Maytech SDS Users - ECi Software Solutions

Maytech SDS Users’
GAZETTE
July 1, 2013
Inside:
Did You
Know?
1
Maytech
Mindbender
1
OAR2
2
Here’s Your
Sign
3
Carnac the
Magnificent
3
‘New’ Notebooks and
iPhones
4
Announcements
8
The Forum
8
Quarter 3
Did You Know?
SDS Release 3.05 is now
available. Announcement
emails have been sent to all
regarding the details. Forward all questions and concerns to Janie Dixon.
In AP44 (Vendor Purchase
Analysis), the GL entry date
of the invoice will be used
during print selection. It
does NOT use the reference
date.
A broken modem cable
(connecting the modem to
the server) will prevent VSIfax from running. Error messages indicating VSIfax cannot find the server (in order
to load and execute) will be
issued. When troubleshooting VSIfax problems, please
keep in mind every component (both hardware and
software) must be scrutinized
completely.
The AP Cash Requirements/
Ageing Report (AP43) will
NOT accumulate vendors
with credit balances into the
company totals.
Once the Physical Inventory
process (IN20 - IN25) has
begun, NEVER alter (add,
change, delete) your inventory master file until the
‘post’ (IN24) is done. Any
change could produce catastrophic results in the relationship of items on their count
sheets.
FacetWin printers (those
directly connected to the
user’s PC) are no longer
supported and haven’t been
for some time. If you are
currently using FW printers,
we strongly urge you replace
them with a network printer.
For further details, please
contact Janie Dixon.
There are still a few users
running on SDS Release 2.
Please be advised any bug
fixes and/or enhancements
will not be made UNTIL you
upgrade to the latest version.
To formulate an upgrade
plan, please contact Support.
Depending upon your current
version, special considerations might be necessary.
If you order items from your
vendor (which must be in
primary units of measure)
and you receive those items
in sub units of measure, you
can formally receive them by
running option 3 (Receiving),
of IN02 (Transaction Entry).
The ability to map a network
drive (to accommodate such
things as supporting the CSV
print option) is done at the
server level and on SCO
Unix systems is performed
by FacetWin. The original
drive mapping function was
performed on PCs running
Windows XP. When XP became unavailable as Windows 7 took its place, the
drive mapping function within
the confines of Windows
changed. This change required a change to FacetWin
as well. So, in order to map
network drives on your Windows 7 PC, you MUST have
FacetWin build 483 or later
running on your SDS server.
If you have any questions or
concerns regarding this issue, please contact Support.
Maytech Mindbender
Name 5 US presidents whose last name begin with H, 4 who were assassinated, 3 who
died on July 4th, 2 pair who were father/son,
and 1 whose real first name was Hiram?
Did you figure out how you can just walk but
propel your body forward at 300 MPH? Well,
if you’re traveling on a commercial jetliner
and you get up from your seat and walk to-
ward the front of the plane, you’ve accomplished just that. The pressurized cabin of
the airplane effectively segregates the conditions inside versus outside the cabin. You
are walking - just as if you are walking down
your street. But yet, your body is being
hurled through the air at a significantly high
rate of speed. Talk about power walking!
Page 2
Maytech SDS Users’ GAZETTE
OAR2
In the wonderful world of SDS’ inventory management, there are six entities that are crucial
to maintaining accuracy - OO, AA and RR. The reference to double-O is not the gauge of
model trains or Ozzy Osbourne but rather On-hand and On-order quantities. With AA, we’re
not referring to the size of batteries or a 12-step addiction support group. What we mean is
Allocated and Available. Here, RR is not Rolls Royce or RailRoad - it’s Receiving and Reconciliation (of POs). It’s these six things that govern the state of your inventory.
The actual (physical) amount of an item that is in your warehouse is the on-hand value.
When a sales order is created, the quantity ordered is allocated (to that order). On-hand
minus the quantity allocated yields available. These three values summarize the outgoing
nature of your inventory. When replenishing stock (purchasing), what is on-order is what will
be added to inventory (incoming) based on open purchase orders. Receiving a purchase
order actually increments on-hand quantities while reconciling a purchase order finalizes
amounts in the accounting arena (general ledger).
