Business Assistant

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Business Assistant / Business Assistant.iso / acctg / sp1 / salespro.doc

Wrap

Text File | 1986-07-10 | 72.3 KB | 2,300 lines

User Guide The Sales Processor An Integrated Order entry, Accounts Receivable and Inventory Control System from Seven Tree Systems 4 Lakeview Circle Wakefield, Ma. 01880 Copyright (C) 1986 by Seven Tree Systems The Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ----------------- ---- Copyright and licensing restrictions. 2 Registration form 3 Installation guide 4 1.0 Getting started 6 2.0 Using the Customer Database 7 3.0 Inventory File Field Descriptions 11 3.18 Using the Inventory Control System 14 4.0 Order Entry 20 5.0 Entering Payments 26 6.0 Deleting Payments 29 7.0 Sales Processor Data Files 30 8.0 File Maintenance 31 Appendices A Printing invoices 32 B Reports 33 1 COPYRIGHT The Sales Processor is copyright (C) 1986 by Seven Tree Systems of Wakefield, Ma. and Michael M. Bosen. All rights reserved. Users are granted a limited license to copy this program for trial use subject to the following limitations: The program must be distributed in unmodified form. No fee may be charged for distribution with the exception of a nominal copying or disk charge not to exceed five dollars ($5.00) per disk. The Sales Processor software may not be distribute in conjunction with any other product. Should you find this software to be of value to you and intend to use it on a regular basis for commercial use you must register your copy with Seven Tree Systems. Commercial use of unregistered copies is strictly forbidden. Site licensing is available for multiple copies. Custom modifications of the Sales Processor are available upon request to more closely fit your way of doing business. Information on modifications may be obtained by calling or writing to: Seven Tree Systems 4 Lakeview Circle Wakefield, Ma. 01880 (617) 245 4626 You may also contact us on our bulletin board by calling SOFTLINE at: (617) 245 4909 2 The Sales Processor User Registration Form Please fill out and return this form signed with your registration fee of $90.00 for the three modules to: Seven Tree Systems 4 Lakeview Circle Wakefield, Ma. 01880 You will receive a registered copy of the Sales Processor by return mail. The copy you receive will be the most recent version available and you agree that you will not copy or distribute the upgraded version without written permission from Seven Tree Systems. NAME: ____________________________________________________________ COMPANY: _________________________________________________________ ADDRESS: _________________________________________________________ CITY: ____________________________ STATE: _____ ZIP: __________ TELEPHONE: (______) ______-_________ What version of the Sales Processor are you registering? ________ PAYMENT: Please send _____ copies of the Sales Processor including order entry, inventory control, and accounts receivable at $90.00/ea. ------------.-- COD add 2.50 ____________.__ MA residents add 5% sales tax ____________.__ Total ____________.__ ( )COD ( )Check enclosed ( )MC ( )Visa Card No.___________________________ Expiration Date: ____/____/____ Signature: _______________________________________________________ With the above signature you agree to abide by the licensing terms outlined in the Sales Processor license agreement. 3 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. INSTALLING THE SALES PROCESSOR The Sales Processor is designed to be able to make use of color graphics capabilities if installed on your computer and to make use of subdirectories available with DOS 2 and above. It is likely that you will have some problem running this software under a version of DOS earlier than 2 although it has not been tested. This version of the Sales Processor requires: IBM or 100% compatible computer. Minimum of 256k memory. At least one floppy disk drive. Printer. Dot matrix recommended. Color graphics adapter. Hard disk is recommended. In the root directory of your boot drive you must have a file called CONFIG.SYS that contains the following lines: FILES=20 BUFFERS=25 If your system meets the above criteria, you may wish to consider using one or more DOS subdirectories for the data files your system will create. This will keep the data files separate from the program files and, therefore, easier to back up and maintain. Before starting the Sales Processor you will want to tell it where to keep these files since it will, upon invocation, create the files in the default directory unless told to do otherwise. Before running the installation program, copy all of the files from the distribution diskettes to a subdirectory that you will be using for the Sales Processor. Once that is finished, log to that subdirectory and (from the DOS prompt) type: INSTSP and press <ENTER>. In a moment the installation screen will appear. You will be asked to select locations for the major system files by pressing the number corresponding to the file. Once you have done so, you will be shown a new screen with two lines for file locations in the center. The first line shows the prior setting for the file's 4 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. location. The second line, probably reading the same as the first, is where you will enter the new location for the file. Should you desire NOT to change the file's location, simply press <ENTER> and you will return to the previous screen. If you do want to change the location, follow these steps: Hold the CONTROL key while you press Y. (This will clear the information contained in the line). Type in the drive name and path you wish to use for this file. The drive name is, of course, any legal drive on your system and the path should be created before running this installation procedure but it is not absolutely necessary as long as you do create it before running the Sales Processor. NOTE: It is crucial that you include the DOS backslash as the last character in this field if you are using subdirectories. EXAMPLE: To install the file in the root of drive C: you will enter: C:\ To install the file in a subdirectory named \SP\DATA on drive C: you must enter: C:\SP\DATA\ Simply leaving the field blank will allow the Sales Processor to create the files in the default directory. You may repeat this process for each file selection. COLOR INSTALLATION The colors that will be used to display the Sales Processor's screens may be determined by simply selecting the Color installation option in the INSTSP program. RUNNING THE SALES PROCESSOR Once you have finished the above procedures you are ready to run the Sales Processor. From the DOS prompt simply type: SALES and press <ENTER>. 