landpro software - Technologies

Transcription

landpro software - Technologies
LANDPRO SOFTWARE
Product Summary Book
www.LandPro.com
(281) 363-4213
Spring 2016
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 1
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 2
LANDPRO PRODUCTS & SERVICES
o VISUAL LANDPRO 2000
Lease Records and Contract Data Management Software for Oil and Gas Exploration
Companies and Coal Mining Companies.
o VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 SQL
Same as VLP2000, all data stored in your SQL2012 databases. This version also has access
to additional proven-useful filter queries and allows easier linking to your SQL accounting
database
o MAPSUITE GIS EDITOR - LANDPRO EDITION
Generate maps with live VLP2000 data on them. Create polygons based on your tract legal
descriptions. Use popular .SHP files as well as other more advanced GIS tables/databases.
o LANDPRO EXPRESS
Online Lease Acquisition Management system, for field landmen.
o DIVISION ORDERS CALCULATION MODULE FOR VLP2000
Calculate Revenue and Expense Division Orders using existing data. Requires VLP2000.
o LANDPRO BROKER IMPORT MODULE
Adds data import capabilities from our custom Excel Worksheets automatically created by
LandPro Express. This module is also often used to import data from 3rd party software
systems into VLP2000. Requires VLP2000.
o REVENUE DISTRIBUTION MODULE FOR COAL MINING COMPANIES
Calculate Coal Mining Royalty Payments / print checks. Requires VLP2000
o DILMAD CUSTOM REPORT WRITER FOR VLP2000
Use Dilmad Report Writer to easily create new report and Excel export templates so that
everyone with access to VLP2000 can run them directly within VLP2000.
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VLP PLUGIN FOR ARCGIS
Already have ArcGIS and want to link to your VLP2000 database? Our VLP Plugin for ArcGIS
is the answer. When you link the GIS shapes to our subtracts, the program automatically
generates VLP GIS Layers, stored in .DBF tables, in Well Known Binary (WKB) format.
SERVICES & RELATED
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CUSTOM PROGRAMMING SERVICES
DATA CONVERSIONS ( IMPORT / EXPORT DATA SERVICES)
TRAINING COURSES AT OUR TRAINING FACILITY IN SPRING, TX
ON-SITE ONE-ON-ONE TRAINING SERVICES
GIS DATA CONVERSIONS, GIS DATA ENTRY SERVICES
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 3
WELCOME TO VISUAL LANDPRO
Here at LandPro Corp we specialize in software development, specific to the land industry. We have
been providing solutions for land departments, field landmen, and land owners since 1987. In
addition to VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 (VLP) and VLP2000-SQL, we also offer training, technical
support, data conversion services, and software customizations services. Other products that
complement Visual LandPro include LANDPRO EXPRESS (lease acquisition software), LANDPRO
DOI MODULE (calculates Division Order of Interest), the DOCUMENT IMAGING MODULE,
DILMAD REPORT WRITER (custom reports and Excel worksheet generator), GIS Auto-Linker Tool,
(link .SHP files to VLP Subtracts), MAPSUITE GIS EDITOR (LandPro Ed.) (full mapping capabilities,
including Metes & Bounds / Jeffersonian creation tools, legal description auto-converter, VLP AutoLinker, VLP SmartMaps, and much more), VLP PLUGIN FOR ARCGIS (access VLP map-related
data in ArcGIS) and our MINING REVENUE DISTRIBUTION MODULE (coal mining royalty
distribution software).
VLP data is stored in popular Visual FoxPro 9.0 tables, so it is easily accessible by 3rd party systems
such as Excel, ArcGIS, Arcinfo, and other programs that can read .DBF files. VLP2000 SQL stores
its data in SQL2008, 2012 databases and newer.
VLP is truly feature-filled and very powerful. It was modeled after MS-Office, in order to minimize your
learning curve. Our proven-useful reports are abundant, clearly laid-out, and extremely “flexible”
(most of them are even USER-MODIFIABLE): we offer numerous “management-style” summary
reports, as well as analyst-style, detail reports. VLP can also print leases to MS-Word.
VLP allows you to easily export your LandPro records to Excel thanks to our flexible “snapshot”
reports. This includes Name & Addresses, Division Order decks, Payment History, Payment
Obligations, and much more. This allows you to quickly and easily provide to your accounting
department all the necessary data out of LandPro that they may require – should “integration with
your accounting system” become an issue down the road.
If you need more flexibility in data exporting to Excel and custom reports, then check out the Dilmad
Report Writer for VLP, which gives you great power in specifying which tables and fields you wish to
extract data from.
VLP also allows you to quickly IMPORT BROKER DATA (lease / tract ownership data / and related)
thanks to its optional LANDPRO EXPRESS IMPORT” MODULE. This module allows you to import
data using a special multi-tab page Excel worksheet file.
VLP data is stored on YOUR SERVER or YOUR LOCAL COMPUTER’s hard drive. You can still
access VLP over the internet if that is a requirement, by simply using Windows’ “Remote Desktop”
services, or Microsoft Terminal Services. Call for more details if you wish to license VLP to run on
Citrix or Windows Server 2012.
Our software is powerful, yet intuitive. It generates over 280 reports, including various Exhibit A’s,
Acreage Inventories, Payment Obligation Reports, Rental Checks and Receipts, Expense
Summaries, Net Revenue Interest Reports, Division Orders, Mining Royalty Payments, and a lot
more! Plus, with the DilMad Report Writer you can create your own custom reports as well.