O
OA
AR
R
n
h
a
n
d
n
o
r
d
e
r
l
l
o
c
a
t
e
d
v
a
i
l
a
b
l
e
e
c
e
i
v
i
n
g
e
c
o
n
c
i
l
i
a
t
i
o
n
The on-hand quantity of an item can only be affected in four ways; a) confirmation of a sales
order (OP03), b) physical inventory post (IN24), c) inventory adjustments (IN02), and d)
warehouse transfers (IN30). The allocated and available quantities are constantly being
recalculated depending upon the status of sales orders. All open orders (not yet confirmed)
will increment allocated and subtract allocated from on-hand to yield available. Once the
orders are confirmed, allocated is subtracted from on-hand (and itself). These recalculations
are done throughout the day, everyday. From time to time, the relationship between these 3
values can get messed up due to corrupted data. Since on-hand, allocated, and available
are linked to each other, the relationship can be restored. Running IN05, Reset Inventory
Quantities, will most often fix the problem. IN05 reads the file that stores all the open sales
orders to find out what the value of allocated should be. Then, that’s subtracted from onhand to generate available. If IN05 does not restore the proper values, it is most likely due to
conflicting (corrupted) data in one (or several) order(s). This conflict is most likely due to
changes made to the units of measure in the Item Master AFTER the order(s) containing that
item was(were) created. The only way to resolve this problem is to delete the order(s) in
question and enter it(them) again. Many times, evidence of this specific problem can be
seen by comparing the details of the order (OP06) with the values shown in MI IS. Very often the allocated amount in MI IS will represent the original unit of measure BEFORE the
Item Master was changed and not the current quantity based on the changed state of the
Item Master. Once again, deleting and rekeying the affected orders is the only solution.
The featured article in the 2012Q4 Gazette was a detailed look at PO Receiving. In the
2013Q1 Gazette, the featured article was about PO Reconciliation. Both articles explain how
each process works and the effects each of them have on inventory. Simply put, the onorder quantities are reduced by the amount received (PO02) and that same amount is added
to on-hand. Mistakes made during PO Receiving are resolved by running IN02 (Inventory
Adjustments) and applying the appropriate plus or minus value. PO Reconciliation allows
you to augment any amount (quantities, costs, special charges) in order to match up to the
invoice received from the vendor. Once the invoice is reconciled, costing information can be
saved and updated and a payables transaction created. At this point, Cost of Goods and
Inventory are updated in general ledger.
If you start the process of closing a financial period by first printing a Balance Sheet (GL30)
and comparing it to an Inventory Valuation Report (IN43), you’re likely to be off due to at
least two major reasons. (Remember: the valuation report is nothing more than quantity
multiplied by the cost you choose.) The first is, if receiving and reconciliation dates do not
match because of spanning a month’s end, the valuation will be overstated that first month.
Second, if vendor drop-ships are commonplace and the drop-ships are received and reconciled in one month but billed to the customer the next month, the GL will be overstated that
first month.
Keep all this in mind - OAR - you’ll be up the creek without a paddle!
July 1, 2013
Page 3
Here’s Your Sign
Here is a sign that something has definitely
gone wrong You got an error with the code Stat: 46,00.
As an example, if you were looking through
your inventory with MI, you could receive an
“* ERROR: Bad RNNOL; INV000MA; Stat:
46,00” message followed by “Enter ‘T’ to
end program”. Any Cobol error containing
‘Stat: 46,00’ regardless of the program or
the data being used means the exact same
thing - the program read to the end of the
file in question without finding the data requested. Very often, this specific error is
encountered immediately after you’ve done
an MI IL on an invalid item number. If you
hit the Enter key twice (once for item num-
ber and once for warehouse number) right
after the invalid item number error, you will
ALWAYS see this message. The reason is
because the type of read being requested is
‘relative’ to the invalid item. This read is
looking for data that doesn’t exist in the file
and it stops once it hits the file’s end. All
46,00 errors are harmless. Merely end the
program and start it again. Asking for data
in a file is a ‘hit or miss’ kind of thing.