5 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. 1.0 GETTING STARTED Your system is designed to allow the fastest possible entry of orders and receivable information by making use of information already contained in other files. You will find it necessary, therefore, to build the supporting files before actually beginning to use the entire system. It is recommended that you begin by placing the names and addresses of your customers in the customer database. Doing so will allow you to become familiar with the basic data entry techniques used by your software and become comfortable with it before moving on to more complicated procedures. 1.1 How the system functions. Your accounting database is a collection of programs and datafiles designed to work together to provide the information you need to maintain accurate billing, receivables and inventory control. Several files will work in harmony to accomplish this task. Your customer file, a database that will contain the names and billing information for all of those who purchase from your company, is necessary for the correct operation of your order entry and other functions. Since your customers are called from the customer database when entering an order, no orders can be entered for a customer NOT in the customer file. Likewise, the inventory file is called when entering orders making it impossible to enter an order for a product that doesn't exist in the inventory file. Since the correct operation of your entire system depends upon information found in various areas (or files), inputting this information must be your fist step. In the next two chapters you will learn how to enter the information necessary for the inventory and customer files. It is recommended that you take these steps one at a time as outlined in this guide. 6 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. 2.0 Customer Base: Instructions for Use To enter data into the customer file select the appropriate function from your main menu. When the program has been called up you will see the entry form on your screen followed by the prompt: Select: U)pdate, L)ist, Q)uit? You are being prompted here for one of the three letters to the left of the parens (U,L, or Q). Selecting "Q" will send you back to the main menu. Before you can use the L)ist function you must have entered some information into the database. To do that you will select "U" for U)pdate. Your screen will clear momentarily and a new form will appear with a different prompt below it saying: Update: A)dd, F)ind, Q)uit? Selecting "Q" will always send you back to the previous prompt except in one case which will be discussed later. Right now you should A)dd to your database by simply selecting "A" at the prompt. Your cursor will move to the first field in the record form next to the words "Ship to:" and will remain there awaiting the input of a code to be used to identify this customer in future applications. This code may be any combination of letters or numbers that will help you to remember this code. The ship to code is required information and must be entered for the record to be saved. You may not enter a code already assigned to someone else so be certain to make each code unique or you will be required to re-enter before saving the record until you have assigned a unique five character code for that record. When you have finished entering the code (or any field on any form) press return and the cursor will move 7 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. automatically to the next field on the form. The next field is reserved for entering your customer's name followed by the address, city, state, zip code and telephone number. The information on the "Ship To:" side of the form is required and must be completed for the system to function properly. Under "Comments" you may enter any information you'd like associated with this record such as "Speak to Ed Brown" or "COD Customer", etc. This information is also not required, but for your future convenience. 2.1 ----------------Cursor Control------------------ While entering the information you will, now and then, want to move the cursor back and forth, up and down, etc. This is done, NOT with the arrow keys, but with a series of keystrokes called CONTROL CHARACTERS. These are invisible characters used for controlling the movements and functions of the cursor. You can produce a control character by PRESSING and HOLDING the "Ctrl" key and then pressing BUT NOT HOLDING the appropriate letter key. Control characters are often abbreviated in several ways. Among these are (for Control C): ^C or Crtl C You will have to become familiar with these and other abbreviations since it will vary from one application's documentation to another. The following is a list of the control characters you will be using for cursor control and their functions. ^S - Moves the cursor one character to the left. ^D - Moves the cursor one character to the right. ^A - Moves the cursor to the left end of the field. ^F - Moves the cursor to the end of the field. ^E - Moves the cursor "up" to the previous field. ^X - Moves the cursor "down" to the next field. 8 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. These functions may be easier to remember if you look at the letter keys on your keyboard and their positions: ^ | E <-- A <-- S D --> F --> X | v You will also want to perform special editing functions in order to make corrections. There are three available editing commands: ^G - Deletes the character over the cursor. ^H - Deletes the character left of the cursor (also Backspace key). ^Y - Deletes all from cursor to end of field. There is one more command you will want to use to speed up your entry and that is the one that ends your entry in the middle of a form without aborting and possibly losing data. That command is: ^Z - Done with current record. Issuing this command will save the current record and clear the form just as would have been done had you correctly entered information into all of the fields and reached the end of thr record. You may then select the appropriate function from the "Update" prompt to procede. 