Smaller companies can start out using LandPro Express, then upgrade to Visual LandPro as their
needs increase. VLP2000-SQL stores data in SQL databases, for added security and compatibility.
We have hundreds of end-users using VLP2000 and other products we offer. Don’t hesitate to call for
references!
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 4
In conclusion, we want to make sure that VISUAL LANDPRO will be the PERFECT Land Software
system for your company. Please don’t hesitate to call or email us if you would like to discuss your
company’s needs in more detail.
Luigi Ballatori
[email protected]
(281) 363-4213 Office
(713) 818-9020 Cellular
Did you know that Visual LandPro 2000 won 3 separate Microsoft Excellence Finalist Awards?
FINALIST – VLP2000
1998 Microsoft Visual FoxPro Excellence Awards
BEST MIGRATION TO VISUAL FOXPRO
FINALIST – VLP2000
1998 Microsoft Visual FoxPro Excellence Awards
BEST PACKAGED APPLICATION
FINALIST – VLP2000
1999 Microsoft Visual FoxPro Excellence Awards
BEST PACKAGED APPLICATION
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (VLP2000)
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PC with a Pentium 4 – 2.0Ghz or faster processor preferred
Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2003
4GB+ RAM recommended
20GB+ HARD DISK SPACE available on LOCAL hard drive.
Laser Printer with LEGAL PAPER TRAY highly recommended
Networks supported include latest MS Windows networks such as Microsoft Windows 2012 and
2008 Server, Microsoft LAN Manager, and other NetBIOS-compatible networks, including Novell®
NetWare® . We also have various clients that run VLP2000 on Citrix.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 5
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 6
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 7
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 8
Mapsuite GIS Editor (LandPro Edition) Sample Screens
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 9
Example of Jeffersonian Tool in MapSuite GIS Editor (LandPro Ed.), showing quarter-quarter calls,
with Lots
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 10
Visual Landpro 2000 Features
Quick Data Entry Wizards. Setup your leases, tracts, and contracts fast! Let Visual LandPro do all
the “dirty work” for you. Just sit back, review, and approve!
Setup a lease form first. Then have LandPro use that form when you create your lease. It already
knows a good 70-80% of what goes on that lease…
Setup your tracts and tract ownership next. Then tell LandPro
which tract(s) and mineral owner(s) the lease covers, and it will
automatically do all the calculations for you (including
importing the lease legal description from the tract description).
Setup your lease last. A few mouse clicks, and you’re done!
Multiple Instances of Entry Forms. You can keep several
leases and/or pages of individual records open simultaneously.
You can also create all sorts of record “on-the-fly” without
having to exit what you were doing first!
Use standard “pageframes” in data entry forms.
We offer the latest “tab-style” forms for
data entry. You can have multiple windows open simultaneously.
Easy Export Capabilities into Excel and Word. Anywhere you can do a “Snapshot” report you
can also do an Export to Excel Snapshot. These come in real handy when you want to do some
customization to your reports!
Unlimited Number of Working Interest Decks.
You can specify as many Working Interest decks per lease as you wish. Some decks may be
different due to different ownerships at different depths, or some participant interests changing
between before and after payout, or whatever…
Favorites
When you are editing a record, you can “save to favorite” (and even add a note) in
order to quickly return to that record at some later time. This is also a great way to assign tasks to do
to other end-users.
Windows Standards.
Visual LandPro 2000 Enterprise is 100% Windows 2000 Compliant.
Right-click on any form or grid or desktop to access different menus. Preview reports before printing
them.
More printing flexibility.
Reports are accessible from most grids and entry forms. You can select
individual records to be included using the tag-untag feature.
Various 3rd Party Report Generators available. If you’re not convinced that Visual LandPro 2000
Enterprise already has most or all reports that you’ll ever need, don’t panic! Various 3rd party report
generators such as CRYSTAL Reports, R&R Relational Report Writer, FoxFire!, SDT Reports, etc…
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 11
View-Only Capabilities.
You can purchase additional view-only licenses. Here the end-user can
print any report they want. And they can lookup anything. But they cannot make any changes!
Larger Data Handling.
Visual LandPro 2000 Enterprise can handle more records than the older
Visual LandPro 98 / LANDPRO 6.0 system. Extensive usage of SQL commands combined with
FoxPro’s Rushmore technology is made in order to maximize speed. Depending on your network
configuration, tens of thousands of leases should be no problem with Visual LandPro 2000 Enterprise.
Unlimited Special Provisions.
You can setup an unlimited number of special provision per
lease. Actually, you can set these up in the Lease form, then Visual LandPro can automatically
“import” them for you into your new lease. You also have access to various “batch-add” wizards that
make data setup a breeze.
Excellent Filter Engine.
Easily specify what you want to see and/or work with. Our “regular” filter
engine allows you to fill-in-the-blank what you want to see. You can also “save to disk” your
“advanced filters” for later quick-retrieval.
Flexible Snapshot Reports. You can quickly run “snapshot” reports throughout Visual LandPro.
Move your grid fields whichever way you want, then select the Preview / Snapshot Reports feature.
Visual LandPro will then generate a report laid out the exact way you have your grid laid out. If you
“hid” a field, that field will NOT print on your report. Snapshot Reports can also be exported to
Microsoft Excel very easily.
“Smart” Lease Data Sheets and other Data Sheets.
We have the most comprehensive and
easy-to-read data sheets in the industry. Not only you can select the printing sequence of each “data
band”, but you can also hide/display them as you please, and do what we call “Data Sheet Status
Reports”, where you select only one or two bands, and multiple lease records per page!