Speaking of hit or miss, it certainly appears
there’s no question at all when it comes to
this business. Given it’s ‘going out of business’, we’d definitely have to say it’s a miss.
We’re certain Captain Obvious and even the
most casual of observers would agree with
us on this one!
Carnac the Magnificent
With all the recent controversy over the future of NBC’s Tonight Show, it seems appropriate
to revive a classic from years gone by. During the Johnny Carson era, a skit named Carnac
the Magnificent was an audience favorite. Johnny would don a cape, a gaudy necklace/
pendant, and a huge feathered turban to play the role of Carnac. His ‘power’ was the ability
to hold a sealed envelope containing a question to his forehead and answer the question
while the envelope was still sealed. The questions were said to be hermetically sealed in a
#2 mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnall’s back porch. After calling out the answer,
Johnny’s sidekick, Ed McMahon, would repeat the answer - many times annoying Carnac to
the point of a giving Ed a dirty look or a snide remark. Then, Carnac would rip off the end of
the envelope, blow into the envelope to spread it apart, pull out the card containing the question, and read the question aloud. If the audience did not find it hilarious, Carnac would zing
a one-liner like, “May a bloated yak change the temperature of your jacuzzi”. And when
Johnny’s sidekick would announce he was holding the last question of the skit, the audience
would respond with the loudest ovation of the routine.
If you’ve never seen a Carnac skit, you’re missing out - big time. Not to worry! Here are a
few Carnac-like answers and questions we hope you enjoy:
Carnac might say, “Gump, Biden, and Rubik”.
Rip, Blow, Pull, Read: “Name a rube, a boob, and a cube.
Carnac might say, “Pepto Bismol”.
R, B, P, R: “What’s the best seller at the local Stop ‘n’ Go?”
Carnac might say, “Misprint”.
R, B, P, R: “Name the beauty pageant for singles who cannot write in cursive.”
Carnac might say, “Cumquat”.
R, B, P, R: “What do you say when you want your dog, Quat, to come over here?”
Ed: I’m holding in my hand the LAST question. (Loud round of applause)
Carnac might say, “Blue Bayou”.
R, B, P, R: “The pitcher said that 100MPH fastball did what to you?”
May an amorous 500 lb. gorilla find comfort in your bedroom.
Here’s Your Sign!
Page 4
Maytech SDS Users’ GAZETTE
‘New’ Notebooks and iPhones
Customer:
“I’d like to
buy a
phone.”
Clerk:
“Certainly,
sir. Right
this way,
please
follow me.
Did you
have
anything
specific in
mind?”
As many of you longtime SDS users know, the original notebook software was dependent
upon a specific version of a specific terminal emulator. Once that emulator was no longer
supported, we were left with no choice but to rewrite the notebook software so third party
dependencies would no longer be an issue. Thus, the term ‘new’ notebooks was born.
The ‘new’ notebook software has been around now for well over a year. The connectivity
method to the SDS server is telnet which allows an easy transition for smart phone users.
At the time SDS Release 3.05 was being developed (early 2013), the only terminal emulator
that supported the smart phone platform was TinyTerm and the only smart phone it supported was the iPhone. Given that, the ’new’ notebook software is now iPhone compatible.
As you’ll see, SDS screen sizes become a bit of a concern but iPhone screen size manipulation deals nicely with that issue. In actuality, all of SDS (not just notebooks) can run on the
iPhone but once certain screens are resized (reduced) they cannot be read legibly.
Here are some tips on incorporating iPhones into your notebook application:
The picture on the left shows the necessary configuration for TinyTerm in
order for it to be used in the notebook
application. Keep in mind there are
two ‘flavors’ of telnet that can be used
to connect a Unix/Linux user to the
server. The first is standard telnet
which uses port 23. Secure telnet, or
SSH, uses port 22. The port numbers
are important because they are combined with the server’s IP address to
form what is known as a socket.