2.2 ---------------Finding a Record---------------- FINDING A RECORD BY CODE: When you want to find a particular record in your customer database, at the "Update" prompt select "F" to F)IND a record. The cursor will then move to the first field on the "Ship To:" side of the form. You are there being prompted for the code of the customer you wish to find. Your choices here are: 1. Enter the correct code for that customer. or: 2. Press <RETURN> If you enter the code correctly, the record 9 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. corresponding to that code will appear on the screen. If you have entered it incorrectly you will be informed either that the code does not exist or you will be shown the record that does correspond to the code given. Assuming that you have entered the code correctly and have the correct record displayed on your screen, you'll notice that the prompt at the bottom of the screen has changed to: Find: E)dit, D)elete, Q)uit? _ If this is a record that you want removed from the data base then you need only press the "D" key and it will be done instantly. CAUTION: Once you have deleted this record you may not bring it back without re-entering all of the information so be certain that you truly wish to delete it before doing so!! If you want to change some of the information in this record, you may select "E" to edit the record and use the cursor controls mentioned previously to move around the record. FINDING A RECORD BY NAME: To locate a record when you are not sure of the exact code used to identify the customer, select "F" from the first FIND prompt and when the cursor goes to the CODE field simply press the <RETURN> key which will send the cursor to the name field. Here you may enter the entire name or just the first part that you know and press <RETURN>. Your screen will respond by showing you the record of the customer that most closely corresponds alphabetically to the information you have given it. Below the form you will see the prompt: Find: N)ext, P)revious, Q)uit? _ If you have not located the correct record you may scan forward or backward alphabetically by choosing either "N" for the N)ext record or "P" for the P)revious record until you have found the correct form. Once you have located the correct record, you may select "Q" which will Q)uit the current mode, but instead of returning to the previous prompt, the prompt: Find: E)dit, D)elete, Q)uit? _ will appear. You may choose the desired function or operation for this record. 2.4 -----------Listing the Records in Your Database---------- Once in a while you'll find it desireable to be able to 10 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. list the records in your database. This can be accomplished at the initial prompt: Select: U)pdate, L)ist, Q)uit? _ by selecting "L" to L)ist. You will then be given the choice of sending the output to either the S)creen or the P)rinter. If you choose the printer, be certain that it is on-line and that the correct paper is inserted. You will next be asked how you would like the list to be sorted. Your choices are C)ode, N)ame or U)nsorted, meaning to list them in the order they were entered. Your list will be output to the device selected in the order you choose. FIELD DESCRIPTIONS _____ ____________ 3.1 SKU # - Stock keeping unit. You may hear this referred to in a number of different ways, another may be "product code." Either way, this is a five character field used to identify a particular type of product. You may have any number of records in your inventory file that use the same SKU#, but it is advisable to limit them to the number necessary for reasons that will become clear later. Any combination of letters, numbers or spaces may be used in this field, but it is best to make it easy to remember and usually, the insertion of spaces in a code will make remembering more difficult. 3.2 LOT # This is a five digit code automatically generated by your system for each new record created in your inventory file. It is not possible for the user to access the data in this field for editing. This is a key field used by the system to distinguish one otherwise identical record from another. 3.3 INVOICE # This ten character field will accept any alpha-numeric input and is for your reference only. It is not required for the proper operation of your system. It refers to a possible invoice number from your supplier and will be useful only if the record is used for a single shipment. 3.4 DESCRIPTION A 20 character alpha-numeric field used to describe the product in inventory. You may use any characters here, but bear in mind that this description is precisely what will be printed 11 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. on all invoices referring to this product and that this description will, at times, be used to call this record. 3.5 SIZE & COUNT These are two ten character fields optionally used only as a reference in this file. This information is not called to the invoice. 3.6 DATE RECEIVED This set of three fields is optionally used to record the date of receipt for a particular shipment. The information format is in the order of MM/DD/YY. You MUST use both character spaces for each field. (EXAMPLE: 1/1/85 must be entered as 01 <cr> 01 <cr> 85 <cr>). 3.7 ON HAND This field is not input by the operator, but computed from other information in the record. It is a representation of the stock level of a particular item dependent upon the information available. 3.8 RECEIVED An input field used to record the receipt of merchandise. This field has the special property of being capable of adding any number input to any total already existing in this field as well as the quantity on hand. This field accepts only numeric input. 3.9 SHRINK This numeric only field is used to record the loss of inventory. Only the last entry is displayed in this field, but a running total is kept in the field called "Shrinkage" and the current percentage of shrinkage for this item is kept in an associated field. 3.10 SOLD This field is automatically updated from the order entry module and tracks all orders input for the particular product in question. All orders for this item recorded on an invoice will be added to this field and subtracted from the quantity on hand. There is no user input for this field. 3.11 COST AREA The information contained in any of the fields in this area (lotcost, unit, shipping, misc., and total) are only of use if the record is being used for one shipment only. The information will be of little value if the record is repeatedly used for 12 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. multiple shipments. 3.12 LOTCOST A numeric input field used to record the product cost for a particular shipment of a particular item. 3.13 UNIT A numeric field computed to reflect the cost-per-package of a particular item using the formula: ((shipping+lotcost+misc)/quan. received). 