ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE MANUAL

Transcription

1 ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE MANUAL

2 Logivision has attempted to make this document accurate. Logivision is not responsible for any direct, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from this documentation or inaccuracies within. Specifications are subject to change. Printed in Canada. 2

3 ABOUT THE APPLICATION... 5 ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE OVERVIEW... 5 NAVIGATING THE L-BOSS APPLICATION... 6 Using the mouse... 6 Using the keyboard... 6 UNDERSTANDING COMMUNICATIONS... 6 BACKUPS ARE IMPORTANT!... 6 SETTING UP L-BOSS ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLES... 7 OPENING THE ACCOUNT TABLES... 8 File menu... 9 Editing tools Displaying search lists Windows menu CREATING RISK LEVELS CREATING CUSTOMER LEVELS CUSTOMER ACCOUNTS Deleting and Modifying Account Numbers CUSTOMER CONTACTS Associating a Photo with a Customer contact CUSTOM MESSAGES FOR STATEMENTS SENDING THE ACCOUNT FILES TO L-POS Sending data from Maintenance while editing Sending account related files manually SETTING UP L-POS FOR ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLES SYSTEM SETTINGS Print options Behavior options Account discount settings CREATING KEYBOARD BUTTONS FOR ACCOUNT TRANSACTIONS Access the PosSetup > Buttons & Forms Modifying the Account # button Adding a button for listing Account transactions on L-POS Assigning the Account button to the screen Assigning the Account button to the keyboard PREPARING TO SCAN ACCOUNT CARDS PRINTED WITH L-BOSS... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. ACCOUNT TRANSACTIONS BACK-END TRANSACTIONS Adjusting account balances Interest posting FRONT-END TRANSACTIONS ON L-POS Opening a customer account Posting a charge Received on account (R/A or Payment) Sample charge slip Sample signature stub Viewing customer purchase details from L-POS ACCOUNT REPORTS ACCOUNT AGING REPORT CUSTOMER ACTIVITY REPORT CUSTOMER DETAIL REPORT

4 ACCOUNT STATEMENT PRINTING ACCOUNT CARDS PRINTING A CUSTOMER LIST

5 Accounts receivable About the application Logivision is a corporation specialized in the development of software for the retail industry with a particular focus on operation systems for front-end terminals. Innovative and always at the forefront of new technological developments, Logivision is committed to improving the service and products we provide to our customers. Accounts receivable overview The accounts receivable software provides control of the customer charge file between L-BOSS system and L-POS terminals. The A/R module ensures that credit limits assigned to your customers are enforced. Timely printout of customer statements and account aging reports often means the difference between profits or losses with outstanding accounts. System features include: Virtually unlimited customer records. Multiple customer contact records per account allow statements for one account to show invoices for each contact (as for a family using a common account) Credit limit per customer type (risk level) Limit for check payment privilege per transaction and per week Real-time account balance on L-POS terminals Charge sale stub receipt printing Invoice printing on 8.5" by 11" forms Accounts can be created from front-end terminals Interest posting. Customer picture can be scanned for display on front-end terminals. Note: A working knowledge of the L-BOSS system and the L-POS system are pre-requisites to using the L-BOSS A/R system. This document covers the L-BOSS accounts receivable option as interfaced with the L-POS application. Other front-end terminals may have different features or limitations not covered in this document. 5

6 Navigating the L-BOSS Application Using the mouse Throughout the L-BOSS application you will find drop down menus and main screen icon groups to navigate through the program or launch utilities. The most commonly used drop down menu options have been included as buttons on the L-BOSS desktop to facilitate access. In other words, some drop down menu options lead to the same location as clicking that option's icon counterpart. Not all options have buttons, and must be launched from the drop down menu. Options that are not often required, or single use setup tools (used to configure the system at installation time) do not have main screen buttons. If an option does not appear to have a button, use the drop down menus to locate and launch that option. Using the keyboard As with most Windows style applications, the drop down menu titles and options are also accessible using the keyboard. This can actually be faster than navigating with the mouse, after you've memorized the keystrokes involved for a specific task. The keystrokes associated with menu titles and options are underlined. For example, the "File" menu has an underscore under the "F": Hold down the [Alt] key on the keyboard. Simultaneously, press the [F] key. The File menu opens. The options in the drop down menus also have underscored letters. Once a drop down menu is open, you can press the letter that is associated with the option you wish to launch. You can also use the [up] or [down] arrow keys to select the menu option, and then press [Enter] to launch the option. Within applications or utilities, the [Tab] key will move the cursor from one box, window or editable field to the next, in a pre-set order. Holding down the [Shift] key and pressing the [Tab] key will reverse the pre-set order. Once the cursor is on an option, press the [Enter] key to launch the option. Understanding Communications While the network is "down" L-BOSS cannot communicate with the front end. In this situation no customer account balances will be available until the system returns to normal. L-POS front end stations will prompt the cashier with a "server not available - continue anyway?" error message. At this point it is store policy to allow or prohibit account charges. Backups Are Important! Is your sales information important? Is your database important? Is your hardware setup important? The answer is always YES! What happens if the system crashes? How can I protect my information? Like any "mission critical" information, your L-BOSS installation should be archived on a regular basis. Normally, your Logivision dealer will suggest ways to protect your information, based on the type of installation you have, and how much space your data actually takes up. In most situations, you'll want to backup every night, (or other time when the system is not busy). 6

