Frequenty Asked Questions

The following is a list of frequently asked questions that you may find helpful. Key topics are as follows:

Point Of Sale (P.O.S.) Inventory Control Purchase Orders Vendor Returns End Of Day - Balance General Ledger Accounts Payable

Accounts Receivable Payroll & Commissions Sales Reports Data Base Management Windows Applications Training General

POINT OF SALE

1. Does the Advantage 2000™ system require password for salesmen on each transaction?

Password protection can be enabled for each transaction but is not required. This is done on a register-by-register or salesperson-by-salesperson basis.

2. Can salesmen look up prices without needing a password or can the Advantage 2000™ system default back to a password screen after 3 minutes of non-use?

A function designed specifically to provide pricing and product information is available without or without password protection.

3. Will the Advantage 2000™ system allow for pre-entry and cut-off dates of special prices for sales? If so, how does this work?

Our matrix pricing function provides for pre-entry of sale prices by defining the start-date and end-date of the special pricing period. It also provides for pricing in a multitude of other situations.

4. Can returns require the approval of a manager even if the manager is located at a different store?

Return verification can require a manager over-ride that can be done from any location. In addition, return prices are verified against the actual invoice or against the last purchase of that item from the customer in the event of a return with no invoice. This feature also insures that the purchase was originally made from one of your stores.

5. Can a sale and a return be combined on a single ticket?

Sales, returns and orders can all be placed on the same ticket.

6. Can the sales staff change the item description at the time of sale?

Descriptions can be changed. This is an option controlled by sale type.

7. Can a ticket be printed without revealing to the customer a line-by-line pricing?

The sales ticket is custom designed by you and can include any type of display or non-display of information you desire.

8. Can we provide sales staff with automatic add-on suggestions at the time of sale?

Suggested or related items will automatically be placed on the sales ticket if you desire, as many levels deep as you desire, reducing data entry time.

9. Is there a competitive pricing window? If so, can it be up-dated by sales personnel?

We provide an interactive notepad window that shows any information you would like when an item is entered in sales entry. This can include competitive pricing, product information, suggestive selling suggestions or advertising information and is available for the sales people to update if they have a proper security level.

10. Are splits payment allowed? (part visa/part cash?)

Payments may be split into as many methods as required, including A/R. All payment types made on a single ticket will fully track to that ticket and to the cash register close out journals.

11. Does the sales ticket show the amount of layaway dollars used when the transaction becomes a sale?

A ticket balance is always present on an outstanding ticket. This will indicate the amount of dollars originally placed on a ticket and that which remains.

12. Does the Advantage 2000™ system allow for "package" pricing with individual items deleted from inventory? If so, how are individual prices determined for analysis? Also, do prices of all items change if the "package" price changes at the time of sale?

    A packaged item module is included in our system. This groups items into a package for sale as a single unit. Packages may be pre-designed or designed "on the fly" while making a sale in the sales entry program. Pricing of items within a package is an amortization routine that makes the items a percentage of the package as a whole. As the package price is changed, the prices also change on the individual items. An option can be used to price items individually and make the package price indicate the total of the items within the package. Sales analysis can be done by either package, component or both.

13. When the sale is made or a work-order generated, does the Advantage 2000™ system generate a pick ticket for the warehouse? Also, can the product be swiped for bar-code by a warehouse worker or only at the register? If the work order is changed, how does I/C know only to pull additional or changed items and to get "changed" from item back from installation?

    Pick tickets are automatically generated in a batch or on-line mode. You can have all items show or only those available in stock, and those items changed will be placed back into stock automatically. Warehouse personnel can also use a swiping gun to indicate items shipped or delivered to an installer. We have designed our process to be flexible such that the pick ticket process varies from customer to customer,. It can be made to work for most situations.

14. Can transactions be "suspended" with one button?

With a single button, transactions may be suspended at any point and returned to at that same point. They may be left entirely and returned to at a later, more convenient, time. It is important to note that any program or transaction, not just sales transactions, may be suspended.

15. Do you provide for on-line and batch Credit Card processing?

Both batch and on-line credit card processing capabilities exist. The credit card verification processing is sold as a separate module and is not included as part of the base package.

16. Is there a form of bad check alert by customer number?

Credit information on customers is available throughout the system. An elaborate but easy-to-use credit warning system is built into sales entry. Plus using the notepad feature specific information about a customer (e.g. bad checks, slow payer, or refer to credit department) may be displayed to the sales person prior to placing items on a sales ticket.

17. Can the sales staff see what is on the order, e.g. PO number and date of order? Also, can they look up products by item number?

    Full inquiry into the items on order including PO number, date of expected receipt and available amount on that order are available with a single keystroke. In addition, as each item is entered, the quantity on-order appears at the bottom of the screen along with the available quantity and the on-hand quantity. These will appear with no involvement from the sales person.

18. Are "void/by salesmen" reports available for audit purposes?

Full audit control is provided for voided tickets as well as audit control on orders started but never completed as invoices.

19. Can sales tax be computed by store number rather than by customer number?

Sales tax calculation is driven by the factors that determine taxability. This never need be a concern of the sales person. Tax in it simplest form is calculated by store location. As situations change, so can the taxation. For example, if a customer is set up as a non-taxable customer, no sales tax is calculated. If the customer lives outside the store's tax jurisdiction and the items are delivered, taxation is set at the delivered location's rate. We also have tax capability for all 50 states to satisfy mail order processing. In this case, the tax liability is set according to the address of the delivered location. Of course, taxation can be turned off for any State you do not have an office in.