3.14 SHIPPING A numeric input field recording freight costs of a particular product shipment. 3.15 MISC. Any other product costs may be totaled and entered here. Costs such as inspection fees and cooling are appropriate here. 3.16 TOTAL Reflects the overall cost of a particular shipment. 3.17 FROM These fields optionally may be used to record the name and address of the shipper. Useful only for a single shipment record. 13 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. 3.18 USING THE INVENTORY SYSTEM _____ ___ _________ ______ There are two ways to use the records in the inventory database. 1. Running totals. Each record may be used repeatedly for successive incoming shipments making any totals kept in a record an accumulation of information to date on that item. Some of the information that may be kept in a record will be of little value if the record is used for running totals and therefore need not be included. Most data, however, is of value and should be input. You will learn the difference as you become more familiar with the properties of each field in the record. 2. Single shipment. From time to time you will be required to track a single shipment of an item. Even if this item already has a corresponding record containing the identical description and product code that is used as a running total. All of the information on this type of record may be considered relevant to the shipment in question. You will, most likely, be using the first type of record much more than the second so we'll concentrate on that here. In the previous section you saw a description of each field in the record and any special properties that the field may have. You should study these descriptions so that you are totally familiar with them. Not all of the fields in the record are to be used for entering data. Some of them are automatically filled by the computer when you have finished entering a record and others are updated by the Order Entry module of this system. Your computer will lead you through the fields that you are able to enter information into. Some of these fields DO require that you enter valid data while others may be optional and may be bypassed by simply pressing <RETURN> if desired. 3.19 UPDATING THE DATABASE ________ ___ ________ Bring the inventory database up on your screen by making the appropriate selection from your menu. You will see a blank copy of the inventory record form. At the bottom of the form is the prompt: Select : U)pdate, L)ist, Q)uit? _ You have only three legal entries available to you at this point, each indicating a certain course of action. If you enter 14 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. "Q", to quit, you will arrive back at the previous menu. Selecting "L", to list, will allow you to display, either on your screen or printer, a listing of the items currently in your inventory file, sorted by LOT#, SKU#, or description. You may use this function at any time with little need for further documentation, but first you must have the information available in the database to list out. 3.20 ADDING A RECORD You will want to select "U" to update the database. At the bottom of the form you now see that the prompt has changed to: UPDATE: A)dd, F)ind, Q)uit ? _ Once again, if you select Q)uit you will be sent back to the previous screen. The remaining two selections, "A" or "F" will allow you to "A)dd" a record not already residing in the database or to "F)ind" one that is there. Your decision here depends upon what type of record you are entering. If you wish to create a record to be used for a single shipment, never to be used again for receiving subsequent inventory of this type, you will wish to "A)dd" a new record to the base. This is also the choice you will make when you are building your database for the first time. When you press "A" to "A)dd" a new record the cursor will immediately jump to the SKU# entry field. (See field description 3.1). After entering the required information press <RETURN> and your cursor will move to the next entry or input field. You may enter the necessary data and continue this process until you have completed entry of all of the fields required for the record or you don't wish to input any more information. If you have filled all of the fields available the screen will automatically change, but if you wish to end entry, use the ^Z command as described in the previous chapter (2.1). At the bottom of the screen you will notice the words: Press <RETURN> _ above the former prompt. The system is holding an image of your just-entered record for you to examine before moving on by pressing the carriage return. After you have done so, the screen will refresh itself, giving you a new, blank form and the cursor will move to the former prompt asking you once again to make an appropriate choice. 15 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. 3.21 FINDING A RECORD Very often you will wish to locate a particular record to change, delete or simply for reference. This is done by selecting U)pdate from the opening screen and then "F" to F)ind the record from the "Update" prompt. There are three ways to locate any record in your inventory file. this involves using one of the three "KEY" fields in each record. The three "key fields" are: 1. SKU # (See 3.1). 2. LOT # (See 3.2). 3. DESCRIPTION (See 3.4). Since these three fields have different properties, we'll handle them separately. 3.22 FINDING A RECORD BY SKU # The first field that the cursor moves to upon selecting the F)ind option is the SKU #. You may bypass this choice by simply pressing the <RETURN> key, but this time you should try to find a record you have entered by keying in the appropriate code at the SKU # field and then press <RETURN>. If you have done this correctly, the record you "asked" for should appear on your screen and at the bottom of the form is the prompt: FIND : N)ext, P)revious, Q)uit ? _ Whether the record displayed on your screen is the one you had in mind or not depends upon whether you have entered the product code correctly and whether or not an exact match of that code actually exists in the database. As long as at least one record exists in the file, something will appear on your screen whether or not your entry was correct. This may require some explaining. Your system considers the SKU # to be a "NON-EXCLUSIVE KEY", meaning that your file may contain any number of records using this key information. When you ask your system to find a record using the SKU # it will search the file, first, for an exact match and, if none is found, it displays the NEXT CLOSEST MATCH alphabetically. If you have more than one record in your file that matches the SKU # you asked to find then the first one alphabetically in your file will be displayed on your screen. You may then scan forward or backward through the file, record by record, to locate any other record by pressing "N" for the N)ext or "P" for the P)revious. 