7 Setting up L-BOSS Accounts receivables The accounts receivable option must be enabled on the license key before you can use the accounts receivable option. If your license does not include the A/R option, contact your reseller. In order to use a customer account on the POS you need to complete several steps. Create risk levels Create client shopper levels Create client records (accounts) Create client contact record(s) for each account Adjust accounts for opening balances Send the account records to the POS terminals Adjust the account related settings in PosSetup Set up the POS keyboard or touch screen with an account button, a payment button and a house charge button. Set up the scanner definition table to scan account cards Printing account cards Printing account reports Printing statements From the L-BOSS main menu open the Maintenance program. The accounts receivable module and the preferred shopper module use the same customer information from the database. The accounts receivable option is required to post house charges. The preferred shopper option is required to use points or the discount table. The same account file is also used for positive or negative check verification. Note: This manual related to the use of accounts with the Accounts receivable module. 7

8 Opening the account tables L-BOSS allows you to create customer records for check cashing, store charges and customer demographics. The customer maintenance is accessed using the Maintenance application's "Account" menu, "Customer" option, or the "Clients" desktop icon. Each account created must have a link to a customer risk level, and to a client level (shopper privilege level). It is good practice to define the related customer tables before adding customers. Note that the terms "customer" and "client" are interchangeable. From the maintenance application, the Account menu includes the following menu: Use the required option to access the tables you want to program: Customer is the main account file Client level is to create shopper privilege levels Risk level is to manage AR credit balance and check spending or check cashing privileges Account view is a convenient way to open all 3 account related tables Discount accesses the preferred shopper discount table (a licensed option for preferred shopper is required) Custom messages allow you to modify messages that appear on account statements. 8

9 File menu The Maintenance application's "File" menu contains common options such as login / logout, language setting etc., but is also dynamic. Depending on the table being edited, the options in the "File" menu change to include utilities designed to test or verify system integrity for the selected data type. For example, it is important to complete the set-up of accounts that were created on the POS terminals directly. Show modified by registers will display a list of the customer records that were created or changed on the front-end terminals during a transaction. This option is programmable and may not be available on your system. The Send to host option of the "File" menu options is only available when the Host active option is selected to return data to a headquarter system. The "send to host" option will output the changes made on the local L-BOSS machine back to a host system. This means that changes to prices, accounts and other files can be made at a store and sent back up to the host system. Select this option for the tables that may be edited locally in a store. When this option is selected for any item in a table it means that any change made to any record in that table can be returned to host. The changes are not sent for each record you change, they are only sent when you force the change to be sent. This is done by clicking on the send terminal icon that is normally used to transmit an individual record to the local targets (in this case it would be the POS lanes in the local store.) Please consider as well that changes sent back up to the headquarter system will be deployed to all target terminals that are part of the same target group for that file type. This means that if an account is changed at store 3 and all stores share the information on that customer, the change will make it to the other stores in the next communication cycle. Note: Only the records deployed with the deploy individual record icon are sent to host, and only when the Send to host option has been selected for that type of file. 9

10 Editing tools Regardless of which data table you edit, the Maintenance application provides a common set of tools on a toolbar at the top of the data table editor. The Maintenance main menus change as well, depending on the table you are programming. The toolbar is common to all tables you edit. Apply changes tool allows you to post the changes to the record within the table being accessed. Add new record tool is used to add a new blank record to the table you are working with. To copy an existing item to a new item, or to replace an existing item with a new number, enter the number directly into the item number field. You will then be prompted for the action you want to take. Delete tool is used to delete an existing record from the table you are working with. Ignore changes tool is used to undo changes that appear on the screen but that have not yet been posted. It will not undo changes that have been posted. Previous record tool is used to go back to the previous record in the table you are working with. Next record tool is used to go forward to the next record in the table you are working with. Send one record tool is used to send the modification made to the current record to the POS terminals immediately. This icon changes color to green when a modification has been made to a record. When the record is deployed the icon will return to the normal color displayed here. Clicking the satellite will send the current record to the POS terminals whether a change was made or not. Save and close tool will save the current changes and close the table you are editing. NOTE: L-BOSS saves new data in a field once you press tab, enter or when you click in another field. Data is also saved when you access another record in the table, or when you open a new table. This means that you do not need to press the post tool after each record you modify, L-BOSS does it automatically for you. 10

11 Displaying search lists L-BOSS uses tables to store data. In some cases the information stored in a table has been indexed so that a rapid search can be performed to locate data you require. As you are navigating through the fields of different tables you will notice that sometimes a "?" (Question mark) appears beside the cursor. This means that the selected field is indexed so that its contents are viewable as a searchable list. Double clicking the selected field will open a viewable list of the table's contents. The sequential order that the contents will appear depends on which field you have selected for the drop down list. For example, if you are editing accounts and double click in the account number field, the list is in numerical order according to the account numbers. Double clicking the account name field opens the same information, but listed alphabetically according to the account names. The data list's left column will contain the data from the field selected. Here is a sample of the account search window: When this type of list is open, you can have many search options. Clicking at the top of any column will use that column to sort the data. From the example shown above, if you click on the column header Company the list will sort in alphabetical order by company name. If you click again in the same column the list will sort again in alphabetical order starting from the opposite end of the alphabet. Click in the Acc # column header and the same list will sort numerically. Re-click the Acc # number and the list will sort from the last account to the first, etc. You can also use the locate entry window to type data. If you have sorted the column by clicking in the Acc # number field, the locate tool will search the Account number field. If you have sorted the column by clicking in the company field, the locate tool will search the item description field (F29 in the database.) You can sort all the other fields the same way by clicking that column header. 11

