Substruct Knowledge Base

You can add new sections to Order Assembly by using the Add Manual button. This will bring up a window asking you to name the section. Type in a name, such as “Joe’s Order”, or “Plumbing Wall”, and click OK.

Once you have named and created the new section, you can begin adding items to it. Type the stock number into the Stock field, and the quantity that you wish to order into the Quantity field.

Once you have finished typing in your order, click Save and the records will be generated into a Order section that you can open with the Order Editor. You can then edit and add to the order, double check for outs and duplicates, print reports and labels, and finally combine it with other sections to create your final order.

After you have created a new order with the Create New Order Wizard, you can begin adding records to with Order Assembly. To open an order in Order Assembly, highlight the order and press the Open Order button. The Order Assembly window will open.

The Order Assembly Window

Order Assembly allows you to create sections of you order using several different methods. You can then view one of more of these sections at a time using the Order Editor. The Editor is great for double checking quantities, costs, and totals, as well as checking for duplicates and outs.

Adding Sections to Order Assembly

There are four ways to gather and add data to a new section to Order Assembly. Click on one of the links below for more information.

• Adding a Manual Order
• Adding a Handheld Order
• Adding a Wireless Order
• Generating a Computer Assited Order

Using the Order Editor

To edit the contents of one or more of the sections, highlight the section(s) you want to edit and click Edit Selection(s). This will open the Order Editor. For more information on the Order Editor, click the link below.

• Using the Order Editor

Note: To highlight a section, just click it in the list. You can highlight multiple sections this way. To un-highlight a section, just click it again.

Deleting Sections from Order Assembly

To delete one or more of the sections, highlight the section(s) you want to edit and click Delete Selection(s).

Note: To highlight a section, just click it in the list. You can highlight multiple sections this way. To un-highlight a section, just click it again.

The ordering process begins with creating an order database for all of you order records to be stored in. The New Order Wizard will help you through this process.

To create a new order, press the New Order Wizard button located in the top right hand corner of the main Order window. The wizard will appear. Click “Next >” to continue.

The wizard will display a list of all of the Inventory (IN) Codes and their descriptions from the Inventory module of Cougar Mountain. Choose “Ace” (IN code “I1″) as your vendor, and click “Next >” to continue.
See below for more info on IN codes.

Finishing the New Order Wizard

After you have selected a vendor, the wizard is ready to be completed. Click “Finished” to create the new order and close the wizard. You are now ready to start ordering using Order Assembly.

Inventory Codes

IN codes are codes setup in Cougar Mountain that determine how items in inventory are dealt with. This includes: valuation methods (FIFO, Weighted Average, etc.), tax code assignments, and GL accounts (for use if GL Integration is ON).

Typically these codes are assigned to different vendors and tax settings, but when using Substruct Utilities with Cougar Mountain, code “I1” (uppercase “i”, number “one”) is always the Ace Hardware Corp. inventory code: every items that comes from an Ace warehouse has an IN code of “I1″.

The Ordering module is for creating and sending electronic orders to Ace. It has many different methods for creating an order: you can create orders by typing them in manually, using a handheld device with a built-in scanner, or you can use the auto-replenishment feature and create a Computer Assisted order. Ordering also has the ability to combine any of these methods, allowing you to generate multiple parts of an order at the same time.

Using the Main Ordering Window

The main Ordering window is used for the following tasks:

• Creating orders
• Opening orders in Order Assembly (to add records, edit records, etc.)
• Deleting orders
• Sending orders to Ace
• Changing Computer Assisted Ordering settings

Creating an Order Using the New Order Wizard

For information on creating orders using the New Order Wizard, click here.

Using Order Assembly to Compile an Order

For information on adding to and compiling orders using Order Assembly, click here.

Deleting an Order

To delete an order, highlight the order you wish to delete and then press the Delete Order button.

Sending an Order to Ace

Once you have finished adding items to your order you need to electronically transmit it to Ace’s computer system for processing.

