Archive for the ‘Knowledge Base’ Category

“Too many users” error when trying to access Substruct Mobile

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Substruct Mobile will not load on a handheld. Error message may be something allow these lines:

“The Page Cannot Be Displayed. There are too many people accessing the website at this time. Please try the following: Click the refresh button or try again later.

HTTP 403.9 - Access forbidden.”

 

To fix, open the Windows Task Manager, click the “Processes” tab, then find and end “inetinfo.exe”

The process will restart it self and Substruct Mobile should work correctly.

Hotsheets

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Every time you download an invoice from Ace Hardware’s computer system, you also automatically download product information updates called Hotsheets. These are files that Ace queues nightly for every store, but downloading them weekly is just as efficient. Once you have finished running your Invoice and Hotsheets Wizard, your Hotsheets will show up under the Hotsheets Tab of Receiving.

The Information Contained in a Hotsheet File

Each Hotsheets file listed on the Hotsheets Tab contains many lines of information. This includes, but is not limited to: retail changes, cost changes, merchandise class changes, description updates, new product information, discontinued product information, and UPC code additions. Every time you change a price on Acenet, it comes down and gets adjusted with Hotsheets.

Using the Hotsheets Tab

The Hotsheets section of Receiving has two main functions: update data (prices, descriptions, etc.) from the Hotsheets and print new bin labels for items with price updates. One problem that occurs when updated data, specifically retail prices, is that the bin tags and peg hook tags on your sales floor will not be correct.

Since Ace almost always raises prices when they send down price changes, there is a suitable work around to this problem. Hotsheets has the ability to print out labels for items that are having there prices changed before updating their respective prices in Cougar Mountain. Then, after you have put up the new labels, you can update the data into Cougar Mountain. The theory behind this method is that a customer would much rather pick up an item with a price tag saying “$1.99″ but then get to the register and scan at “$1.79″. If you put up your labels after you have updated you hotsheets, a customer is more encounter items that are more expensive at the register.

Printing Hotsheets

To print labels for Hotsheets from a given date, highlight the date on the Hotsheets tab and click Print. A print postion window will appear. Select the location of you first blank label and click the Printer Button to print or the Preview Button to preview.

Updating Hotsheets

Once you have put up your new labels through out the store, hightlight the date on the Hotsheets tab and click update. All new Hotsheets data will be updated into Cougar Mountain, including retail prices.

Deleting Hotsheets

To delete old Hotsheets from the list, highlight the date of the Hotsheets and click Delete.

Special Orders

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

The Special Order feature of Substruct Utilities is very useful for keeping track of items that have been special ordered for customers. It allows you to track products as they enter the store, and it helps you make sure those products get into the hands of your customers instead of ending up out on your sales floor.

Using the Special Order Client

The Special Order client is designed to help you track products that you have already ordered for customers. It will not order the products for you. The best practice for order a special order item is the following:

  • Find the item you wish to special order on Acenet.
  • From the “Ship Method” tab, select Stock Reserve.
  • Enter the quantiy you wish to special order in the Qty box and click Order to complete the order.
  • Open up Substruct Utilities.
  • Open the Special Order Client.
  • Enter in the stock number (not the UPC or alias), the quantity ordered, and the customers name.
  • Enter any other information you want to record about the special order.

This method work best for a couple of reasons. If you were to order the using the Ordering module of Substruct Utilities, you might find that the item is not in the system (and if you have to manually add the item to Cougar Mountain you might encounter problems with input error). Also without ordering the item on Acenet, you will have no idea wether the item is in stock at the warehouse.Ordering the item on Acenet lets you double check to make sure products are in stock, as well as double check things like cost and margin.

Special Orders Window

The Special Order window has many fields for all sorts of different data about the customer, the product being special ordered, and the order itself. It also has a set of check boxes for monitoring the status of the order. The Special Order Window is also capable of emailing customers, informing them that there product has arrived.

Product Info

This section contains the information about the item being ordered. The Stock number (Ace number), and the Quantity are required. The Date Ordered is automatically filled in with the computer’s system date but can be changed. The Promised Price can be left blank but is useful for rain check type orders and situations were the customer was promised a price that is different than the price in the computer system.