Multiple Addresses per Owner.
Visual LandPro 2000 Enterprise allows you to setup an unlimited
number of addresses and phone numbers per owner. You can also specify which address is to be
used for General Correspondence, for Rental Checks, etc…
Optional Division Order Calculation Module. Don’t let the “optional” word turn you off… Visual
LandPro already comes with an excellent Division Order management system (like most of our
competitors). What we have that they do not is the ability to having the software automatically
generate the Division Order of Interest calculations for you without having to setup any additional
records! Check it out…
Ability to view lease lists using our innovative HTML (IE7) Rendering Engine. We also allow the
end-user the capability to modify the HTML page so that you can “customize” these forms as you
please. When in the Lease grid (or most other grids), click the IE5 icon and you’ll see the bottom half
of your grid become an active HTML page.
Audit Trail System. You can activate this feature to have Visual LandPro automatically record each
addition, deletion, and modification that anyone does in the system. It will keep track of who changed
what when and where… (big brother is watching!)
Ability to do mass export / imports from Excel. Give our Excel worksheets to your field brokers.
Have them populate these spreadsheets as they take leases or run title. Then 70% of your work will
already be done! All you’ll need to do is use the Excel Import feature and you can easily import these
worksheets right into Visual LandPro.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 12
The Excel Import/Export feature can also be used to do massive data imports into Visual LandPro
from other software systems. Instead of spending thousands of dollars writing “import” programs,
have someone knowledgeable with the lease data create these Excel spreadsheets, then import them
right into Visual Landpro!
LANDPRO EXPRESS IMPORT BRIDGE. This optional module allows you to import data from a
special multi-tab Excel Worksheet that can be quickly generated by landmen using LANDPRO
EXPRESS, LandPro’s WEB-BASED, ONLINE Field Landmen Data-Entry system.
Lease Acquisition Notices
LandPro can be used by Field Landmen to setup tracts, mineral ownership records, leases, chain of
title instruments. Various reports are excellent for field landmen, including our Lease Acquisition
Notice Report, and the ability to generate Leases directly into MS-Word.
On-Line Help. Have a question? Use our innovative on-line help system and find your answer. Or
view one of our many Visual LandPro Technical Movies right from within Visual LandPro. Or visit our
website at www.landpro.com and check out our Visual LandPro Forum for lots of posted question &
answers. Or send us an email at [email protected] a quick response to your question.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 13
Mining Revenue Distribution Add-On Module. Designed to allow Coal Mining companies quickly
setup monthly production, and pay production royalties in a matter of minutes… not days!
Generate literally Tons of Reports (over 200 last time we counted…) (not even including the unlimited
“Snapshot” reports available. Visual LandPro comes pre-loaded with so many reports that we feel
you’ll never need to do any “custom” ones like you may have had to in other software systems. Then
again – if you HAVE to make some changes – you can normally export our report data to Excel very
easily, then run your report in Excel…
Optional 1099 / MAG-MEDIA Export. Export your year-to-date payments to the award-winning
W2/1099 EGSYS FILER FOR VISUAL LANDPRO 2000. Print 1099’s on regular printer paper
(without having to buy those expensive 1099 pre-printed forms). Create a mag-media file containing
your 1099 data to automatically email or mail to the IRS.
Metes & Bounds
(COGO) Tool
available in
ThinkGeo Map
Suite GIS Editor
(LandPro Edition)
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 14
VISUAL LANDPRO TECHNICAL FEATURES
Visual LandPro 2000 Enterprise™ (VLP) brings you expanded capabilities to help you in every area of
land management. In this version, you have greater control over your record data entry and report
generation. You can see improvements in performance, system resource use, and work environment.
VLP is fully Year-2000 compliant. It handles multicompany and multi-user setups, and it contains
various advanced security features.
This article covers primarily "technical" features new
to VLP and assumes basic familiarity with technical
programming terminology
Table of Contents
Better Performance
More Robust Database Management
Advanced Land Records Management
State-of-the-art User Interface
Data Entry Wizards
Snapshot Reports
Optional Integration with Imaging Management
System
System Requirements
Better Performance
LandPro® customers have come to expect the highest levels of performance. In the previous release,
LandPro 6.0, the focus was on a dramatic new approach to record setup and reports retrieval, using
Browse Windows and User-defined Reports. In VLP, honing performance under this paradigm was a
key goal. VLP itself is easier to use and offers more functionality, delivering even faster local and
server data retrieval.
Object Performance
VLP takes advantage of enhancements in speed with which objects are painted on the screen and
speed with which form controls are bound to the underlying data, while reducing the memory footprint
for several commonly-used controls. The result is a 40- to 200-percent improvement in form
performance, depending on machine configuration.
Delay Binding The new delayed binding technology provides faster and smarter object initialization,
only binding to the data source when necessary.
Clear Cached Resources When VLP displays a bitmap, picture, cursor, icon, or font resource, the
resource is cached to optimize performance. If a resource of the same name is used (for example, a
different bitmap with the same name as one already cached), VLP does not reload the resource.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 15
More Robust Database Management
VLP follows an Object-Oriented, 3-Tier Design, using the Bridge-Pattern Model. It uses Microsoft
Visual FoxPro 9.0 as its driving engine - clearly the best database system available.
You do not need to own Visual FoxPro in order to work with VLP. You do need your own licenses of
SQL Server to run VLP2000-SQL.