• Highlight the order you wish to send.
• Click the Save and Send Order button.
• A dialog box will appear telling you the approximate total cost of the order and the total number of lines on the order. Double-check these numbers, and click Export to continue.
• At this point several things will happen.
• A data file containing your order with be created in your Completed Orders folder - if you were to generate an order on 12/7/2004, this file would look something like “ACE120704″.

  For more information on specifying where your Completed Orders folder is, click here.

• ProComm Plus will open and run a script for transmitting orders. The script will use your modem to automatically connect to Ace’s computer system. It will then prompt you for the location of the order file.
• Substruct Utilities will display a dialog box asking if the order was successfully sent to Ace.
• You should now switch from Substruct Utilities to ProComm Plus (using either the Windows Task Bar or [Alt + Tab]).
• ProComm Plus should have a file browsing window open. Use it to locate your Completed Orders folder and then double-click the order file you wish to send.
• The order file will transmit to Ace. Once the transfer has finished, ProComm Plus will give you a conformation code. Write this code down and then close ProComm Plus.
• Switch back to Substruct Utilities. There should be a dialog box asking if the order was sent correctly. Clicking “Yes” will change the order from “Pending…” status to “Completed” status, and it will no longer be editable.

Note: In order to send an order electronically, Symantec ProComm Plus must be installed and configured on your computer. More information on setting up Substruct Utilities to work with ProComm Plus can be found here.

Ordering Settings

Ordering Settings contains settings for Computer Assisted Ordering and ship pack rounding. To access the Ordering Settings menu, click Options > Settings… in the top left hand corner of the Order window.

For more information on Computer Assisted Ordering, click here.

Ace Merchandise Class Exclusions

You can tell the computer not to order certain Ace merchandise class groups be entering them into this box. For example, you may order candy for your checkout line from a 3rd party vendor, but some of their SKUs are in Ace’s database. By entering merchandise class number “927″ into this box, candy will no longer be automatically reordered from Ace.

Ship Quantity Rounding

When using Ordering, you can only order in multiples of ship packs. When you type in a order quantity (or from a handheld device) that is not a multiple of the ship pack, the quantity must be rounded. This is where you defined the rounding, whether it be “Always Round Up”, “Always Round Down”, or “Round to Nearest Ship Pack”.

There is also a checkbox for rounding quantities less that one ship pack to one ship pack. This is useful for when you order 1 of an item, but the ship pack was greater than one: check this box if you wan the system to round it up even if you choose “round down” above.

The Report Settings window is used to set many of the preferences needed to generate various reports.

Non-Inventory Tab

From the list box, check the items you want to show up in the Non-Inventory Report. Some of the codes may be used as an Alternate Tender or Paid Out code and you man not want to see them on this report.

For more information on the Non-Inventory Report, click this link:

• Non-Inventory Report

Alt Tender Tab

Specify which alternate tender code you use for Store Use and for Policy A. Those codes will now show up on the correct report.

For more information on the Alternate Tender Report, click this link:

• Alternate Tender Report

Zip Code History Tab

Specify which code your cashiers use to track Zip code history, if any.

For more information on the Zip Code History Report, click this link:

• Zip Code History Report

The Promotional Effectiveness Report does exactly that: It helps to analyze the effectiveness of past promotional codes. The report will automatically lookup up every item in the promo code, calculate how many units were sold during the promotional period, a display the margins and totals for the entire promotion.

Promotional Code

Select the promo code you want to generate the report for from this drop down menu.

View

Select a report viewing option.

Preview




Preview will open a window that allows you to view the report on you screen. You can then send the report to your printer.




Print




Print will send the report directly to you printer.




Table




Table will open a sortable table, which is convenient for view data, but cannot be printed.

Sort

Select the field you want the report to be sorted by.

Some of the most useful reporting options in Substruct Utilities are the Sales Graphs. They allow to you monitor what the busiest times of the day are by displaying number of transactions and total sales by hour.

By Hour

The By Hour graph views one day’s worth of sales in an hour-by-hour format. You can monitor what hours of the day the most transactions happened, and when the big ticket sales occurred. Choose a date you wish to view and click OK to generate the graphs.