Customer Info

This section is where all of the information about the customer is stored. Name is the only required field. The rest of the fields are optional data about the customer, but the following fields will print out on the Special Order labels (printed from the Receiving module of Substruct Utilities): Stock Number, Qty, Promised Price, Phone Number, Alt. Number, and Name. See below for more information on Special Order Labels. If the Email field is filled in with a valid email address, the Email feature of Special Orders becomes available.

Using the Email feature of Special Orders

Once you have a valid email address in the Email field of the Special Order window, a small Email button with a picture of an envelope will appear in the bottom right hand corner of the window. Clicking this button will automatically generate an email to send to the customer. This email will contain product information and the customer’s name, along with a custom message that can be changed in the Preferences. For more information on configuring this message, click the link below.

The email message will open in your default email program (usually Outlook Express) and can be customized before being sent to the customer.

Note: The Special Order client will never automatically send out emails to your customers. It will only automatically generate an email that you can then send to them.

Status

This section contains a set of check boxes that can be used to keep track of the status of the special order.

    Ordered denotes that the item has been ordered on Acenet or in the Ordering module of Substruct. This box is used for reference. If you want to gather information from the customer about the special order but you haven’t yet ordered the item, uncheck this box. Keep in mind that the Special Order program will never automatically order the products for you: it only tracks their status.Paid or “Prepaid” is used for when the customer pays for the item before it is ordered.

    Received should be checked after the item has been checked in from the order. This box is not automatically updated by the software, and must be manually updated after the special order has been received.

    Completed should be checked once the item has been picked up by the customer. All items marked as complete should be considered archived records. The Completed field is also used by the Receiving module to determine what items are special orders. See the section below on How to use the Special Order Client in conjunction with Receiving for more information.

    Emailed, which is only available if there is a valid email address in the Email field, should be checked after the customer has been emailed about their special order. This prevents duplicate emailing.

Notes

This section of Special Orders is used for taking down any additional information about the special order or the customer.

How to use the Special Order Client in conjunction with Receiving

The Special Orders Program’s most useful feature is it’s ability to work in conjunction with Receiving. In order for an item to show up as a special order in the Receiving window, a few requirements must be met before you run the Invoice Wizard:

  • There must be a record in the Special Order Database that has the exact same Ace/Stock number as an item on the invoice that is being prepared.
  • The Completed checkbox on that record must not be checked. If it is checked, the record is assumed to be old, and is not marked as a special order in the Receiving module.
  • The record must be in the Special Order Database before the Invoice Wizard is run. If the Special Order record is added after the Invoice is prepared, it will not show up as such.
  • Each of these items will have a label printed when you press “Print Special Order Labels” in the Receiving Module. These labels are very useful for organizing your products that are special orders. You can keep them all in a back room or on a certain shelf, and the label (which you should place directly on to the product) will tell you vital information about the special order such as customer name, customer telephone number, etc. See below for more information on Special Order Labels.

    Tip: To easily access the special order record for a particular item, press the button to the right of the record.

Special Order Labels

For every item on an invoice that is marked as Special Order, you can print a Special Order label. Just use the Print Special Order Labels… button in the Manage Invoice of Receiving.

These labels are great for storing and organizing you special orders until your customers come and pick them up. The labels show product info, customer contact info, and a line for you to indicate the date that the customer was contacted to let them know their special order had arrived. This is useful for stores that put items out onto the sales floor if the customer doesn’t come to pickup the item after a certain amount of time.

Using the Wireless Receiving Client

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Substruct Mobile has a receiving client very similar to the built in client in Substruct Utilities. You can use a wireless handheld device to check in your order; you can even use it while another employee is checking in items on a receiving computer.

The Substruct Mobile Receiving Client works in conjunction with the normal receiving client: they both access the same invoice data and they both add records to the same table. This means that before you can begin checking in a invoice with your wireless device, you must first send an invoice to the receiving client. After you have sent the invoice you wish to receive to the receiving client, the Substruct Mobile receiving client will then access that same invoice. Follow the steps bellow to check in items.