16 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. 3.23 FINDING A RECORD BY LOT # To find a record by its LOT #, select the F)ind option and press <RETURN> once. This will cause the cursor to jump first to the SKU # field and then to the LOT #. Enter the LOT # you wish to find and then press <RETURN>. The LOT # field is different from the SKU # in that there can not be more than one record in your inventory file using a given lot number. That means that the lot number is considered to be an "EXCLUSIVE KEY." When you are trying to locate a record using an exclusive key you are expected to provide the EXACT key. The system will return either the record desired or a message indicating that no such lot number can be found on file. 3.24 FINDING RECORDS BY DESCRIPTION Finding a record by its description field is exactly like using the SKU # in all ways except for entering the key information itself. To find a record from this key, select the F)ind option and press the <RETURN> key until the cursor is placed on the description field. Enter the desired description, press <RETURN>, and the closest matching record will display on your screen. The DESCRIPTION field is a "NON-EXCLUSIVE" key field. 3.25 NOW THAT I'VE FOUND IT, WHAT DO I DO WITH IT? Regardless of the method you use to locate a record, once you have it, you probably want to do something with it. You may wish to change it, remove it or simply look at it. With the located record displayed on your screen, you will notice that the prompt at the bottom of the screen still says: FIND : N)ext, P)revious, Q)uit ? _ That's just fine, except that since we have the record we want, we certainly don't need the previous or the next records, so our only option seems to be to Q)uit! Selecting Q)uit here will do something a little different than you may be used to. Instead of sending you to the previous screen, only the prompt at the bottom of the form will change to: FIND : E)dit, D)elete, Q)uit ? _ 3.26 DELETING A RECORD If you simply wish to remove this record, press "D" and the record will be D)eleted without further ado. 17 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. CAUTION!!! Once you erase this record there is no way to retrieve it! 3.27 EDITING A RECORD To change any of the information in this record you need only select "E" to E)dit the record and the cursor moves to the first entry field. When in the E)dit mode, you may move the cursor from field to field in exactly the same manner as you would when entering a new record. If you don't wish to alter the information contained in a field, pressing the <RETURN> key will advance the cursor to the next entry field without changing anything. You may alter the field by simply making the desired change and pressing <RETURN>. All cursor control codes are active in this mode as described in section 2.1. 3.28 USING "RUNNING TOTAL" RECORDS Once a record has been established, you can record any additions to your inventory by using the F)ind function to locate the correct record. Then press "Q" to bring up the "E)dit, D)elete" prompt. Enter the E)dit mode and simply move the cursor to the fields you wish to change. You may only want to change the amount "RECEIVED" in this process. You will discover that the field of this name has the very special ability to take your entry and ADD to it rather than simply replacing the former contents. This makes it different from any other field in the record and special care must be excercised when dealing with this field. 3.29 EDITING THE AMOUNT RECEIVED As mentioned, the usual rules DO NOT apply here for data entry. Here are some hints for dealing with this field. If you simply wish to record the arrival of new inventory, you will simply add a figure to the existing quantity in the field. Place the cursor on the field, enter the new quantity received and press <RETURN>. The number you enter will then appear in the field ADDED TO the number previously there. Adjustments to this amount may be made by entering positive or negative amounts to the field as needed. For example, if you had entered "50" into the field, but meant to enter "500", there are a couple of ways to quickly make the correction. In some cases it may be simpler to return to the field and enter the difference between the erroneous entry and the correct amount. In this case it would involve entering "450" to bring the new total to "500." Another way is to first subtract the amount wrongly entered 18 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. and then input the corrected amount. That could be done here by entering "-50", note the "-" preceding the number, to subtract the error and then enter "500." 3.30 DEALING WITH SHRINKAGE Your inventory system normally takes additional inventory and adds it through the implementation of the "RECEIVED" field. The total amount sold is kept in its own field and updated automatically and the total amount on hand is computed in another field. There are times when these methods do not apply to a necessary adjustment in your inventory. In the case of spoilage, damage, etc., you will wish to record the adjustment as shrinkage. While in the edit mode you may move the cursor to the field called "SHRINK." This field will contain only the last number entered here. Unlike the "RECEIVED" field, a total is not kept here, but in another field labeled "SHRINKAGE." This field records the total loss of inventory to date, for whatever reason. Any number you enter into "SHRINK" will be added to the figure in the "SHRINKAGE" field and subtracted from the quantity on hand. A percentage of shrinkage-to-date is also computed next to shrinkage. 19 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. 4.0 --------------------- ORDER ENTRY -------------------------- By now you should be thoroughly familiar with the mechanics of using the Sales Processor. I f you have not yet mastered editing and cursor control, you should refer to the previous sections and practice a bit before continuing. Your order entry system calls information from both the customer and inventory files. If the information called is not in these files your system will not function properly, that's why it's necessary to build those two files first. If you have not yet done so, do this before continuing. Assuming you have valid inventory and customer files already built, you are ready now to enter the first order. 