Advanced Land Records Management
The VLP working environment is more flexible than ever, with editing features only a right-click away.
Properties such as Leases, Contracts, Wells, Units, Tracts, Fee Mineral Properties, and Prospects all
share the same state-of-the-art user-interface, resulting in a short learning curve.
Document-Based Template Approach.
VLP simplifies data entry and inquiry through the use of various standardized windows called by the
template manager window. This is very similar to the “File New” template window of most Microsoft
Office products. Each icon in the template manager provides access to a unique property, such as
leases, prospects, wells, tracts, etc…
Snapshot Reports
After defining the layout of your columns in most list windows, the end-user can generate "snapshot"
reports with as little as a couple of mouse-clicks. To run a snapshot report, right-click on the data list,
click on “preview” or “print”, then select Snapshot Report. VLP will generate a report that looks
exactly like you see your data on the screen. You may even move fields around, and the report will
be printed accordingly!
See a List of All Fields in a record. The “Show All” option of the entry windows displays a dialog box
listing in alphabetical order all the fields specific to the record you are editing.
Insert Image File Cross-References Easily.
Most files in VLP (leases, wells, tracts, contracts, names & addresses, etc…) can be quickly crossreferenced to an unlimited number of images, documents, and other objects. Images can be of a
wide variety of formats (jpg, bmp, gif, tif, etc…), and they can be stored in different platforms (hard
disks, cds, DVD, optical drives, web servers, floppy disks, etc…)
Create Filters Easily
The Filter Builder is accessible at all times from the list windows. Filters can be saved for later usage
by yourself or other users.
Find Records Fast
Searches are easily performed from our list windows. Simply click on the column of interest, then
type the first few letters of what you’re looking for. VLP will automatically move the record pointer to
the appropriate record. Also, you may use the Filter Window to quickly narrow down the records to be
displayed.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 16
Data Entry Wizards make new record entry a snap!
Using the data entry wizards, you can setup new leases, tracts, contracts, etc… in just a few
moments. VLP guides you in coherent, logical steps in the data-entry process, and updates important
cross-references as deemed necessary.
Customize your Desktop.
The extended usage of HTML commands allows VLP to offer the end-user the feature of “desktop
customizability”. For example, you can specify what you want your desktop to look like – such as
“Click here to ADD NEW LEASES”, or “Click here to generate Exhibit A Reports”.
Automatic Acreage Calculations Available.
When entering a new lease, acreage can either be entered manually, or let VLP calculate it for you.
Simply go to the Lease Acreage Window, and press the Calculate icon.
"Favorites" Save and Restore Settings
You can save to favorites (bookmarks) the entry form and/or the list window, so that you may quickly
return whenever you want.
Easy Database BACKUP.
You can quickly and easily backup your company’s data using our Backup utility tool.
Data Security.
Ability to setup View-Only (all or none), as well as limited or no access to various areas of the
program, add/edit only, print/hide reports, tools.
VLP can also print ORIGINAL LEASES. See next page for a lease created by VLP.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 17
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 18
ENTRY WINDOWS
Data is ALWAYS entered from DATA ENTRY WINDOWS (except for a couple of instances that shall
be discusses later – including the PROSPECT NRI “ADJUSTMENTS” and the TITLE HISTORY
INTEREST TRANSFER WIZARD
The following image is an example of PAGE 1 of the LEASE MASTER ENTRY WINDOW
“UNIQUE ID NUMBERS”. VLP prevents you from adding multiple records with the same ID number.
Yet, it does allow you to edit and change existing ID numbers
“PICK LISTS” allow you to specify a word (normally as ID Number). VLP then automatically retrieves
all records with the matching word or ID number, and displays their brief description to its immediate
right.
“MEMO FIELDS” allow for unlimited amounts of text to be entered or copied.
“PAGE TABS”. Records (such as leases) could contain a LOT of information. We designed our data
entry/display pages to be very clear, uncluttered, and intuitive. Click on any of the “page tabs” to
move to a different area of information for the record you’re working on!
“CROSS-REFERENCE” buttons. Records (such as leases), can have various “children records” as
well as other cross-references associated with them. You can quickly access any of these associated
records by simply clicking the appropriate “cross-reference” button as shown in the image above.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 19
SOME VISUAL LANDPRO REPORTS…
REPORT PREVIEW WINDOWS…
“Lease Audit Report” is only
activated for the Travis Audit Toolkit
module.
QUICK WAY TO ADD SOME NEW RECORDS…
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 20
DATA SHEET REPORTS
LandPro ® customers expect great performance and flexibility from reports. VLP's Data Sheets
exceed even these expectations.
No other system offers run-time options such as Data-Grouping Reordering and Selection.
Similar style data sheets are also available for Contracts, Wells, Units, Prospects, Fee Properties,
Tracts, and Owners.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 21
SNAPSHOT REPORTS
The highest level of satisfaction and productivity is reached by generating reports containing
information the "exact" way you want to see it. The Snapshot Reports are designed to do just that.
Use your mouse to "move" columns of information as you prefer. Then select "snapshot" report from
the print / preview button. VLP will generate a report laid-out exactly as the display window.
Step1. Arrange your data fields to
your specifications
STEP 2. Select Snapshot
from the Print / Preview Button.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 22
Result - VLP generates a report that looks like a "snapshot" of your records!