Sockets ultimately define the users in
networking scenarios.
When secure telnet, or SSH, is used,
the username and password can be
entered in TinyTerm settings so that
Auto Login can be used to launch the
application. Once connected to the
server, the notebook module will execute and your SDS system password
can be entered.
Customer:
“No, not
really. I
just need to
see what’s
available
and then
decide.”
Clerk:
“Of course.”
If using standard telnet, the user will
have to manually enter the Unix/Linux
username and password before the
application can be launched. For
smart phone users, the host must
have a user login and password that
executes a special ‘smart phone
menu’. Support will supply you with all
the necessary logins required for
smart phone compatibility.
The smart phone version of the ‘new’ notebook software contains fewer options than the
regular version - only Order Entry, Credit Memo Entry, Order Inquiry, and Current Month
Inquiry. It is conceivable that more options will be added in the future, however, no specific
plans are available at this time.
continued on Page 5 …
July 1, 2013
Page 5
‘New’ Notebooks and iPhones (continued)
… continued from Page 4
When the application has been successfully launched, the user will need to ‘pull down’ (as
shown above) and resize the screen to fit the width of the phone’s screen.
After resizing, the screen should look similar to the screen above. The Maytech Copyright
message should barely appear just above the keyboard.
The next two pages offer a few examples of the options available in the smart phone version
of the ‘new’ notebook software. All these options are controlled in exactly the same manner
as they are in the regular version - NB20, Remote Notebook Setup. The ability to control and
segregate specific account information by salesrep number did not change. Those capabilities are identical in both versions. As you will see, the major difference between the two versions is screen size.
continued on Page 6 …
Clerk:
“Here we
have
iPhones,
ePhones,
and eieioPhones.
Androids,
Mandroids,
and
Mandroids
on
steroids.
Blackberries, Hackberries,
Strawberries, and
Gnawberries.
Wanna see
more?”
Customer:
“My
name’s not
Seymour!”
Page 6
Clerk:
“Sorry,
surely
you’ll forgive me.”
Customer:
“First you
call me
Seymour
and now
you call me
Shirley! I
just wanna
look
around.”
Clerk:
“Perhaps I
should tell
you about
all the
wonderful
features
these
phones
have.”
Customer:
“Sure,
whatever.”
Maytech SDS Users’ GAZETTE
‘New’ Notebooks and iPhones (continued)
… continued from Page 5
The menu options for Remote Order Entry are shown above.
The Remote Order Entry Header screens are shown below.
As you can see, the “All OK ? (Y/N/C)” prompt does not appear in a fixed position on every
screen. It can appear in different positions depending upon the screen space available for
any given screen. This ’floating position’ is necessary due to the very limited screen space.
After you have processed the header of the order, Remote Order Entry will continue on and
call up the body of the order where line items can be entered. You can proceed to enter line
items just as you have always done in the past. After the order is completed, you can also
issue an email order acknowledgement. (The regular ‘new’ notebook software only permits
order acknowledgements to be faxed.)
continued on Page 7 …
July 1, 2013
‘New’ Notebooks and iPhones (continued)
… continued from Page 6
A sample line item will look similar to what is shown below.
To use the email acknowledgement option in Remote Order Entry, an email account must
exist and it must be configured on your iPhone. When in order entry, highlight the displayed
email address and then tap ‘Copy’. When the email screen is displayed, ‘Paste’ the copied
address as shown. After the email is finally sent, SDS is still active but the screen will be
blank (as shown at the far bottom).
At this point, the screen
will have to be pulled
down and resized again
as originally done and
illustrated on page 5.
The landscape screen
mode of the iPhone
allows the ‘new’ notebook version to be
viewed in the largest
font and thereby makes
it much easier to read.
Also, greater legibility
was achieved by rewriting these application
options to display on a maximum of 13 lines rather than 24. Needless to say, allowing the
ever-present “All OK” prompt to appear in varied screen positions rather than in a fixed position, helped as well.
