slight adjustments in design view. Again, though, we refer you to the following IMPORTANT NOTE.

IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT attempt to delete any text boxes, command buttons or other functional controls from a screen form, or you may delete the underlying code and be unable to replicate that function!