OTHER FEATURES INCLUDE:
Numerous User-Defined Fields
Multiple Property Cross-References
Unlimited Number of Payment Obligations, Special Obligations, Special Provisions
Unlimited Number of Working Interest Decks and Lease Burdens
Unlimited Number of Royalty / ORRI interests
ADD-ON MODULES
DOCUMENT IMAGING MODULE
Quickly view associated IMAGES, PDF files, MS-WORD documents, EXCEL Worksheets,
and WORDPERFECT documents for each lease, well, owners, and/or most other VLP
record types! You can even EDIT and PRINT the documents straight from VLP! Use
your own scanner & software to scan your images (documents, maps, photos, etc…),
then link these to your leases, wells, owners, and more! This optional module is
GREAT, and it can be added at any time to your VLP system.
DIVISION ORDERS CALCULATION MODULE
VLP will automatically calculate Division Orders. Unlimited number of deck calculations,
substance, and payout situations can be accomplished by using this module. Simply
specify the well or unit that you wish to generate a DOI on, and VLP will automatically
find all tracts related to your well/unit, then all mineral ownership interests, all leases,
and all lease burdens and Working Interest decks. You even have the option of
changing each tract’s Participation Factor.
DILMAD REPORT WRITER FOR VLP2000
Custom Report Writer, specific for VLP2000 databases
LANDPRO EXPRESS IMPORT BRIDGE
Import custom Excel Worksheets (multi-tab) generated by LandPro EXPRESS users (see
www.LandProEXPRESS.com)
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 23
VLP2000 MICROSOFT CASE STUDY
 Finalist: Best Packaged Application and
 Finalist: Best Migration to Visual FoxPro
Although the Case Study below was specific to Visual
FoxPro, we now have 2 versions of our software (the
original VLP2000 “FoxPro” back-end, and the new
VLP2000-SQL (SQL back-end). The documentation
below is our “FoxPro Case Study”, which resulted in
VLP2000 to be awarded three Finalist Excellence
Awards with Microsoft in the late 1990’s.
INITIAL SITUATION
The Oil & Gas and the Coal Mining Industries have experienced a downfall these past few years.
Fewer people are responsible to perform jobs that used to be assigned to more employees, especially
in land departments.
Critical information, including special obligations, payment obligations, important dates, special
provisions, mineral ownership, acreage inventories, revenue distribution, and interest conveyances
had gotten out of hand and needed to be streamlined.
Land departments needed a way to facilitate maintenance and reporting of massive amounts of lease
and contract data. Due to the complexity of the business, entering data, generating reports and
calculating mining royalty checks was too slow and expensive when done manually or when using
competitors’ land management systems. Furthermore, the user had to rely either on the software
vendor or an in-house software technician to generate custom reports.
WYSIWYG reports were a requirement. End-users not familiar with report generator tools needed to
be able to create custom reports based on data displayed in list views, as well as custom reports
based on any field in the various tables of the database.
Company-wide access to scanned documents specific to every facet of the land business was also a
requirement. This, coupled up with graphical display of tracts of land, would provide anyone in the
company with immediate access to essential information.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 24
Description of the solution.
We developed Visual LandPro 98, a Visual FoxPro 9.0 application. It provides flexible access to land
information, maps, and document images. It is a multi-user, multi-company application, following a
document-oriented approach: every entity (such as leases, contracts, and addresses) is seen as a
document.
Visual LandPro uses a three-tiered architecture to guarantee flexibility and maintainability. It borrows
ideas from the Smalltalk community and makes use of a Model-View-Controller-like architecture. It
uses data objects rather than accessing views or tables directly, thus allowing us to easily switch data
sources since only one set of objects is the mediator between the data behavior and interface objects.
These data objects can be sent across OLE connections.
The three-tiered approach is important in order to migrate Visual LandPro to the web and to support
various data sources like FoxPro DBFs, SQL Server, and more. Using data objects, we are also able
to support incompatible data sources (i.e. an address table from another application).
The Internet is very important to Visual LandPro, therefore we make extensive use of the Internet
Explorer ActiveX control. We use this control and the Dynamic HTML features to provide and add
dynamic content to our “Interactive” Desktop, which, in turn, can be customized by the user. Using the
Interactive Desktop, we got rid of a huge amount of useless white space and turned it into a highly
effective and customizable desktop. We also use the IE4/IE5 ActiveX control to display data in a nice
way, to provide online support and more.
Visual LandPro also includes a stand-alone System Administrator Tool, which allows for creation of
new tables and databases, displays database statistics, indexes and packs files, repairs corrupted
data, reviews the error and user activity logs, etc..
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 25
In order to make Visual LandPro very easy for new users, we have made extensive use of HTML
rendering coupled with the familiar Windows ’98 interface, Microsoft Agents, and various speech
engines.
To open or create a document, we use an approach similar to Office 2000 by displaying an open/new
dialog box that shows all the different kinds of documents and templates.
“Favorites”, as well as “recently
opened” documents, can also be
easily accessed via our interactive
desktop.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 26
Visual LandPro has two
different views to
documents: The list view
and the data entry view.
The list view is a
customizable grid
associated with powerful
filtering features: a simple,
fill-in-the-blank filter
mechanism and a more
powerful filter wizard that
allows the user to create
and save any kind of filter.
These filters can later be
quickly accessed while
working in the list view.
The figure to the right is an example of the “fill-in-the-blank” filter.
The user types something in the various filter
entry fields, then clicks either the “Show
Data” button or the List Tab, and Visual
LandPro will display only the requested
records.
This filtering feature also supports relatively
complex filters such as ranges, multiple
values, and phonetic search.