12 You can also use this type of search window to perform a wildcard search (the field you are searching contains the data in a continuous string.) For example you want to search for all accounts that include the word BEST anywhere in the company name. Type the word Best into the locate window. The system will display the first account it locates beginning with the word Best. Press the Enh. Search button. The system will display every account that includes the word best. So the first list may show no results unless there are accounts that start with Best. But the second list would show Best Company, All the Best, etc. The File menu option in the search window allows you to send the data from the search list to an export file or to a printer. This is a simple way to print a very specific list: set a filter to find your items. The Apply button will produce this type of search list that can then be printed (or exported to a csv file.) The next major advantage to this type of list is that a customized query can be defined if you understand the LBoss database structure and you have a minimum knowledge of sql commands. Access the options menu and select custom query. The system will open up an sql editor window. Add the commands you need to select the data you want to list. If you are unsure how to do this it is recommended that you inquire with your dealer on how to add custom queries. Windows menu Like many Windows based programs, the Maintenance application allows you to have more than one window (table) open at the same time. The Window menu contains options that allow you to control how the windows or tables appear on the desktop. Cascade: This aligns the open windows in layers, with the corners and title bars of all open windows visible, enabling you to find the window you a looking for. Tile: This option tries to place all the open windows into the Maintenance application's desktop by re-sizing them. Close All: Closes all open windows at once. Selecting open windows from a list: If you have multiple windows open on the desktop, you can open the "Window" menu and select the window to "bring to front" from the list at the bottom of the menu. 12

13 Creating risk levels Dealing with customer charge accounts involves risks. There is the risk of allowing a customer to post a charge and then losing the revenue if the customer does not pay his account. There is also the risk of accepting bad checks from customers. From the maintenance application main menu, access the Accounts menu and open the risk level table. The Risk level table allows you to administrate risk levels where you set charge privileges and check payment privileges. An unlimited number of risk levels can be added to allow complete flexibility in determining what risk a particular customer represents for your business. Create risk levels as required to manage your accounts. The number you assign here will be used to identify this risk level when you are creating client records. Press the + icon to add a new risk level. Assign a description to the risk level record. Max credit: Use this field to limit the credit that will be available for this customer. A client with a $200 credit limit and a current balance of $175 will be able to charge up to $25 more. Check limit: Enter the maximum check payment amount for all clients assigned to this risk level. The check limit is the maximum you accept from this level for an individual check. Check change limit: Enter the maximum change you will remit to clients assigned to this level. Check week limit: Enter the quantity of checks the customer can use in one week in the first field and the maximum check payment amount in the second field. Accept check: This field allows you to determine whether customers on this level can pay by check. Double-click this field to choose from 1- Accept check 2- Manager required 3- don t accept Interest rate: Enter the annual interest rate that will be charged to clients on this risk level for past due invoices. 13

14 Creating customer levels Storeowners often encourage their good customers by setting up a preferred shopper program. L-BOSS includes features that can be used to reward customers with immediate benefits or with incentives that accumulate over time. Although some of the features require the preferred shopper license, you must assign a customer level to each account to be able to use the accounts receivable option. From the maintenance application main menu, access the Accounts menu and open the Client level table. The Customer level table allows you to define shopper levels where rewards can vary by level. You can create multiple customer levels as required. Within each customer level record you assign a price level and / or a discount percentage. The POS will combine these 2 fields when the customer account is opened for a transaction. Level Number: Enter the level number you want to program. Description: Enter a brief description of this customer shopper level (Regular, gold card, super-saver, etc.) Price level: Enter the price level that members of this customer group will receive. Remember to create these price levels under the item related maintenance. You must enter a price level. Discount: Enter the discount that members of this customer level will receive on discountable products. This field is not compulsory. The customer level discounts will apply to the transaction total without netting the item sales. If you are working with L-POS this default behavior can be changed and the discount will apply directly to each line item in the transaction. This change is made in PosSetup>System>Account. 14

15 Customer accounts L-BOSS allows you to create an unlimited number of records within the Client (or customer) table. Each customer account can have multiple sub-accounts or "Contacts" (account users), but must have a "main" user. Accounts must be linked to both a risk level and a customer level. Client number: This field is used to enter the number that will be used to retrieve the customer record in both the L-POS lanes and L-BOSS stations. Several considerations should be made when deciding on the account numbering system you will use. Although the field allows you to use alphanumeric characters to identify the account, this becomes more of a problem when it is time to input the numbers on the POS: numeric only numbers are much easier (and faster) to enter. The client number can be up to 20 digits. Modified: The L-POS stations can be configured to allow the creation of customers "on the fly". The POS will prompt for the minimum information required to create the account, and then send the new account to the back end. When a customer is created from the front end and sent to the back end, the dot beside "Modified" will be red, to identify accounts that were created in the front end, and probably need to be edited to complete the information. Detail: This option is available if your system is licensed to use the L-Tracker option. When you press the Detail button a new window will open and L-BOSS will begin processing the electronic sales journal files for the last 5 weeks, unless this has already been done. This will in turn create a list of all the transactions involving the account over that period. You can view details for previous periods by selecting the appropriate start date on the calendar. PAL: The pull-down field to the right will probably show PAL as the target group. The target allows you to specify, in multi-store environments, which programming zone this data will be sent to. In single store applications this should show PAL for all accounts. If you only want customer X to be sent to store 5, you would create a program target for store 5 and put that target on client record 5. Note that the client account file is different than the PLU file. You may have multiple targets for items. This means the item is really in the file several times, one programming set-up for each target. Each account can only exist once; you cannot have the same account with multiple targets. Company: Enter the company if required. Address, City, Prov/State, Code and Country entered here will be displayed on account statements or other customer based reports. L-BOSS also provides a statement report that prints the address so that it can be folded and sent in a standard "windowed" envelope. Expiry is the date until which this account remains active. People who charge membership fees should set the date when renewal is due for this account. The renewal date can be modified here by changing the date or through the L-POS if certain options are set. See the related programming in PosSetup>System>Account. Phone and fax are used to enter the telecommunications data for the customer. Because of international considerations no formatting is done in these fields. Card # and Exp: Use these fields to record customer credit card information. This information is provided as information and it is not used by the system automatically. For example, you may have an agreement with your customers that you can automatically invoice their credit card account when a rental item is lost. 15