Checking in an ItemTo check in an item, follow these steps: 

  • Open the Substruct Mobile web application by using your mobile device’s web browser to navigate to the address listed in your preferences. For more information on this address, click here.
  • Click on the Receiving button.
  • Click on the small blue “plus” sign (+) button to create a new record.
  • Input either the Ace number or the UPC code of the item and click Add. If you scan the barcode of the item, the Add button will be clicked automatically.
  • The product information should appear. If it doesn’t you will be informed that no matching records were found.
  • The cursor should now be in the “Received” field. Type in the amount you are receiving.
  • Click the Save button to go to a new record.
  • Repeat with the next item.

Useful Features

The Receiving Client has several features that making the receiving process easier and more productive:

  • When you try to enter an item that has already been received, the client will tell you so, and then take you to the older record. The Received field will be highlight so you can just type the new number over it.
  • New Item Field
    If the item is new to the system, the “New Item” field will have a red “Yes”. This indicates the item has a label on the label sheet, but doesn’t have a home on the sales floor yet. All items on the label sheet that are new have an asterisk symbol (*) on the right side of the label. 

    If the item has a price difference on the invoice than in Cougar Mountain, the “New Item” field will have a yellow “Label”. This indicated that the item has a label on the label sheet, but the item is not new and therefore should have a home somewhere on the sales floor.

  • Printer Button
    As along as a receiving printer is setup correctly on your receiving computer or server, you can hit the printer button and a label with the item’s Ace and price (optional) will be printed at the receiving client computer (or your server, depending on your settings). This is very useful for stocking products that do not have an Ace number directly on their packaging.
  • Special Order Field
    If the item is a special order, a red “Yes” will appear in the “Special Order” field. The “Yes” is a visual indicator to the user that the item is a special order. It should have a label on the special order label sheet.
  • Camera Button
    Pressing this button will display a .jpg image of the item. Before you can use this feature, you must first have images linked to you stock items in Cougar Mountain and you must build an image file for Substruct Mobile.
  • Look at Received Items Button (Magnifying Glass)
    Pressing this button will take to a screen overlooking all of the records receiving so far.
  • Navigation Buttons
    Use these buttons to navigate between records. They are: First, Previous, Next, Last, and New. New will add a new record and abort any changes to the record you are currently editing.

Once you are finished checking in your invoice, you can complete your invoice like normal with the Receiving module of Substruct Utilities.

Using the Receiving Client

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

After you have sent an invoice to the receiving client, you are ready to start checking in the order. For more information on sending an invoice to the client, see the Invoice Manager topic. For information on setting up the Receiving Client, see the Link Receiving Client Topic.

Checking in an Item

To check in an item, follow these steps:

  • Make sure the cursor is blinking in the UPC field.
  • Scan the barcode of the item.
  • The product information should appear. If it doesn’t, make sure then item is on the invoice you are checking in by clicking on the Invoice Info button.
  • The cursor should now be in the “Received” field. Type in the amount you are receiving.
  • Hit the Enter key to go to a new record.
  • Repeat with the next item.

Useful Features

The Receiving Client has several features that making the receiving process easier and more productive:

  • When you try to enter an item that has already been received, the client will tell you so, and then take you to the older record. The Received field will be highlight so you can just type the new number over it.
  • If the item is new to the system, the “New Item or Label” field will have a red “Yes”. This indicates the item has a label on the label sheet, but doesn’t have a home on the sales floor yet. All items on the label sheet that are new have an asterisk symbol (*) on the right side of the label.
  • If the item has a price difference on the invoice than in Cougar Mountain, the “New Item or Label” field will have a yellow “Label”. This indicated that the item has a label on the label sheet, but the item is not new and therefore should have a home somewhere on the sales floor.
  • As along as you receiving printer is setup correctly, you can hit the printer button in the lower right of the window (or hit F12) and a label with the item’s Ace and price (optional) will be printed. This is very useful for stocking products that do not have an Ace number directly on their packaging.
  • If the item is a special order, a red “Yes” will appear in the “Special Order” field, and a small button will appear next to the Printer button in the bottom right corner of the window. The “Yes” is a visual indicator to the user that the item is a special order. It should have a label on the special order label sheet. You can quickly view the special order record that corresponds with the item by clicking the special order button that appeared in the bottom right of the screen.