Filter “EXCLUSIONS” can also be handled in
the regular filter logic. Simply add a “!”
symbol in front of the value to be filtered and
VLP will automatically “exclude” all records
with those values.
Exclusions also work in conjunction with Date
Ranges. For example, say you wanted to
see all lease records EXCEPT for those with
an expiration date of DECEMBER 2006 you
would enter the following text in the Expire
Date field: !12/1/06~12/31/06. VLP also
allows you to filter on EMPTY fields (or
ZERO value fields). Simply enter an
ASTERIX in that field: VLP will then list only
records where that particular field is BLANK or ZERO.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 27
The figure below illustrates an
example of the “Advanced” Filter
mechanism. These types of filters
can be set as “private” or “public”,
and can be quickly accessed while
the user is in a list window.
The data entry view is used to look
up details and to edit data. Multiple
instances of the same record can
be viewed. To navigate, the data
entry view and the list view can be
synchronized. Every record can
have binary documents attached. An attached document can be an image, a Word document, an
Excel spreadsheet, an Internet document, or any kind of embedded OLE object.
Our Names & Address entry form allows entry
for an unlimited number of addresses, phone
numbers, web sites, and email addresses.
The 2008 release links directly into
MapQuest.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 28
Visual LandPro’s entry forms can
also display an “all-fields” and/or
“user-defined fields” page,
allowing the user to quickly edit
data.
A very important part of
Visual LandPro is the
print engine. Visual
LandPro has a variety
of report wizards that
create FRX files, using
Report Definition
Objects and Visual
GenRepoX.
Visual LandPro also generates Data
Sheet Reports. Here the user can
select which “bands” of data should
be included in the report, as well as
specifying the relative position of
each band.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 29
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 30
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 31
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VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 33
In addition to predefined reports and report wizards, Visual LandPro has a powerful feature we call
“snapshots“ – reports which look similar to list grids. The user can simply modify the grid (drag or
resize columns), apply filters and click on the print button to create a new report according to that grid.
SNAPSHOTS can also be exported to EXCEL and MS-WORD (and in various instances also to .DBF
and XML files)
Another important part of
Visual LandPro is the graphical
representation of the various
land records. We
accomplished that by creating
our own mapping ActiveX
control (Baseline USA) using
Microsoft Visual C.
Quantifiable
business
benefits.
Perhaps the most significant feature offered by Visual LandPro is the timesaving. For example, our
ability to automatically calculate mining production royalty checks in a matter of seconds. Our data
entry and calculation process is completed within a small fraction of the time that it used to take when
doing it manually or via a spreadsheet program.
The financial benefits to our clients were tremendous. Using Visual LandPro improved productivity
and efficiency of practically every member of the company’s land department. Everyone now had
immediate access to reports, maps, scanned documents – all with just a couple of mouse clicks.
Anyone familiar with Microsoft Office, Windows 98, and IE5 finds himself or herself right at home
when working in Visual LandPro - this translates in reduced training time thus decreasing costs.
Visual LandPro produces critical real-time reports on a variety of issues, including Acreage
Inventories, Payment Obligations, Rental Inquiry Letters, Division of Interest Calculations, Transfers of
Interests, and, most importantly, Title History. These reports, if they were to be done manually, would
take hours, days, and, in the case of Division Order calculations, perhaps even weeks to complete.
Visual LandPro reduces this to practically minutes.
Also, end-users want to be able to create their own “custom-reports”, without becoming familiar with
3rd party products such as FoxFire, R&R, or Crystal Reports. We developed the “Snapshot” reports:
these report formats are automatically created, and are based on the current layout of the active listview window, specific to the records being displayed based on our data filters, keeping us from to
having to write immeasurable number of reports for our clients!
Regarding data entry, we include numerous Data Entry Wizards, greatly expediting the data-entry
process. Our goal was to provide for basic lease information to be entered in 3 to 5 minutes.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 34
Why Visual FoxPro was chosen.
Visual LandPro 2000 was originally written in Visual FoxPro, storing its data in VFP9 databases.
While most of our clients still use the Visual FoxPro version, we now also have VLP2000-SQL, which
stores its data in SQL2012, 2008 databases or newer.
Initially, reliability and performance were two of the main reasons we chose Visual FoxPro over other
development environments. Visual FoxPro has a very powerful internal database engine allowing us
to create a relatively cheap product version for small to mid-size customers. At the same time, we are
able to create a client/server solution for our large customers, without changing the rest of the code.
Visual FoxPro’s powerful object model gives us the ability to create a robust solution relatively quickly
without losing the advantage of having good maintainability. The result is a low TCO (total-cost-ofownership), one of the main goals in today’s world of software development.
Also, Visual FoxPro is a great tool to create middle-tier components. Together with Microsoft
Transaction Server, this allows us to create scalable components without changing the existing code,
breaking the old myth of “starting over from scratch with every new product version”.
Development challenges and how they were overcome.
Incorporate different business aspects of land documents, including maps, technical data, owner data,
lease descriptions, ownership issues, acreage issues, mineral rights by depth, and ownership
conveyance issues. VFP allowed us to integrate all the different business aspects (applications)
required to have a complete understanding of these land management issues through ActiveX
controls, browser interface, and three-tiered design.
Flexibility on the back end (data-tier). In order to access different databases (including VFP Data,
SQL Server and Oracle), we use controller objects that talk to data. We designed this similar to the
modern ADO technology, using data objects. Controller objects talk to data and hand it over to the
middle tier. Since all the modified data is present in the form of objects, it can be handed over to all
kinds of interfaces, thus meeting changing customer requirements.