Additional Point of Sale Features:

• Profit margins can be displayed on the screen for each line including the total order. This can be shown in a way that customers, if overlooking the terminal, will be unable to recognize the profit margin information.
• Easy lookup is provided for open orders or orders in history by customer number, name or phone number, purchase order, order number or invoice number.
• Quotes are built into the sales entry program for ease of entry and the release of quote into an order.
• Re-pricing of an entire order is available with one keystroke even if a later situation warranting special pricing is discovered and the ticket has already been entered.
• Display of other store inventory levels is available with one keystroke.
• Sophisticated credit checking routines for customers will notify, stop or place an order on hold at your discretion.
• With instant access to default information such as sales station, customer and sale type, sales entry is extremely fast and accurate.
• Matrix pricing provides for pricing your products according to many factors that control the sale including item, store profile, date, salesperson, cashier, customer profile, customer class, item type, quantity sold, unit of measure and much more.

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INVENTORY CONTROL

1. Does the Advantage 2000™ system put layaway items into a "Hold" status? If so, can that feature be deleted or modified?

   Inventory quantities are categorized depending on the status of the line on the sales ticket. We include a status of on-hand, available, committed, uncommitted, and allocated. Layaway items would be an allocated but uncommitted item.

2. Can merchandise be sold from a different location via the transfer function? If so, how is this communicated to I/C?

   Merchandise can be sold at any store to be supplied by any warehouse location or store. This is handled through the pick ticket processing program. Or, a transfer request can be generated, tying the sales order item to a transfer document. The specifics of your processing requirements must be evaluated to determine how our system would best handle such a situation.

3. Can item numbers be changed or deleted?

Item numbers can be deleted or restricted from deletion. An item number can be changed even if it has been in use (sold, purchased, transferred) for any period of time. When an item number is changed, every file within the system is changed. This ensures reliability of purchases history and sales analysis.

4. Does the Advantage 2000™ system allow vendors item number to show even if our item number is different? How about our item number to the reference vendor item number?

   The system carries a vendor item number for each vendor you purchase the item from, plus the manufacturers item number, plus your item number for each inventory item. A full cross reference is available at a single keystroke. As well, any of the numbers may be used in place of your item number whenever an item is entered into the system. The software will automatically find the correct item and replace the number typed in with your item number. Any of the numbers mentioned can printed on your purchase orders, sales orders or reports.

5. Can .25 or .5 units be sold?

Quantity precision can be set anywhere from 0 digits to 4 digits. This means that you can have quantities such as .0675 or 123.25 or 23.

6. Does system report inventory adjustments to management automatically?

A full audit trail of each and every item transaction is kept. A screen display of this audit trail is immediately available as well as audit trail reports. All inventory changes must pass through a journal which is available to management.

7. How are transfers handled? Can we Auto generate daily reports of transfers still in transit, including the shipping date?

   The inventory transfer module currently transfers inventory as a single transaction, both relieving the inventory and adding inventory in a single step. To suspend an item in transit, a transfer must be made to a holding warehouse while inventory is in transit, thus relieving the supplying warehouses inventory. A second transfer must then be made at the receiving warehouse to place the inventory into that location. We are currently revising the transfer system to use a Request/Approve/Ship/Receive method which will process this type of transaction automatically. This module will be made part of the software release available in the first quarter of 1996 - 1999.

8. How does the Advantage 2000™ system handle cycle counting? Can it auto-generate daily cycle counts, automatically monitor cycle count discrepancies or specify the number of times each item is counted per period?

   Inventory counts may be generated at any time for any items or group of items. Inventory counts may also be automatically generated using any time frame desired such as daily, weekly, monthly. Each item is assigned a cycle code. While not required, an inventory will typically be done by cycle code. Warnings of discrepancies are placed on the edit registers of the count sheets. You may opt to show or hide the desired count quantities on the count sheets as well as items with 0 on hand. You may also opt to use or not use hash counts on count sheets. Count sheets for any given inventory count are handled on a sheet-by-sheet basis. Therefore, during large inventory counts, the data entry person can be entering the counted quantities while the inventory is being counted -- thus reducing the "down time" required by a proper inventory.

9. Can the Advantage 2000™ system set stock levels by location? Also, can stock levels be set using spreadsheet format similar to Excel for ease of use?

   Stock levels are set by location. Stocking levels include minimum quantity, maximum quantity, economic order quantity, safety stock and minimum stock. Order generation can be performed at any time from a suggested purchase report. This process can be performed automatically with full edit capability prior to the creation of the actual purchase orders. While stock levels can be set using a spreadsheet program, the ease provided in our system will not call for such additional work.

10. How can I track the percent of defects vs. purchases or sales?

Our return verification processing will track the reason and quantity of returns of items on an individual basis.

11. How does the Advantage 2000™ system handle serial number tracking and auto tracking using bar codes? How is an item tracked if it is checked into system by bar code with a serial number but sold without a bar code or serial number. As well, how does our sales staff know if a unit is bar coded in our inventory system?

    Serial number tracking within the system can be set to full tracking or partial tracking. Partial tracking is designed to allow receipts of items with serial numbers without having to input the serial number for each at the time of receipt. Full tracking requires that all serial numbers be swiped or entered upon receipt of the purchase order. In either case, when a sale takes place on a serial item, the serial number must be entered through a window designed to collect the serial numbers. If this level of serial number tracking is not desired and an item can be sold without noting the serial number, the item comments feature should be used to note the serial number on the sales ticket in lieu of the serial tracking feature.

12. How is ESN tracking handled?

ESN tracking is done through the serial tracking window when a device is sold -- through comments on the order itself or on a window specifically designed to capture information in a pre-designed format.

Additional Inventory Control Features:

• An inventory audit is kept on all transactions with immediate on-line lookup of transactions that have affected an item.
• New items are easily added with a separate master file and location files.
• Unlimited cross searches may be added for each item.

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