16 Tax 1 Exempt and Tax 2 Exempt should be entered if you want the L-POS front end to exempt taxes that would have applied to the items in the transaction. These are individual flags. You do not need to exempt one tax for the other tax to be exempted. Note: L-POS can use up to 4 tax rates. You may enter a Tax 3 Exempt by clicking on the descriptor for Tax 1 Exempt. A window will open where you can record the tax 3 exempt number. You may enter a Tax 4 Exempt by clicking on the descriptor for Tax 2 Exempt. A window will open where you can record the tax 4 exempt number. Group is used by the report system to filter the customer file and only produce a report for the category selected. It is not a compulsory field. For example, you want account statement reports for certain customers every 30 days while other customers are never sent a statement. You could type 30 days in the group field for the first customers and never in the other group. Then when you want to print the statement reports you would filter by group "30 days." Once entries have been made into this field you will be able to click in the field to choose from the existing data entered into other customers. Balance is the current online charge balance for this customer. Points are the customer point amount that has accumulated. Risk Level: Select the proper risk level assigned to this account. The risk level controls both store charge and check cashing privileges. The risk levels are created in the Client risk table programming. Client level: Select the proper customer level used by this account. The customer level may offer a discount or a price level other than the default price. This is set up in the Client level programming under the Account menu. NOTE: The Risk and Customer level tables should be programmed before creating accounts in the system, making it easy to select both Risk and Customer levels from a pop-up list. Contact Required: Set this option to on if L-POS should require the contact number to be entered along with the account number. Account statements and other account reports will show information from all contacts for the account as a single account. To be able to track each contact's transaction information, the contact number must be included when entering the account number at L-POS lanes. L-POS lanes can be set to require the contact number by setting the "Contact Required" flag on. PO # required: This flag will force the entry of a purchase order number whenever this account tries to make a charge. PO# Digits Min/Max: Set the minimum and maximum number of digits allowed for PO # entry for accounts with a PO# required. Deleting and Modifying Account Numbers L-BOSS will not allow you to modify an account number, or delete that account if there is an account charge balance. Before trying to delete or modify account numbers, set the balance to zero (see the "balance" option in the client table). If an account number is modified or the account is deleted, past transactions will still appear on reports for that period. If you create a new account with a previously used account number, past transactions viewed in reports for that account will show as if they belong new account. NOTE: Payments made to accounts on the POS terminals do not apply to specific transactions. Amounts received as payment on accounts apply to the previous balance. Customer contacts Customer records require that contact information be entered. The contact is the person using the account. Each customer must have a main contact and may have as many additional contacts as required. This in turns provides both the customer and the store with information on which contact used the account for a given transaction. Each account must have a "main" contact. Additional account users (contacts) can be added using the "+" button, or removed using the scissor button from the tool bar in the contact section. The left and right arrow buttons are used to move to the next / previous contact. 16

17 Number: This field contains the contact's number, assigned to a contact when it is created. A contact number may be required along with the account number at the POS to use the account if the "Contact Required" flag is set to on. If no contact number is entered, the transaction will be linked to the "main" contact. The "main" contact always appears as the first contact. First name: Enter the contact's first name. Last name: Enter the contact's last name. Language: This field allows you to set the default language the system will display for this customer, English or French. L-POS will print receipts based on the customer's default language. Account statements will also print using the default language. Extension: Is the contact's office telephone extension. Birth: Enter the contact's birth date. If entered it will be used to validate age-restricted items. Home: This field can contain the contact's main telephone number, pager, or other number. The title to the left of the field is in red, and can be modified by clicking the title and entering the phone type. (In the example shown above, the title is "Pager"). Note: This field can be used to store additional checking account numbers for this customer. On check transactions the POS will verify the main account number, and all contacts of that account home phone number field for a matching check account number. So if you get a bad check from the customer you can refuse checks from all his accounts this way without creating more account records. You only need to add contacts and place the check account number in the home phone number field. By adding additional contacts you will be able to store as many bad check numbers as required per account. Cellular: This is an alternate number for the contact. This is the contact's address, entered here for office reference only. Remark: This is a per-contact message that can be programmed to appear on the POS display when this account contact is used. Then icon opens a window where you can add contact specific information into 5 text fields. Use these fields to build reports as required. The fields can contain information such as driver s license, favorite wine, or anything else you may need to track for your accounts. The field titles are info field 1 to info field 5 by default. These screen labels can be changed by opening the L-BOSS configuration menu and accessing the Advanced flag settings. Here is the contact table extra info fields window. Note: If the current cashier's phone number matches the account phone number or the account contact phone or cell number the transaction will not be allowed. This is to prohibit cashiers from using their own account to sell to themselves or to others with their own account discount. If you want a cashier to be able to sell something to his own account you must ensure the phone number of the cashier is different than the phone numbers of the account contact. 17

18 Associating a Photo with a Customer contact L-BOSS and L-POS can also be configured to display a photo of the customer, ideal for visual confirmation. The photo can be for office use only, or also sent to the front end. The POS screen must be programmed to display the photo when the account number (and contact number) is entered at the POS. The View menu NOTE: When the customer table is being edited the Menu bar is modified to include a View option. This is where you can toggle on or off the displaying of the customer photo on the maintenance screen. Click the "View" menu from the Maintenance top bar menus select the "Picture" option. The customer table window expands to display a picture box, with "Browse" and "Delete" buttons. Use the Browse option to locate the contact's photo file or Delete to remove the associated photo. The naming convention for the customer id photo is fixed to allow quick lookup of the photo within the POS application. L-BOSS and L-POS can display either bmp or jpg files. The filename must be "cltxx-y.jpg" where xx is the account number (set to the same value as the actual account number) and where y is the contact number. By way of example, for customer 101 main contact the photo filename must be "clt101-0.jpg". Whenever an image is selected and the filename does not meet the naming convention rules it will be copied or renamed to the correct name by the application. 18