Allow end-users to create reports. We created an OO FRX-creation engine we use in all report
wizards and snapshots.
4
We needed a way to quickly receive error messages from our users. The Visual LandPro
error-handler uses FoxPro Foundation Classes. It stores comprehensive information about the bug
and the environment at the time of the error, then it allows the user to email it to our email address for
technical support.
Handling Binary documents. These are usually scanned graphic images. They may be anywhere on
the network, or on CD-Roms. The major problem was different workstation drive mappings.
Handling complex grids and filters in a generic fashion. List views are built on the fly. All the columns
in grids are subclasses of regular column classes which was a rather large challenge since VFP
doesn’t support using different column classes in the Visual Class Designer. Our grids handle
standard tasks such as resorting, filtering and alike automatically. Grids (and the attached fill-in-theblank filters) are configured using our special grid-builder.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 35
We needed to provide an easy way for “filters” to be created and accessed at different times. We
created a powerful filter wizard system, which automatically gathers information from the database,
and grants access to almost all filter options supported by Visual FoxPro.
In many cases, multiple users needed simultaneous access to the same document. We developed an
“Automatic Conflict Resolution” engine, where we provide a way to automatically merge changes, in a
fashion similar to Visual Sourcesafe. Visual LandPro attempts to merge the changes on its own, but if
it gets confused, it asks the user to help decide how to proceed (see the figure below).
GENDBC could not handle complex databases. We wrote a OO GenDBC-like class which creates
and maintains complex databases. The class is maintained automatically by a builder we created.
The business problem required a very flexible way of viewing and editing data. We achieved this goal
by using HTML within our application. The user can modify those HTML screens to set up his/her own
views, edit forms and business rules.
Implementing the World Wide Web was very important for our users. We tie into various sources of
content including our own web site as well as third party sites such as Microsoft Expedia Maps.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 36
VISUAL LANDPRO REPORTS
VLP can generate over 270 “canned reports”, plus it allows you to modify most of these, plus you can
use a 3rd party Report Writer called Dilmad Report Writer to write your own “custom” reports.
See our Reports Class whitepaper on this subject. Call us for a more detailed list of reports, or visit
our website. The next few pages display a few reports, to give you a feeling on our report style and
quality.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 37
LANDPRO EXPRESS INFORMATION
Landpro Express is Landpro’s latest online lease management tool specific for field landmen and small
companies. This online software lets you quickly generate:
Leases
Memorandum of Leases
Addendum of Lease
Lease Purchase Reports (LPR)
Various Lease Schedules
Lease Exhibit A’s
Instrument Data Sheets (Chain of Title Instruments)
Tract Mineral Ownership Reports
Tract Data Sheets / Runsheets
Leasehold Summary Reports
Various Data Sheets (Leases, Tracts, Owners, etc)
Custom “Snapshot” Reports
Custom MS-Word Template Editor allows field landmen to create their own custom lease
forms.
Our security model allows landmen to save their data as “private”, so that other brokers
in the same organization cannot modify it.
An optional LANDPRO BROKER IMPORT MODULE allows easy import of Excel worksheets
created by LandPro Express.
The Landpro Broker Import Module will undoubtedly save your lease analyst countless
hours. We estimate a time saving of between 70-80% of the time it would take to set
up the lease manually.
Watch some of the numerous Training Video Clips now available to learn more about Landpro
Express at our website.
See the new LANDPRO EXPRESS, at www.landproexpress.com
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 38
Examples of
a few reports
generated
automatically
by
LANDPRO
EXPRESS
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 39
Another OGM Lease sample (remember... you can create / modify your own Lease Templates)
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 40
Memorandum of Lease Example
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 41
Examples of a Lease
Addendum and of a Draft,
automatically generated
in LandPro Express
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 42
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 43
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 44
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 45
Sample Lease Purchase Report (Page 1) generated by LANDPRO EXPRESS
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 46
Lease Purchase Report sample (PAGE 2)
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 47
Thinkgeo MapSuite GIS Editor (LandPro Edition)
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 48
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 49
Ask us also about our new LandPro Pluging for ArcGIS, geared for companies that already are
familiar with ArcGIS, but need the ability to link and display LandPro data on their maps.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 50
Set “relates”, for example into TOBIN GIS data files
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 51
Available LandPro Filter Categories & Fields
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 52
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 53
Free TEXAS SURVEY layer (TX Railroad Commission data)
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 54
FREE Jeffersonian Layers (BLM data). Online automatic download via Thinkgeo’s cloud server.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 55
Linking to LandPro Subtracts
Creating the bridge between the Visual LandPro 2000 database and the Map Suite polygons takes a
few simple steps, assuming the data has been setup within the database. The bridge is created by
using the Tract and Subtract ID’s located within the Visual LandPro 2000 database.
When the user creates a Jeffersonian or Metes & Bounds polygon for the first time on the project the
system automatically creates a new file structure (If not previously done) that puts Tract and Subtract
into the attribute table.
When the user finishes creating a Jeffersonian or Metes & Bounds polygon and clicks on Save the
system will bring up the attribute table for that individual polygon giving the user the ability to enter the
Tract and Subtract immediately.
The ID’s must match exactly with what is in Visual LandPro 2000 or the system will skip over that
record when the user goes to Link the feature.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 56
LANDPRO SMART MAPS
Generate a number of “smart-maps”, utilizing LIVE LandPro data, quickly and easily!