Invoice Manager

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

The Invoice manager is used for viewing and managing invoices. From this window, you can:

  • View all of the invoice fields, like Ace number, description, price, and cost, as well as the quantity received or damaged,
  • Monitor shortages and overages.
  • Monitor items marked as damaged.
  • View items that are new to the system, and print labels for them.
  • View items that have a price on the invoice that is different that the price in your system, and print new labels for them.
  • Monitor items that are special orders, and look up contact information for their respective customers.
  • View Ace bulletin items by bulletin number. This includes promotions and orders by pallet.
  • Send the invoice to the Receiving Client, and once it is all checked in, download it back to the server.
  • Print a variety of different views.

For information on each of these topics, see the topics bellow, as well as the other subjects on Receiving.

Different Sorting Options for the Invoice Manager Window

The Invoice Manager allows you to view data from an invoice in 7 different ways.

Invoice

This view displays the invoice in its entirety. This is useful for looking over the invoice before receiving it.

Short/Over

This view will display all items on the invoice were the Received field (Recv) does not equal the Shipped field (Ship). Use this view after the invoice has been downloaded from the Client. It is recommend that you make sure the ship quantity is correct for each item in this view. You can print the list out using the “Print Current View” button, and then take the printout to the sales floor to check the numbers. To make an item disappear from this view, enter the correct Recv quantity. Once you refresh the view (by clicking on another view and then “Short/Over”) the items will be gone.

Damaged

This view will display all items were the “Damaged” field isn’t blank. This is useful for keeping track of items that came in but were damaged during the shipping process. The “Damaged” quantity is purely for tracking purposes: it is not updated into Cougar Mountain.

New Item

This view will display all items that are new to the Cougar Mountain database. This is determined by looking in the Inventory (IN) history file. These items will be marked as “New” in the Receiving Client. These items also have labels that will print out when you click “Print New Item/Label Labels…” New item labels have a large asterisk (*) on the right side of the label, while new price labels do not.

New Label

This view will display all items that have a different price on the invoice that the current “Price 1″ in the Cougar Mountain inventory database. They will also have a label printed when you click “Print New Item/Label Labels…”

Special Orders

This view will display each item on the current invoice that has a matching record in the Special Orders database. In order to have a matching record, three criteria must be met:

  • There must be a record in the Special Order Database that has the exact same Ace number as an item on the invoice.
  • The “Received” checkbox on that record must not be checked. If it is checked, the record is assumed to be old.
  • The record must be in the Special Order Database before the Invoice Wizard is run. If the Special Order record is added after the Invoice is prepared, it will not show up as such.
  • Each of these items will have a label printed when you press “Print Special Order Labels”.

    Note: To easily access the special order record for a particular item, press the button to the right of the record.

Bulletin

This view will display all items on the invoice that have a bulletin number. These items are often promotional, clip strip items, and pallets.

Sending an Invoice to the Receiving Client

Click this button to send the invoice that you are viewing to the Receiving Client, which is specified in the preferences. If you send an invoice, any data on the Client before you press send will be erased, so make sure the data is old! For more info on setting up your Receiving Client, click here.

Print New Item/Label Labels…

Use this button to print out New Item and Price Change labels. A dialog box will open, allowing you to choose where on the sheet of labels you would like to start printing.

Print Special Order Labels…

Use this button to print out labels for each special order on the current invoice. These labels are great for storing and organizing you special orders until your customers come and pick them up. The labels show product info, customer contact info, and a line for you to indicate the date the customer was called. This is useful for stores that put items out onto the sales floor if the customer doesn’t come to pickup the item after a certain amount of time.

Open Special Order Client

Use this button to easily access the Special Orders Database.

Download Invoice from Recv. Client

Use this button to down the data from the Receiving Client once the invoice has been checked in.