19 Custom messages for statements Use this option to modify the messages that are printed on account statements issued from the L-BOSS reporting system. 19

20 Sending the account files to L-POS Sending data from Maintenance while editing When you need to send one account record to your front-end terminals the quickest way is to locate the record in the account maintenance module and click the satellite. This will send all the information related to that account including the customer record, the contacts, the images, the risk levels and the customer level information. Click the satellite and the following window will appear: Select Yes to send the current account to all terminals. Select No or Cancel to abort the procedure. Select All to send all accounts to all targets. The "Transfer" menu is only visible if the account tables are opened for editing. After editing information in a table, you can send the modifications either by using the satellite dish button on the edit table toolbar, or from the "Transfer" drop down menu. The "Transfer" menu allows you to send the currently selected record or the entire file. In most cases sending the entire file is not suggested or required, but doesn't really cause any problem. 20

21 Sending account related files manually It may be necessary to send specific account file data to the POS terminals. When this needs to be done open L-BOSS>File>Deploy individual file From the list of files that opens you need to select one or several files. Click any file to send it to a specific target. To send multiple files proceed as follows: while holding the CTRL button on your keyboard click on several files. The accounts need CLC_TAB and the CLT_TAB. To replace the existing files on the POS terminals place a check mark in the Replace field. (You may need a higher access level, if so contact your dealer) When this is done press the Deploy button. 21

22 Once you have selected Deploy a list will appear with the available targets that should be waiting to receive the data files. Select the target (normally PAL). Selecting PAL means the data will go to all the terminals included in the PAL target terminal group. This means that the data will be sent to all terminals. If you want to send the data to only one terminal select the programming target that includes only that terminal. Note: You may also need to send the risk levels or the customer levels to the POS terminals. Return to step one where you selected CLC_TAB and CLT_TAB. Select CLR_TAB (risk table) and CLF_TAB (shopper level). Then follow the same steps to deploy to the lanes. Note 2: You may not be authorized to select Replace when you deploy individual files. The difference between deploy with replace is that the files you are deploying to the target machines will be erased when Replace is selected. All existing data will be replaced. Otherwise the new data you send will be merged to the existing data. Setting up L-POS for accounts receivables System settings Click the serial number to view the PosSetup menu Several decisions must be made before you begin using customer accounts on L-POS. Access the PosSetup>System>Account tab. This can be done from the L- POS transaction screen and selecting System from the pulldown menu. 22

23 You can also start Pos Setup from the C:\Poswin folder of any lane by running the PosSetup.exe program from that folder. This screen displays the options that affect the way customer charge transactions behave and print. For example you can decide to print the account name and the contact name or neither. Does the system look up the account balance? The account settings are global settings that affect all account transactions. The screen has 3 areas. Print options, Behavior, and Account discount settings. Print options Print account name will show the customer company name on the receipt. Print contact name will show the customer fist name and last name (from the contact table) on the receipt. Print account number will show the customer account number on the receipt. Print full address will show the full customer address on the receipt. Print account summary will print a transaction summary for the charge transactions on the bottom of the customer receipt. Print stub receipt will print a stub receipt for the charge transactions after the customer receipt has been printed. Print account balance will print the customer charge balance at the start and end of the transaction whenever a charge or payment is made to the account. Print account comment will print the POS comment entered for the account on the back-end account set-up software. Note: In order to print the account information in double width refer to Printer set-up under peripherals. 23

24 Behavior options This section allows you to define the way the accounts will respond when an account is opened on the POS. Get account balance will send a request to the backend server for the up-todate customer charge account balance and retrieve it into the sale if available. If the backend is unavailable the operator will be prompted to abort the transaction or continue without the up to date customer account balance. Compulsory means that an account number must be supplied for every transaction. Must be first means that when an account is used it must be the first entry in the transaction or it will be refused. Confirmation means that the operator will be prompted with the account name when the account number is entered. The operator will be able to confirm acceptance or refusal of the account look-up. Extend expiry date can be used when the customer account expiration date has been exceeded. The system will add one year to today's date and set the new expiry date. You can also execute a button automatically when this feature is used. The Account renewal fee button is assigned on the same page. It is available when the Extend expiry date is enabled. This is useful if you want to charge a fee to extend the expiry date. You need to program the button properties in button & form set-up. Accept not-found customers allows the front-end L-POS to send new customer data to the back-end system. Create in back-end will send a new account record to backend L-BOSS system. The Prompts button allows you to select the prompts that the POS will display when creating a new account directly on the L-POS terminal. The account renewal fee button is used to select a button that was programmed to collect a fee for extending the account expiration directly from the L-POS. It is not available if the extend account expiry date is not set. Choose a button from the button list that the POS will execute when the expiry date is extended on the POS. Account discounts settings. These settings allow you to decide how discounts will be applied to the items that are discounted. This discount refers to the discounts that were assigned in the client level table for each customer. Select Apply % to each item to apply the customer discount as in item discount rather than as a sub-total discount. The account discounts use function 412 for global discounts and function 452 for item discounts. The Use discount table must be selected on systems using preferred shoppers with the account discount table. 24