4.1 The First Order. After selecting Order Entry from your main menu you will see the order form on your screen and a prompt: ORDER ENTRY: U)pdate, Q)uit ? You should know what to do here, by now. Selecting "U" will present you with another familiar prompt: SELECT FUNCTION: A)dd, F)ind, Q)uit ? Since, at this point, your file is probably empty, your first choice should be to A)dd an order by pressing the "A" key. You will notice that the cursor jumps to the Customer ID field and patiently awaits your entry. 4.2 Calling Customers from the ID Code. The simplest and most efficient method of calling customer information onto the order form is to enter the correct customer ID code and press the <RETURN> key. Doing so will cause your system to locate this customer's record and copy all pertinent data to this order form. 4.3 Calling Customers by Name. If it is not convenient to enter the proper Customer ID code, (like maybe you don't remember it and don't have a code listing handy), you may bypass the code field for the moment by pressing <RETURN> and procede into the date fields. NOTE! No order is valid without a date! This information must be entered or the Sales Processor will ignore the entire order. After entering the date, the cursor will now jump over the Order Number field to the P.O. field. If there is a purchase order number associated with this order it may be entered here or 20 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. omitted by pressing <RETURN>. The cursor is now in the field associated with the name of the person or company making this purchase. Here's your last chance to bill this to somebody! The customer's record may be called here by typing, at your option, the entire name or merely a part of it. Press <RETURN> and a record should appear to fill the name and address fields. Whether or not the record is the one you intended will depend upon the accuracy of your spelling and/or the number of clients in your database with identical names. In any case, the customer data fields will fill with information including the Customer ID and a new prompt will appear at the bottom of your screen: FIND: N)ext, P)revious, O)kay, Q)uit? Notice that the preface to the prompt reads "FIND". As you will recall from your experience in the Customer and Inventory databases, when you are in the "find" mode you may scan forward or backward alphabetically in the file by pressing "N" or "P". This works in precisely the same fashion here. If the customer information is not correct, you may scan backward or forward to locate the correct record until you locate the proper information. Once the correct data is displayed, indicate that to your system by pressing "O" for O)kay. The customer you have O)kayed will now be billed for this order. 4.4 Reference. Whether you have selected your client by code or name, your next entry option will be the Reference line. Any information entered here will be printed on the bottom of your invoice. This area may be used for any special information necessary to the processing of this bill or may be bypassed by pressing <RETURN>. 4.5 SKU # Following your entry in the reference field, the cursor descends to the product entry area. There are eight lines horizontally and seven labeled columns in the section. Your cursor should be located in the first line under the label "SKU#". This SKU is the same you may recall from the inventory file. It is a non-unique key field used to access a product's record from the inventory file and bring the data into the order form. As with other non-unique keys, you may enter all or part of the key and press <RETURN> to display the closest match to your entry that can be found in the inventory file. If the data displayed is not correct you may scan in either direction and press "O" to O)kay the desired selection. 4.6 Description. Should you desire to bypass the SKU# and call the inventory record by the product description, merely press <RETURN> at the 21 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. SKU# field and your cursor will skip to the description column. This field functions in precisely the same way the SKU# field works. 4.7 LOT Numbers. Still another method of calling an inventory record and the most precise (but also the most demanding) way is to ask for the record by using the LOT#. This is a unique key field in the inventory file and, therefore, must have the correct information supplied. This field does not allow you to scan for the correct entry. You may reach the LOT# field by pressing <RETURN> in both the SKU# and DESCRIPTION fields without entereing any data. 4.8 Comment. Once you have called the correct item onto the order form you are given the opportunity to enter a 10 character comment. This field is optional and will be printed on your invoice. It may be useful for entering delivery dates that may be different from the order or indicating backorder status, or it may be bypassed by pressing <RETURN>. 4.9 Quantity. In this field you will wish to enter the number of units purchased. This number may be any whole number up to 99,999. The field will accept only whole numbers and a minus sign (-) to indicate a negative entry. Using the minus sign ahead of the quantity will cause the system to ask you if you desire to return this amount of the product to the inventory. An affirmative reply will add the quantity you have entered to the quantity on hand in your inventory whereas a negative reply will increase the shrinkage amounts on the record. 4.10 Price. The final line entry will be the price per unit. This version accepts any numeric entry from .00 to 9,999,999.99 (commas are not accepted). If there are pennies involved in the price of the item you will wish to enter the decimal point, but there is no need to enter the point and trailing zeroes if they are not needed, they will by supplied for you. The price you enter here will be multiplied by the quantity previously entered to compute the total amount of this purchase and that total will appear in the AMOUNT column. NOTE: Another version of the Sales Processor is available that will accept up to twenty four predesignated price levels for each item in your inventory. You may contact Seven Tree Systems for details. 22 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. 