By Day

The By Day graph is used for viewing weeks of data at a time to analyze sales by day of the week instead of by hour of the day. Select a date range and press OK.

Note: Make sure you select a total number of days that is a multiple of seven - other wise you will see an unequal amount of data on certain days of the week. Choose a date range you wish to view and click OK to generate the graphs.

Cumulative by Hour

The Cumulative by Hour graph is a useful tool for analyzing average sale by hour over a period of time. It takes the given date range, adds up all of the sales, and then displays the total by hour. This graph is great for analyzing when your store is busy, and it helps you to staff the sales floor more adequately. Choose the days you want included in the graph from the Days to Include option group. You can choose to monitor weekdays only, Saturdays, Sundays, or all days. Choose a date range you wish to view and click OK to generate the graphs.

This report is designed to view a summary of sales by 3-digit merchandise class number assigned by Ace. This report is useful for analyzing costs and margins in certain categories, as well as studying which departments are profitable.

Date

Select the date range you want the report to be generated from.

Display

This report has two main types: Summary displays ten different merchandise categories, grouped by department number; Detail lists each individual category.

View

Select a report viewing option.

Preview




Preview will open a window that allows you to view the report on you screen. You can then send the report to your printer.




Print




Print will send the report directly to you printer.




Table




Table will open a sortable table, which is convenient for view data, but cannot be printed.

Sort

Select the field you want the report to be sorted by when Detail is the display type.

This report is designed to display a history of items that have been sold in the given date range. The report has several sorting options, and can be generated for different inventory codes. It is very useful for seeing what items have been sold, how many have been sold, and how many are left on-hand.

Date

Select the date range you want the report to be generated from.

Inv Code

Select a specific Inventory Code to filter the report by.

View

Select a report viewing option.

Preview




Preview will open a window that allows you to view the report on you screen. You can then send the report to your printer.




Print




Print will send the report directly to you printer.




Table




Table will open a sortable table, which is convenient for view data, but cannot be printed.

Sort

Select the field you want the report to be sorted by.

This report is designed to gather marketing research about your customers. In order for this report to work, you must setup a Zip Code non-inventory code, and assign it as such in the Report Settings.

Setting Up a Zip Code Non-Inventory Code

To set up a Zip Code History Code in Cougar Mountain, do the following:

• Open Cougar Mountain Point of Sale.
• Open the Point of Sale module.
• Under the Options menu, select Codes.
• Expand Non-Inventory.
• Select Normal… to bring up the PS Non-Inventory Codes window.
• In the Non-Inventory Code field, type a one- to four-digit code you want the cashiers to use record zip codes with (Z works well for this).
• In the Description field, type a description telling the cashier to enter a zip code. Something like “***ENTER 5-DIGIT ZIP***” works well.
• If you have GL Integration on, enter an appropriate account number.
• Leave Unit Price and Unit Cost at $0.0000. Leave Taxable unchecked.
• Click Save.

Using a Zip Code Non-Inventory Code

After you have your non-inventory code setup, you are ready to start tracking your customers’ zip codes.

• After ringing up the transaction, and before completing the sale, type the Zip Code Non-Inventory code (Z for this example) as if it were an item.
• The Zip Code Item Description should appear under description. Click into the description field to edit its value.
• Ask the customer for their five-digit zip code.
• Enter it into the description field, overriding the description telling you to enter a zip code.
• Leave the Price and Quantity fields at 0.
• Complete the sale as usual.

Assigning a Zip Code in the Report Settings

For more information on assigning a Zip Code History code, click this link:

• Report Settings

Running the Zip Code History Report

After you have setup a Zip Code Non-Inventory Code, assigned it in the Report Settings, and generated some Zip Code History, you can view you sale history based on Zip Code.

Date




Select the date range you want the report to be generated from.

Sort




Select whether you would like to view the report sorted by number of transactions or total amount of sales.

Viewing the Zip Code History Report

After the date and sort type selected, click OK to view the report. The report may take a few minutes to generate, depending on the size of your database.