25 Creating keyboard buttons for account transactions You need to create several buttons in order to use the Accounts receivables option on L-POS. The system requires at least an Account # button, a Charge button, an R/A (received on account). You may also decide to add a Report button that displays a list of transactions by customer from the POS screen. Access PosSetup > Buttons & Forms. Click on the serial number and select Buttons & Forms from the pull-down menu. Modifying the Account # button 1. Locate the account button. 2.The Account button must use function 305 to open a customer account on the L-POS. 3. Several settings related to the Customer ID function 305 can be made if you click the properties icon. 25

26 This window will appear where the Account function properties can be changed: Substituted function: Leave this field blank. Compulsory number entry: use this flag to request a number entry preceding the customer account entry. You need to program a number entry button on the keyboard. Minimum digits: Set the minimum number of digits for account number entry. If you use phone numbers you could set this to 7. Maximum digits: Set the maximum number of digits for account number entry. Library name: Enter your custom GPIC name here to execute your own custom DLL when the account button is used. This will probably be blank. Function name: Enter the function this key uses within your custom DLL. This will probably be blank. Argument: Enter the argument required by your custom DLL when this button is used. This will probably be blank. Transaction type entry: Select No General: Please refer to the General function parameters section of this manual. 26

27 In addition to the Account # button you will need to use the Charge button and the Received on Account (R/A) button. Since the steps are the same for all buttons we will only explain the function properties for the Charge and R/A buttons. Charge Function 106 Substituted function: Leave this blank. Minimum amount tendered sets the low entry amount. Maximum amount tendered sets the high entry amount. Minimum quantity sets low quantity amount. Maximum quantity sets high quantity amount. Maximum change sets maximum change issued. Points (%) sets the ratio for points given. Foreign currency table is used to determine the exchange rate table to use with this tender function. Overtender fee is set to charge an amount related to any change issued with this tender function. Fee in percentage is set to yes when the overtender fee should be calculated as a percentage of the change issued with this tender function. Activate buttons on form allows you to select a button to be accessed whenever this function is executed. Double width printing forces the tender amount to print double size on the customer receipt. Do not open drawer stops the drawer from opening. Compulsory tender set to Yes will force the operator to enter the amount received into the tender key to perform change calculation Exchange is used to decide whether this function can be traded for Cash. For example, you could set this flag to Yes on the Check function to allow check cashing. Validation is used to force compulsory validation. Endorsement is used to force a compulsory endorsement message on the endorsement printer. Authorization center is not used for charge. Card argument is not used for charge. Double card stub is not used for charge. General: Please refer to the general parameters section of this chapter. 27

28 Payment (function 310) is used to receive a payment to an account. Substituted function: Leave this blank. No minus stops a negative entry in this function. Adding a button for listing Account transactions on L-POS The default set-up of L-POS does not include this button. You need to add it to the button list. Access the buttons and forms as explained previously. Once in buttons and forms you will add the button, assign a function within the button, and assign the button to a position on the touch screen or keyboard. Click on the serial number and select Buttons & Forms from the pull-down menu. 28

29 This list shows the Rpt Client button. You need to add it as explained here. From the button list you will add a new function with the Calculator icon. Enter the button description Rpt Client. The new button must use function type Press the Calculator in the functions tab and assign function 8010-Report. Access the function properties by pressing the Function properties icon. This window displays the Report function 8010 properties. You need to select the report that will be executed when this button is pressed. Click the [ ] beside the Report Req file field. Locate the RptCLT_TRS.rrq file and press the [Open] button. Now you need to assign this key to a position for the operator to use it. These steps are explained on the following pages. 29

30 General parameters: The general parameters can be assigned to any function type used in a button. The following paragraph explains the general settings. Print form immediately: Select Yes if this function should execute a print form command as soon as it is executed. Print form file: Enter the form file to be used with this function. In sale flag: This option can be used to determine whether or not L-POS is in a transaction, in the tendering process, or not. An example for using this flag could be that you do not want to allow a certain form to be loaded once the tendering process has begun. The option In tendering could be set to accomplish this. Click the icon to select the option you need for this function. Receipt copies: This parameter allows you to obtain a detailed receipt copy automatically even with your printer was turned off. Receipt trailer: Use this flag to select an extra trailer message that you want L-POS to print whenever this button is used during a transaction. The trailer number refers to the trailers added in the receipt trailers set-up. Up to 4 trailers can be created. The first trailer will print each time a receipt is issued. The trailers 2, 3 or 4 will be printed after the first trailer has been printed on the receipt. This means that 2 trailers will print if an extra trailer is selected on a button. Abort if form x exists: This is used to stop execution when a specific form is in use. Click the small arrow to the right of the window to select the form you want to define. Abort if form x does not exist: This is used to stop execution when a specific form is not in use. Click the small arrow to the right of the window to select the form you want to define. Swap form: This is useful when you want to force on or force off a form or multiple forms after the execution of a button. For example, you want to invert the forms on your touch screen layout when you press the subtotal key. To force a form onto the screen, enter the + sign followed by the form number. For example, +16, +20 would force on forms 16 and 20. To force form off, enter the sign and the form number. You may enter multiple forms by entering the + or -, the form number and a comma between each subsequent form number. Disable PLU function is used to prohibit the PLU function from operating when this function is in use. This is sometimes required after he subtotal key is depressed to stop inadvertent scans of the items belonging to the next customer at the check stand. Compulsory sub-total set to Yes will force usage of a subtotal key. 30