In actuality, the regular ‘new’ notebook software could be run on your iPhone, however, the
back and forth screen scrolling that would be necessary to accommodate the normal SDS
screen sizes would prove extremely frustrating and irritating to virtually everyone. More time
would be wasted playing with screen manipulation than would be used in processing orders.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the ‘new’ notebook software and/or its
smart phone compatibility, please contact Janie Dixon or email sdssupport. Thank you.
Page 7
Clerk:
“All these
I’ve shown
you have
full internet access,
camera,
GPS, and
media
player capabilities
as well as
touch
screen
technology.”
Customer:
“But can
any of
them just
make a
phone
call?”
Clerk:
“Uh, ... let
me get
back to
you on
that.”
ECi/Maytech - Complete Business Management Solutions
Announcements
ECi/Maytech
4400 Alliance Gateway Fwy
Suite #154
Fort Worth, Texas
76177
Phone:
866-653-9255
Fax:
210-736-1718
E-mail:
sdssupport@ecisolutions.com
Questions concerning the content of
this publication
should be directed to
the phone/fax number or email address
listed above.
We certainly hope
you enjoyed reading,
learning, and laughing.
We are looking forward to bringing you
the next quarterly
edition of our newsletter. We hope you
are, too!
Until
next
quarter ...
Here is the complete holiday schedule for 2013.
New Year’s
Observed
January 1st (Tuesday)
Memorial Day
Observed
May 27th (Monday)
Independence Day
Observed
July 4th (Thursday)
Labor Day
Observed
September 2nd (Monday)
Thanksgiving
Observed
November 28th, 29th (Thursday, Friday)
Christmas
Observed
December 24th, 25th (Tuesday, Wednesday)
Holiday phone support will be available from 9AM to 2PM at $200/hour on these days.
Ernst & Young, a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction, and advisory services,
founded an annual Entrepreneur of the Year award to recognize significant contributions of
entrepreneurs who inspire others with their vision, leadership, and achievement. We are
very proud to announce that our own Ron Books has been named as a finalist for the Southwest region. The winner will move on to the national level and the overall winner of this most
prestigious award will be announced later in the fall. We’ll keep you posted on how our finalist fares once the winners are announced. Congratulations, Ron!
The response thus far for upgrading to SDS Release 3.05 has been extremely good. As
soon as the emailed release letter went out, many of you responded immediately by scheduling the upgrade. As of this writing, almost 25% of the entire customer base is now running
3.05. If you have not yet scheduled a date/time to upgrade, please do so as soon as you
can. Keeping current is a ‘win-win’ situation; you win by affording yourself the luxury of running the latest and greatest SDS and we win because our support and maintenance efforts
can be focused on one version of software rather than many. The summer months are now
upon us and vacation time will no doubt impact the upgrade process. However, getting your
name penciled in on the schedule can be done at anytime before or after your time off. If
you have any questions or concerns on this issue or would like further clarification of the
upgrade procedure, please contact Janie Dixon.
The Forum
Active vs. inactive. Current
vs. dated. These issues
arise from time to time with
inventory items and customers. How can you set
thresholds and meet that
criteria in order to categorize
each appropriately?
Since the AR status flag
(field 32, record type 01)
does not identify active from
inactive customers, you can
easily determine one from
the other by running AR30,
Credit Reports. If, as an
example, you consider inactive customers to be those
who have not purchased
from you in the last 2 years,
you can identify them by
choosing option 2 of Type of
(field 30, Warehouse Purchasing Screen), however,
as with AR, no status type
relates to inactivity.
Report and entering 730 in
the days field (365 x 2). The
report printed will contain all
those customers whose AR
Master shows their Last Buy
Date more than 730 days
ago. (Print this to CSV and
save some paper.)
When dealing with inventory
items, there is a status flag
If the item is no longer sold,
removing its valid lookups
will aid in the inability to call
it up in an order. Also, adding a warning such as DO
NOT SELL or DISCONTINUED to its description
should alert a CSR to the
fact that the item is no
longer active.
Periodically printing an Item
Master to CSV and sorting it
on this added info will enable you to identify those
items in case further
changes are necessary.