Archive for the ‘Substruct Mobile’ Category
“Too many users” error when trying to access Substruct Mobile
Monday, August 4th, 2008Substruct 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.
Substruct Mobile: HTTP 405 - Resource Not Allowed
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008This is an error in the Substruct Mobile code. On POST, ASP must refer back to the page in question using the “action” argument.
Wrong:
method=”post” action=”"
Right:
method=”post” action=”retailtomargin.asp”
Please contact techincal support if you are having this issue.
Adding Wireless Cycle Counts
Thursday, June 19th, 2008With Subtruct Mobile, you can use a wireless handheld device to collect data for cycle counting. To start adding data to a counts section, follow the steps below.
Creating a New Section
- Open the Substruct Mobile web application by using your mobile device’s web browser to navigate to the address listed in your preferences.
- Click on the Cycle Counts button.
- The Section List will appear. Click Add New to create a new section.
- Input a name for the section, such as “Aisle 4″ or “John’s Counts”, and click OK.
Adding Records to an Exisiting Section
- Hightlight the section you wish to add to from the Cycle Counts Section List.
- Click Edit.
- Input the stock number or UPC code into the Stock field and click Scan.Note: If you use a handheld with a built-in scanner, the Scan will get clicked automatically when you scan an item.
- The following information about the item you are counting will be displayed:
- Description
A description of the item. - Stock
The stock number of the item. - Manf#
The manufacture’s stock number for the item. His
The date, quantity, and description of the most recent inventory history transaction (that is not from Point of Sale). This field 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. - Retail
The current retail price of the item. - Cost
The most recent cost of the item. - OH
The current on hand count of the item according to Cougar Mountain. - Min
The minimum on hand quanitity of the item as determined by Inventory Control. - Dis
The Discontinued Code of the item. This field will be blank if the item is not discontinued.
- Description
- In addition to the information above, the following things appear on this screen.
- 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 (See corresponding article). - Qty Field
This field is where you input your the correct on hand value. - Print Label Checkbox
If you want to flag the item and print a label for it later, check this box. - Add Button
When you are finished inputing a on hand quantity into the Qty, click this button to move to a new record. - Look at Section Button (Magnifying Glass)
Pressing this button will take to a screen overlooking all of the records in the section. - 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.
- Camera Button
Once you are finished inputing records to a section, you can access it in the Cycle Counts module of Substruct Utilities.
Substruct Mobile and the iPhone
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
Ever since I got my first iPod in 2001, I’ve been waiting for the iPhone. The idea of carrying all my music around on a PDA style cell phone was a dream I’ve had for a long time. That dream is now a reality… and I must say the real thing is better than anything I could have imagined. The iPhone is not only a mobile phone, a PDA, and a widescreen video iPod, but it’s also a high tech Internet device with an amazing touch screen interface. The fully functional web browser, Safari, is so good, I often prefer to surf the web using my iPhone instead of my computer! iPhone also has built in WiFi, so whenever your at home or at a coffee shop with wireless hot spots, you can enjoy the real Internet at broadband speeds… not the mini version found on so many mobile devices out there.
The iPhone is, for total lack of a more appropriate word, revolutionary. What the iPod did for listening to music, the iPhone will do for almost every aspect of our lives that mobile technology. Its clean, intuitive interface is so streamlined and its feature set is so robust you won’t be able to imagine life without it.
With all that the iPhone is bringing to the personal digital lifestyle, many business owners are asking, “How will the iPhone change the way I do business?” Due to Apple’s forward thinking approach to Web 2.0 technologies, the iPhone’s browser supports all standard web technologies. That means web-based applications such as Substruct Mobile, a web-based inventory control and receiving add-on to Cougar Mountain, are fully supported. While Substruct Mobile is support by most “mobile browsers”, Safari’s implementation on the iPhone is so slick, you’ve got to see it to believe it. One of the first things I did after activating my iPhone was to head on over to http://demo.substructsystems.com/cougar to check out our demo copy of Substruct Mobile. I fired up the Adjust Stock Quantities page, zoomed in on the Stock field, and typed in “Chair1” with my onscreen keyboard. Sure enough, there was all the information on stock number CHAIR1: the server reported back that I’ve got 70 on hand, with a last cost of $10.00 and a retail of $100.00.
Having this kind of access to information is the fundamental drive behind technology like the iPhone. Lets look at an example: Let’s say you’ve owned a wholesale plastics business since 1975. In ’77, if one of you larger customers wanted to place a larger that normal order with you while you were on vacation, he would have had to take the following steps:
- He calls the office. You aren’t there. He tells your secretary to have you contact him ASAP.
- Your secretary phones the hotel you are staying at, but you are out on the beach. She leaves a message with the concierge.
- The concierge tracks you down by the bar and gives you the message. You head to your room to place a call.
- First you contact the customer to find out want he needs. After figuring out what plastic he is after and his quantities, you then call the warehouse to check your stock levels.
- Your warehouse manager tells you that they’ve got plenty of that plastic in stock, but forgets to mention the fact that half of it has already been sold.
- You call back the customer with a delivery date you’ll never meet. He later gets upset because the stuff you told him you would deliver is on backorder.
Now granted, this is an extreme case, but for arguments sake, lets look at this scenario again in today’s setting, with your brand new iPhone in hand.
- The customer calls into the office to place an order with you. You no longer have a secretary because you keep all your contacts and appointments on your iPhone. He dials your extension which is immediately transferred to you in Florida. You’re listening the “Margaritaville” by Jimmy Buffet – the perfect beach song. The music fades out and you answer the call as if you were in the office.
- The customer asks about certain kind of plastic. You flip over to Safari, and using the resorts beach front Wireless Internet, you login in to Substruct Mobile. You see you’ve got a ton in stock, but most has already been sold to another customer. You’ve then check a similar plastic you carry lots of. Looks like you’ve got plenty in stock.
- You offer the replacement plastic to the customer, who isn’t picky about what kind of plastic as long as it comes on time. He’s happy as can be.
Quite different, isn’t it? This is just one example of how mobile technology is changing our lives. In a survey of 39,000 people in the days after the iPhone’s release, 90% had heard of the product, and a staggering 32% planned on owning one, where in it be in the next three months or something in future (www.lightspeedresearch.com). As you can see, this isn’t just the latest toy, it’s a revolution.
Luke Stratton
Co-Founder and CEO
Substruct Systems, LLC
lukestratton@substructsystems.com
Substruct Systems is an award wining Cougar Mountain Business Partner providing mobile and inventory control solutions to businesses around the country. For more info visit www.substructsystems.com.
For more information on Substruct Mobile and web based access to your Cougar Mountain installation, contact your sales representative or business partner today.