31 Do not clear entry buffer is intended to use in a situation where data may be entered prior to pressing a button instead of after the button. On a touch screen where the subtotal button loads a new form showing the payment buttons, this could be set on the subtotal function. Then you could enter an amount and press subtotal and the tender button. The entry buffer that includes the tendered amount would not be cleared and amount tendering would occur. Otherwise the tendered amount would disappear when the new screen appeared. Exit from function list will cause L-POS to stop executing the remaining functions in the multi-key set-up of the button you are executing when certain predefined variables have not been met. Form to be selected with cursor keys allows you to specify which form the cursor movement keys will control whenever this function is executed. This would be most useful on non-touch screen systems that want to use flip charts and navigate the flip charts with the cursor keys (up, down, right, left, page up, page down.) Calculation is used to enter a formula to be computed when this button is executed. You may use the basic mathematical operators. Button number can be used to define a button that will be depressed when the on-screen alpha keyboard is used for data input. For example, you have a number entry function to capture additional information. You would have created a button that executes the number entry function. But you need to enter additional alphanumeric data. Create a Load Form button and set the flag for On-screen keyboard to Yes. Set the Button number to use the Number entry button you created to capture the data. When the On-screen keyboard data has been entered and you depress the Enter, L-POS will execute the Number entry button for you automatically. On-screen keyboard can be set to produce an image of the alphanumeric keyboard for use on a touch screen or with a mouse if no alpha keyboard is available on your POS. You can also force the keyboard to pop up by double-clicking in the entry window rapidly. Customer display message is used when you want to send a specific message to your pole display. Enter the message for the pole (remember that if your pole has 2 lines X 20 characters L-POS will display 20 characters only on the line reserved for product description). Play a sound can be used to select a sound file you want to hear when this button is used. Of course it is assumed that speakers are available to hear the selected sound file. Leading message number can be used to display a leading message when this button is pressed. Leading message duration sets the time the leading message will be displayed. 31

32 Assigning the buttons to the screen To assign a function to the touch screen follow the steps 1, 2 and 3 as outlined here. 1. Click the Forms tab and locate the form on which you want to place the Account # button. By default it is assigned to form 1, Numpad. The active form is highlighted in Blue. 3. Click the account button with the Left mouse button. A small Circle will appear to show it has been selected. Now click the form where you want to place the account button. You must have a free space on the form to release the button there. 2. When you have selected the correct form press the Zn icon to view that form on your screen. 32

33 Assigning the buttons to the keyboard To assign a button to the POS keyboard follow steps 1 and 2 as explained here. 1.Click the Key icon to open the key assignment window. 2. Press the calculator to add a key position. You will be prompted to press a button on the keyboard. Delete an existing key assignment by highlighting that assignment and pressing the trash bin icon. Other buttons are assigned to the screen or keyboard the same way you assigned the account button. 33

34 Settings required to scan account cards printed with L-BOSS L-POS can scan the customer cards you printed but several modifications may be needed. You will need to make some new entries into the scanning definition table and define the account contact separator symbol. Access the PosSetup>System>General tab. Click on the Ad icon to view the list of advanced settings. Change the default value field to a Hyphen (-). 34

35 Now you need to modify the scanning definition table. Access the PosSetup>Peripherals>Scanner settings: Access the Definition table The customer cards have been programmed to output a code 39 barcode that begins with ZZ to distinguish it from other barcode data when it is scanned. So you need to set the Key to ZZ. Select the ZZ and press the button 1-Key. Our example shows 10 rows that begin with the key ZZ. 35

36 Why 10 rows in the definition table? This really depends on your account numbers. If you are using a fixed length number for your accounts you will only need one row in the definition table. For example, your account numbers use phone number with the area code like If you know that there will never be more than 10 contacts for an account the Customer cards would have for the main contact and for the 9 th contact. We would need a row in the definition table like this: ZZ The system will scan the customer card and send 12 digits to the account button. The first 10 will go to the account, the (-) will get skipped and the contact 0 will be sent to the account key. Once you have entered ZZ in the definition table, select the ZZ and press the [1-Key] button. Then select the 12 (1) characters and press the [Account] button. If you have account records created with different lengths you will need to add additional rows in the scanning definition table. If you have check digits to include or skip, different prefixes or other changes in your account cards you will need to modify the definition table in consequence. Our example above allows you to have account numbers varying from 1 to 10 digits with up to 10 contacts per account. 36

37 Account transactions Back-end transactions Adjusting account balances L-BOSS allows you to perform an account adjustment to modify the current house charge balance or the current points balance. This may be required if you are beginning use of L-BOSS and have existing charge balances for customers. Find the account you want to make the adjustment for. Press F4 and the following window appears: Amount: You can increase or decrease the customer balance by pressing either the + or the - and entering the adjustment amount in the window. This will in turn create a transaction to update the charge balance for this customer. Points: This field displays the customer points that have accumulated. You can increase or decrease the points balance by pressing either the + or the - and entering the adjustment amount in the window. This will in turn create a transaction to update the point balance for this customer. Interest posting Interested is posted automatically every month to all accounts. You must adjust the interest field in the risk level used by different customer types. The interest is generated and added to the account balance when the Generate interest task is executed. The default behavior for the generate interest task is once per month. Interest will be added to all accounts whose statement balance includes invoices dated before the start of the previous month. So if the task is executed on April 1, 2005 the interest will calculate on the outstanding balance as of February 28, To prohibit interest calculation it is recommended to set the interest field blank on each risk level. That way if you do decide to start charging interest you will only need to set the appropriate interest rate in each risk level. Front-end transactions on L-POS The account transactions include house charge, and Received on Account (R/A or Payment). You must open an account before using the house charge or the R/A buttons. Opening a customer account 1. Operation where account has only one contact: [Account #] via keyboard The account number will be found and a balance request will be sent to L-POS. When the server is on-line a response should be received instantly and the previous balance will display in the totals window. OR Scan customer card 37