4.11 Completing the Order. You may repeat steps 4.5 through 4.10 as needed to complete the order. When you have completed the eighth line the invoice on your screen will automatically total and display itself for inspection. You may also force the completion of an order by pressing Control-Z at any time you desire. This will also cause the order to total and raise a prompt at the bottom of the screen requesting that you: Press <RETURN>. 4.12 The Order Number. Remember the field we skipped completely back at the top of the order? If you look at it now you will see that it has been filled automatically by the Sales Processor. The order number is the ONLY field used to locate this particular order. You may recall that finding an item in inventory could be accomplished by using any of the three different keys. This wouldn't be very practical in searching for your orders, however. Sure, you could request an order by requesting a search by name, but suppose you're looking for Joe's Beanery, one of 10 stores in a chain that makes daily purchases from you. By the end of the year, theoretically, you would have over 2,000 records for Joe's Beanery. It stands to reason, therefore, that you must be a bit more specific when trying to find one specific order. Actually, there is no way to call up one SPECIFIC order, but you can get darned close! The order number generated by the Sales Processor is an exclusive key field using a formula that takes your information and combines it with its own. The order number may be up to 16 digits formatted like this: AAAAABBCCDDEEEEE A = up to five alphanumeric characters derived from the customer ID code. B = the year. C = the month. D = the day. E = a five digit number generated sequentially by the Sales Processor. 4.13 Finding an order. Since you have no certain way to determine what the entire sixteen digit order number is, you'll have to give the system enough data so that it can fill in the rest for itself and come up with a reasonably close match or, more often, the correct one. 23 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. To find an order you will select the F)ind option and enter the correct customer ID field followed by the date of the order. The system will generate a "pseudo-number" and should return the first order for that customer nearest that date. ideally, if the customer placed an order on that date and no more than one, that order should appear on your screen. If the order is not the one desired you will be allowed to scan in either direction (alphabetically according to the order number) until you have located the correct record. Once found, you may edit or delete the record in the usual manner. 24 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. 25 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. 5.0 ----------------- RECORDING PAYMENTS ------------------- Sooner or later somebody's going to pay one of these bills! (You hope)! Very often, however, you will be paid for, not one, but several bills with the same check. The Sales Processor aids you with applying the proper amounts of money to the right bills. You have a decision to make before entering your payments, however. That decision consists of whether you intend to apply payments directly to an invoice or simply to apply them to the account. We really can't help you there, all we can do is what we've done - make it possible for you to do either. When you select the "Enter Payments" function, the familiar order form will fill the screen and a prompt asking you to U)pdate or Q)uit. When you choose to update, the screen will present you with some fields you will have to fill. 1. The ID code of the customer making the payment. 2. The amount of the payment. 3. The date it was received. 4. The check or payment number. 5.1 Defining the payment. There's no room for "almosts" here when we are determining who paid their bill. You must enter the CORRECT customer ID code in the field asking for that information. The amount of payment and the date, although self-explanatory, must also be entered correctly. The check or payment number is also quite necessary even if the payment is made in cash or with nothing obvious to suggest a "payment number". If there is no readily available payment number, I suggest that you use the date or the number of days since the beginning of the year. NOTE: The entry in the check number field MUST be unique for each customer ID for each payment entered. That means that check number 4405 may NOT be used more than once for customer ID JOEB1, though it may be used once for another customer. Should you encounter a circumstance where a customer has paid by check (perhaps from a different account) using a duplicate check number, you may wish to append a special character such as '*' or '^' to the end of the number to differentiate it from the previous entry. 5.2 Paying the bills. Once you have entered this data the system will ask you to confirm that the information you have supplied is correct. After affirming this the Sales Processor searches through your invoice file for unpaid items. The oldest unpaid invoice will be brought 26 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. to your screen as a picture of the original order. At this point you must decide whether to pay this bill, scan to the next oldest invoice or simply apply the amount to the this customer's account. If you wish to apply the amount to the invoice you can select A)pply payment. This will open a window in the upper right hand corner where you must supply the following information: 1. The amount you are paying on this invoice. 2. The amount, if any, of credits you are issuing here. If the data you supply is correct, you may tell your system this when prompted. If it is not you may enter it again. The amount of the payment you enter here may not exceed the amount of the payment you entered when selecting this function nor may it exceed the amount of the "balance of payment" listed at the top of the payment window. 