Lease Expirations Maps:
 By Year
 By Quarter
 By Month
Lease Status Maps
 HBP
 Leased
 Lessees
 Lessors
 Responsible Parties
 Operators
 Status Codes
 Type Codes
 Basin Codes
 Special Provisions
 Regions
 Districts
Formation Smart Maps
Lease Interest Maps
 Royalty/ORR Burdens
 Entity N R I
 WI Participant NRI
 Royalty/ORRI Interests
 Royalty Owners
 Working Int. Owners
Tract Interest Smart Maps
In many cases, the user is presented with the option
to generate the resulting layer as a Separate Layer
(rather than as a FILTER within the current layer)
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 57
LandPro Info Tools
Click on any LandPro polygon, see LIVE
LANDPRO DATA!
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 58
Landpro data (leases, chain of title instruments, mineral ownership, payment history, Working Interest
data, special provisions, etc) are displayed in the appropriate LandPro Info Tools windows.
This data can also be easily exported to Excel. Simply right-click on it, and select Export to Excel.
See images on next page for a few sample of the various LandPro Info Tool grid available. The user
can then double-click on most of these grids and access the corresponding VLP records’ Edit
Window, in a view-only mode.
We are also currently working (as of 2/1/2016) on an add-on which allows end-users with appropriate
security settings to also edit/modify the existing VLP data records displayed in most of the info tools.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 59
Info Tools
Lease Info Tool
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Min. Ownership
Payment Oblig Info Tool
Page 60
VLPGIS EDIT FORMS MODULE (custom add-on). Below are various sample “view-only” VLP-style
windows, accessible by double-clicking the records in most VLP Info Tools grids. As of 2/1/2016, we
are also working on adding Edit / Save capabilities for companies that wish to be able to edit the VLP
data from within the GIS software system.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 61
LANDPRO Coal Mining Production Royalty Module Mining Revenue Distribution Module Schematic
MINE
(Well)
TRACTS
LEASES
Setup Royalty
Formulas
(Mining
Specific)
Mineral Ownership
Surface Ownership
Subsidence Ownership
Must total 100%
Must be 100% Leased
STEP 1.
Enter Monthly
Production, on a per-tract
basis.
Specify Tons Produced, $/Ton,
Acre-Ft Mined, etc…
GIS
Mapping.
(optional)
Link
Subtract
to GIS
Feature
Sub-Tracts
(developed / Undev..
Acres
Links to the Mine
(Well) record.
Recoups
Master
STEP 2.
Split Monthly
Production
(Takes Recoups under
consideration)
STEP 3.
Print Royalty Receipts
Print Royalty Checks
Print Check Register
INITIAL SETUP
1 Setup Tracts and corresponding Mineral and Surface Ownership information
2 Setup Leases. Associate them to the tracts. Specify Mining Royalty Burdens in the
Lease / Mining Obligations area.
MONTHLY PROCESSING
1 Enter Monthly Mining Production (Tons Mined / Tons Sold / $/Ton / Acres Mined / Acre
Feet Mined / etc…). Print Production Status Report
2 Split Monthly Mining Production. Run various “split” reports (by Tract, by Payee, by
Lease). Takes “recoups” / advance royalty payments under consideration.
3 Print Applied Payment Report for approval.
4 Print Mining Check Receipts
5 Print Mining Checks
6 Print Check Register.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 62
The Mining Revenue Distribution Module is an optional VLP add-on Module geared for mining
companies and designed to provide a quick and easy interface to the process of revenue distribution
for coal, lignite, and other hard minerals.
Basic work-flow / General Steps include:
 Set up Leases and appropriate Royalty payment formulas
 Set up any “recoupables” payments specific to each Lease
 Enter Monthly Production data specific to each Tract
 Split the monthly production to the various royalty formula owners
 Print royalty checks
Each of the above phases is accompanied by its appropriate custom report(s)
STEP 1. LEASE SETUP. SPECIFY ROYALTY FORMULA(S) FOR EACH LEASE
Each lease can have multiple royalty calculation formulas setup. VLP will then take under
consideration the “higher” of the various formulas. See next image for the formula data entry window.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 63
Mining Royalty Calculation Formula Lease Edit Window
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 64
STEP 2. ENTER MONTHLY PRODUCTION / BY TRACT
Example of Monthly Production Entry Window
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 65
STEP 3 – SPLIT MONTHLY PRODUCTION
Sample Mining Split Report (By
Tract).
This report can also be run by PAYEE
and by LEASE.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 66
Monthly Production Split Report
Step 2 is “splitting” the monthly
production to the various royalty
owners.
This report shows you how each
tract’s production is being split to
the various mineral owners /
lessors.
Once this report is run, you SAVE
to disk, and the Monthly
Production table is emptied out,
while the APPLY PAYMENT
TABLE is populated, and ready
for payment.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 67
Maintaining the Mining Payment Apply Table
To access this table, from the File / Open / Optional, select the Mining Payment Apply Table icon.
Once the Monthly Production records are SPLIT, the resulting royalty payment obligation detail line
items are posted to this table. They will remain here until the Production Royalty Checks process is
done.
You may edit
numerous fields
in the Apply
Payments
Table, including
Recoup
Amounts.
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 68
MINING PRODUCTION ROYALTY CHECK EXAMPLE
Please contact LANDPRO for more information and/or a LIVE DEMO
Call 281-363-4213 or email [email protected]
*** END OF DOCUMENT ***
VISUAL LANDPRO 2000 INFO BOOK Page 69