Note: If you send the invoice to the client, then change some info on the server, then download the client data back to the server, the data on the server will be overwritten. To prevent this, do not change any data on the server until the data has been downloaded from the client.

Update Completed Invoice into CMS

Press this button after the invoice is totally checked in and all labels are put up. This will update your on hand counts and retail prices. Make sure the Recv field reflects the actual number that came in off of the truck. If the data updated into Cougar Mountain is incorrect, your on hand counts will be off. This is a major problem that should be prevented whenever possible.

Configuring Acenet for Downloading Invoice and Hotsheets Data

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Follow the instructions below to configure your computer for manually downloading your invoice and hotsheets files from Ace’s computer system.

In order to complete this installation, you will need a computer with an Internet connection, your store number, your Acenet user name and password, and your Acenet firewall ID and password. Contact Ace Electronics Services if you do not have this information.

  • Go to the Acenet web site, located at http:\\www.acehardware-acenet.com. Login with your store number, user name, and password.
  • Click on Utilities > Software Maintenance.
  • From the list of files, select FTP Components and click Continue.
  • Click the link to download the required FTP components. After the download is complete, run the program to install the files.
  • After the FTP components are installed, go back to Acenet, and click Utilities > Software Maintenance.
  • From the list of files, select Reset Firewall ID (for FTP purposes only) and click Continue.
  • Click the link to download the program. After the download is complete, run the program. You will be prompted for your firewall ID and password.
  • After you have reset your firewall ID and password, go back to Acenet, and click Utilities > File Transfer Options > File Transfer Setup.
  • If you have a Dial-Up Internet connection:

    Fill in your User ID and Password, and then select the dial-up network profile you use to connect to the Internet from the drop down menu.

    If you have a Broadband Internet connection:

    Fill in the User ID and Password files with “N/A”, and leave the dial-up network profile blank.

  • For the two directories, input the path that you want the files to download to (ie. “C:\downloads\invoices”). Remember this path as you will need it later when you run the Receiving Wizard.
  • Click Activate to enable the PC for downloading data.

Your computer is now ready to download data from Acenet.

Invoice Wizard

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

With this wizard you will:

  • Select a vendor.
  • Download data files from your vendor.
  • Prepare the downloaded data files.
  • Create a new Invoice and/or Hotsheets database.

Select a Vendor

At the moment, the only supported vendor is Ace Hardware Corp. Click Next to continue.

Select a Download the Source

There are two ways to download your Ace data files: you can use Symantec ProComm Plus to connect with a modem, or you can manually download the files from Acenet.

  • Ace Hardware Acenet

    • When downloading your data from Acenet, you must first choose the folders that you will be downloading the data to. These should be the same folders that are listed on Acenet under Utilities > File Transfer Options > File Transfer Setup.
    • Once you have specified the folder paths, open your Internet browser and login in to Acenet.
    • From the menu bar, select Utilities > File Transfer Options > Manual Download of Nightly Files. Any hotsheets and invoice data files on the server will be downloaded to your hard drive.
    • Once the files have been downloaded, return to the Invoice Wizard and click Next to prepare the files.
  • Symantec ProComm Plus

    • Do you need to download data files?

      Click Next to continue unless you have already downloaded the data files from Ace, in which case you would choose the second option. If you said Yes, ProComm Plus will them open and run a script that will download the you most recent hotsheet and invoice files from Ace.

Completing the Wizard

The wizard will then prepare you data files for use. This will add any new product information to you Cougar Mountain database but will not update any on hand counts or retail prices - both steps happen when you update your invoice into Cougar Mountain. If any errors occurred during the preparation of the invoice and hotsheet files, the wizard will tell you what they are and how to correct them.

You invoice(s) should now appear in the Receiving Window list. Click the invoice you wish to check in and click Open. See Sending an Invoice to the Receiving Client for more info.

Receiving an Order

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Receiving an order involves several steps.