5.3 The Overview. You may continue to apply payments to the customer's invoices as long as the money holds out. Should you find it difficult to determine whether or not a customer meant to pay this bill or that one with the check in question, windows are available to help you determine this. One of these windows is called the O)verview. If you select O)verview from the prompt, a large window will open on your screen's left. This window shows you your present relative position in the order base. The order on your screen is to be found in the center of the window with the previous seven listed above it and the next seven listed below it. 5.4 Look at the account. If the Overview doesn't seem to help you find the right place to put this payment, there is another window that can be called by pressing L to L)ook at the account. This window lists the account's activity in full. 5.5 Apply to Balance. Even if you are applying the payments to the invoices on an individual basis, the time will come when you must apply an amount directly to the account. Quite often a customer will send a check that doesn't seem to exactly pay off any combination of invoices. No matter what you do, you wind up with something left over that will simply not fit anywhere. Chances are you don't want to give it back, so you can just apply it to the account. Select Q)uit at the prompt. This will clear the screen and confront you with the statement that: 27 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. You have not assigned $XXXX.XX At this point you may also look at the account for greater detail once again. It may be advisable to do this since, just around the corner, you're going to have to give this amount a reference date. If you are certain of that, you may elect to simply apply the amount. In either case, you will arrive at the final step of applying this payment. You are asked to enter the date to which the amount should be applied followed by any credit amount you wish to enter. If you do not wish to apply a credit simply press <RETURN> and you're done. NOTE: For aging purposes you should never apply a payment to a date for which the balance is less than the amount you are entering. This will result in a negative balance for this period and will be impossible to clear from your account agings. 28 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. 6.0 Editing a payment. The truth is that you never "edit" a payment, you just delete it. Should a check bounce or perhaps some other reason causes you to wish to remove all references to a particular payment or check from the database, it couldn't be easier! All you have to know to delete a payment is the customer's ID coded and the payment number. Elect to edit or delete a payment, select D)elete rather than Q)uit, enter the customer ID and the payment number you assigned. The Sales Processor will do the rest regardless of how many orders you may have divided this check or payment between. 29 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. 7.0 Files this system uses. Once in full swing, the Sales Processor will create and employ these files: CUST.DAT CUST.IXC CUST.IXN Customer and associated files. INV.DAT INV.IXD INV.IXL INV.IXS Inventory and associated files. ORDER.DAT ORDR.IXC ORDR.IXL ORDR.IXK ORDR.IXO Order and associated files. PAYMENT.DAT PAYMENT.IXD PAYMENT.IXC Payment log and associated files. All files with the .DAT extension are data files. Those with .IX? extensions are index files associated with the data file. 30 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. 8.0 File Maintenance. Once in a while your files may not be producing the proper results or may, in fact, produce garbage characters. This may be the result of the dreaded "Corrupted Index File". This condition may be easily remedied by running the file maintenance program selectable from the menu under the corresponding name. It is not necessary to do this unless your files seem to be acting up. NOTE: You've heard it before, but it usually doesn't sink in until a calamity happens: BACK UP YOUR DATA FILES EVERY DAY!!! 31 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. APPENDIX A Preprinted Invoices Your copy of the Sales Processor, once registered, will contain a routine for utilizing preprinted invoice forms. The forms are continuous 9 1/2" x 11" available in multiple part NCR- type versions. # Parts 4000 2000 1000 500 --------- ------- ------- ------- ------- 2 509.50 284.50 163.50 104.75 3 699.50 375.50 210.25 127.25 4 899.95 470.50 271.75 155.75 5 1100.00 612.95 327.50 185.95 Single window envelopes preprinted with company name and address: 4000 2000 1000 500 ------- ------- ------- ------- 226.25 119.25 68.25 43.95 Custom Logos: There is a one-time charge of $30 for custom logos and $4 per order thereafter. Send a clear black and white print (original artwork preferable) of your letterhead or logo. Copies can not be made from photographs, raised print samples, photocopies or sketches. It is also important that the design contains no screen tints or very fine lines. Allow 5 extra days for processing your custom logo. When Re-ordering, please be sure to specify that your logo is already on file. Shipping: Addition shipping charges will be added to your invoice. Shipping is done by UPS unless unavailable to you. Next Day Air service is available to you on request. All orders normally processed within 10 days. Call or write to: Seven Tree Systems 4 Lakeview Circle Wakefield, Ma. 01880 (617) 245 4626 32 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide. APPENDIX B. Reports Most of the reports are self-explanatory so there is little need to go into a great deal of depth on their operation. Some mention should be made of the range or scope of the reports. Certain reports ask for dates to begin and end the report. These dates are inclusive, that is to say that a report requested from 01/01/86 to 02/01/86 will include data from both the beginning and ending dates. Therefore, if you are looking for data from January only you will wish to request the report from 01/01/86 to 01/31/86. Should you desire data from a single day then request the same beginning and ending dates. Aged Receivables Report The aged receivables report requests that you supply the dates for which the aging is to be processed. Rather than the standard 30, 60, 90 day aging, you are free to specify 10, 20, 30 day aging periods or any other periods you desire. This report also supplies the customer's credit limit specified in the Customer file, the date of last payment received (specified as the date in the rightmost column with P appended to it) and the date of last order (in the same column with O appended). Aged Statements You may also request that the Sales Processor produce aged statements. Statements are requested in the same fashion as the aged receivables report, but you may also pick a period as a key to print statements. Should you specify 30-60-90 day aging periods, but wish to print statements only for those who are over 60 days then you may specify that when requesting the report. You company name and address will be supplied on the statement form when you receive your registered copy. 33 Sales Processor v.4.01. Reference Guide.