  • First you must run the Invoice Wizard and download you invoice files from Ace Hardware’s computer system.
  • Then you must send the invoice file you wish to receive against to the Receiving Client.
  • The Receiving Client is then used to check in the order.
  • After the order is checked in, you must download the data back on to the server.
  • At this point you can look over the invoice. Make any necessary corrections or adjustments to the invoice.
  • Then you update the completed invoice into Cougar Mountain, updating on-hand counts and adding information to the history file.
  • The invoice is then archived for future reference.
  • Every time you download an invoice, you also download nightly product updates called Hotsheets. To update your system with these updates you need to print new product labels with new prices, put those labels up through out your store, and then update the new data into Cougar Mountain.

For more information on each of these steps, click one of the links bellow.

Using the Order Editor

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

The Order Editor has many useful features. After you have created a section either manually, with a handheld device, or with Computer Assisted Ordering, you can open your section with the Order Editor. With the Editor you can: double check your order and compare your data to data in your Cougar Mountain database, check for duplicates and errors, change retail prices, print labels, generate reports, and add items your forgot. You can even compare one of your orders against a Computer Assisted Order!

The Four Views of the Order Editor

The Order Editor has four different views you can use to view your data. Each view is detailed below.

  • Order
    This is the default view, and its the main screen that you will do most of you editing from. It will display all valid data that you have collected. When you are finished with an order, the stock numbers from this view will be compiled into your final order.
  • Duplicates
    This view will display any duplicate records that exist. Once you delete one of the duplicates of an item, and only one line for that item remains, the items is no longer considered a duplicate. If you refresh the view by clicking a different view and clicking back to “Duplicates” the item will be gone.

    Important Note: Make sure that you delete any duplicates before you finished your order.

    Tip: The Duplicates view is very useful when you are viewing multiple sections at a time. This will allow you to cross-reference sections and clear up any duplicates that occur.

  • Outs
    The “Outs” view is designed to show all invalid stock numbers: items that were added to your Order but were not in Cougar Mountain. These “outs” are often typos, which can easily be corrected by enter your cursor into the Stock field and typing the correct number. They are also often items that aren’t in the Cougar Mountain database and need to be added.

    Note: If you want to order an item that is not in your system, your should order in on Acenet instead of using Subtruct Utilities. Then, when the item comes in with the order, all the correct information will get loaded into the system. This prevents user error and saves time.

    Tip: The Search feature, described below, is very useful for dealing with “Outs”.

  • Labels
    This view will show you all of the items that have were designated as needed a label on a handheld device. You can add items in this view, but keep in mind that the Order Editor will not only print a label for the item, but it will also add the item to your order. To print labels for items that you do not want to reorder, use the Label Maker.

    Note: Unlike the Cycle Counts Editor, the “Label” field is hidden to save space.

The Order Editor Table

The Order Editor Table is made up of an assortment of fields displaying data about the items being counting. Each field is described below.

  • Stock
    The stock number of the current item. Under the Outs view, this field can be edited. Once you leave the field, the new corrected field will be looked up, and if it is found, the record will be added to the main section.
  • Description
    The description of the item. If the item is an “Out”, the field will display “INVALID STOCK NUMBER”.
  • Order Desc.
    The description given to the Order Section that the record is a part of. This field is useful when view more than one section at a time.
  • OM
    The order multiply. This is the “Unit Package” from Cougar Mountain. The quatity you order must be devisable by the OM - for example, if the OM is “10″, you cannot or 2 or 15. Instead you must order 10, 20, etc.
  • RU
    Retail Units. This field is the regular number of selling units. Typically, the RU is the same as the OM, but when it is different the OM is the amount you order and the RU is the amount you sell. For example: Item # 31981 is a box of Wire Nuts. You order them by the box (100 in a box), but sell them as singles ($.13 a piece).
  • Ship
    Ship Quantity. This is a very important fields, as it contains the exact quantity that you are ording from Ace. This field is blue to help remind you of it’s importance. If you type in a number that is not devisable by the OM, the value in this field will be rounded according to the rounding method you set in Ordering Options. (Click here for more info on Ordering Options.)
  • Min
    The minimum on-hand value. This number is auto-generated by Inventory Control and is the recommend minimum quantity of stock you should have on hand based on your sales history. When using computer assisted ordering, an item will be reordered when the on-hand is lower that the min.
  • OH
    The current on-hand quantity.
  • HHQty
    Handheld Quanity. This field is the number counted before any rounding.
  • Retail
    The current retail price of the item in Cougar Mountain.
  • Cost
    The last cost that the item was received at.
  • Ext Cost
    The last cost mutlipied by the quantity being ordered
  • Margin
    Margin (or profit margin) is a measure of profitability expressed as a percentage. It’s calculated as net income / revenue = profit margin.
  • Class
    The 3-digit Ace merchandise class. In Cougar Mountain, this field is called Product Type.
  • Dis
    The discontinued code. This field will be blank unless the item is discontinued, in which case a discontinued code will appear. While items with a discontinued code can be reorder, they will never be added automatically with Computer Assisted Ordering, and if the item was discontinued by Ace, the product will probably not come in.
  • Label
    The Print Label check box. When printing labels (by pressing the Print button when in the Labels view), all items that have this box checked will have a label printed.

    Note: Unlike the Cycle Counts Editor, in the Order editor the “Label” field is hidden to save space.

The History Box

This box contains the description, quantity, and date of the most recent inventory history transaction (that is not from Point of Sale). This box is used when problem solving inventory problems. Here is an eample: You count an item and you determine you only have 1 on the hook. The computer says you have 7 on hand. You look at the history line and see that you received 6 yesterday. The history line helped you discover that you have 6 more, but they were stocked in the wrong location.

Deleting Records from the Editor Table

To delete a record from a Order section, simply click the “X” button to the left of the record you wish to delete.

Using the Search Feature

The Order Module has the ability to keep track of the order in which records are added to a Order section, allowing you to track down what items were entered before and after any given item in the section. This is useful for locating the origin of invalid or incorrect records on the floor by determining what products were entered before and after the problematic record.

To use the Search feature, simply click the Magnifying Glass button to the left of the record you wish to perform the search on. A “Search Results” window will appear. The middle line will display the target record’s stock number and description. The top line displays the record input before the target record, while the bottom line displays the record input after the target record. If the target record was the first or last item added to the section, then “Beginning of File” or “End of File” will be displayed, respectfully.

Create a Report from Search Results

When you are viewing the results of a Search, click Add to Report to add the results a report queue. Results will continue to add to the this report queue until you press the Delete Search button. When you are ready to print the report, click the Print button in the lower right hand corner of the window. From the Print dialog box, select Search Report and click Print.

Note: The print button will not bring up the Print Dialog Box when you are on the “Labels” view.

Other Reports Available in the Order Editor

Not including the Search Report, there is one other report you can run while using the Order Editor: Detail. To print this report, click the Print button in the lower right hand corner of the window. From the Print dialog box, select “Detail” from the left and then click Print.

Note: The print button will not bring up the Print Dialog Box when you are on the “Labels” view.

  • Detail
    The Detail Report will display all of the records show in the current view. This report is useful for archiving and order or section.

Adding New Records to a Section in the Editor

To add an item to a section in the Order Editor, use the Add New Item section in the bottom left hand corner of the window. Enter the stock number of the item, select the section you wish to add it to (if you are viewing multiple sections at once), and click the Add button. The Editor will look up the item in your Cougar Mountain database. If the item is found it will be added to the section with a ship quantity equal to the ship pack size. To order more that the minimum amount, change the “Ship” quantity. If the item is not in the Cougar Mountain database you will be informed that the number was invalid.

Printing Labels with the Order Program

When you are counting records with a handheld device, you have the option to print a label. Simply check the “Label” box (on the handheld device) and then when view the “Labels” view of the Order Editor, press the “Print” button in the bottom right hand corner of the window. A “Select Print Position…” window will appear. Select where on the blank sheet of labels you would like to start printing (this is useful for reusing partially used sheets). Then press the “Print” button to print the labels, or the “Preview” button to view them.

Note: Unlike the Cycle Counts Editor, in the Order editor the “Label” field is hidden to save space. If you want to add an item to your order AND print a label for the item, add the item while under the “Label” view.