38 The account number will be found and a balance request will be sent to L-POS. When the server is on-line a response should be received instantly and the previous balance will display in the totals window. 2. Operation where account has multiple contacts and the contact required flag is set [Account #] Keyboard entry The account number will be found and list of all the contacts will be displayed. The operator will choose the correct contact. A balance request will be sent to L-POS. When the server is online a response should be received instantly and the previous balance will display in the totals window. OR Scan customer card The account number will be found and a balance request will be sent to L-POS. When the server is on-line a response should be received instantly and the previous balance will display in the totals window. (This method depends on properly defining the scanner definition table. 3. You may also use the [Find Account] button to search for an account. Enter the data to find and press the [Find Account] button or press the [Find Account] button to scroll down the list from the top to bottom. When the correct account has been found press the Enter key on the virtual keyboard to select that account Posting a charge The Charge function is used to offer the customer credit rather than getting paid immediately. Of course you need to assign the customer to a risk level that has a credit limit and the customer must have credit available within the programmed limit. Once you have entered the customer number and scanned the items that are being purchased you press the [Store Charge] button to finalize a charge to the customer account. It may be compulsory to enter an amount before pressing the Store Charge button. Note: A customer may not have credit available and you may still want to allow a store charge. You will need to enter a Manager ID and press the manager button to obtain approval. Then select the option 2-For the rest of the transaction. Received on account (R/A or Payment) The Payment function is used to accept a payment toward a customer s previous charge balance. Open the customer account. Enter the payment amount and press the [R/A] button. Enter the payment amount and select the payment type such as Cash, Visa, etc. 38

39 Sample charge slip Note: The store logo, the receipt header message and the receipt trailer message have not been printed on these receipt examples. 01/06/2005 2:44:44 PM Programmer DAILY NEWS $0.75 T12 IDEAL CREAM CORN F $5.00 T12 KODAK FILM 35MM BW 24 EXP. $7.59 T12 RASPBERRY JELLO $0.79 Approved by:programmer Manager approval SUB TOTAL $14.13 Tax 1 $0.93 Tax 2 $ TOTAL $16.06 Charge $16.06 Current charge Account balance $1, New balance CHANGE $0.00 Points in this transaction: 579 Points balance : 2051 Item count: 4 Account Summary Company: Best Buy Auto Parts Inc. Name: Steve Shapiro {0} Account # : 1 Previous Balance: $1, Current charge : $16.06 New balance : $1, Trans:458 Terminal: Summary information Sample signature stub 01/06/2005 2:44:44 PM Programmer Account Summary Company: Best Buy Auto Parts Inc. Name: Steve Shapiro {0} Account # : 1 Previous Balance: $1, Current charge : $16.06 New balance : $1, X: Trans:458 Terminal:

40 Viewing customer purchase details from L-POS L-POS can display a list of the recent transactions for a customer. You can drill-down on any transaction to view the transaction details from the L-POS transaction screen. You need to add a function to the buttons list to use this feature. These steps were explained in the section on setting up the buttons to use the accounts receivable module. From L-POS you must execute the [Rpt Client] button. This button may have been assigned directly to the touch screen or to a list menu. Our touch screen example has the Rpt Client button under the [Option Menu] and then under the [List Reports] menu. From the Option menu select List reports. This will open a second menu with the different reports programmed on your L-POS system. 40

41 From the List report menu select the Rpt-Client option. Your system may not use the Report list, in that case A prompt will appear to enter the account number. 41

42 When you have entered the account number L-POS will send a request to the L-BOSS server and a list of transactions for that account will be displayed. The most recent transaction will appear at the end of the list. This list is active. You may scroll up and down the list. To view details from a particular transaction, highlight that transaction and press PLU-Enter. Selecting a specific transaction will open that transaction for viewing. Press [Clear] to close the transaction and return to the client transaction list to select another transaction. 42

43 Account reports Click on the Reports button from the L-BOSS main menu. From the Report selection window open the Clients folder to view the list of client reports. This manual only deals with the reports related to accounts receivables. The Account aging report is useful to see the outstanding account charge list aged by account. Customer activity displays a total of the charges, payments, and adjustments for the date range selected. Customer detail displays each transaction that affects the Account charge balance in the period selected. Statement displays an account statement from the start of the first month to the end of the last month selected. Statement with window is the same as the Statement except for the print format. 43

44 Account aging report Select the aging report end date Select the account group, or leave blank for all Set the report sort option Preview will display the report Select print to send to the printer 44

45 Customer activity report Select the date range Select the database period type. Note that the current week, month or year is not available until the period processing is executed at the start of the next period. Select the account group, or leave blank for all Preview will display the report Select print to send to the printer 45

46 Customer detail report Select the date range Select an account or leave blank for all accounts Select the account group, or leave blank for all Preview will display the report Select print to send to the printer 46

47 Account statement Select the date range Select an account or leave blank for all accounts Select the account group, or leave blank for all In the Selection menu you can select top print all statements or to skip the zero balance accounts Preview will display the report Select print to send to the printer 47

48 Printing account cards L-BOSS can be configured to print cards to scan for customer number entry. This guide explains how to use the system to print the cards. Your system must include the label module and you need top have card stock compatible with Avery form Access the L-BOSS reports menu and open the Clients folder. Use the "Preview" button if you want to view the report on screen before printing. Like any "print preview" option, you will still be able to send the report to the printer after viewing on screen. The "Print" button will send the report to the printer without viewing on screen first. Use the "Print" button if you are sure that the report contains the information you wish to view. The "Next" button is used to browse through open reports. "Cancel" to close the report selection utility and return to the L-BOSS desktop. 48

49 Whether you select Preview or Print, the Customer card report window will appear: Select a specific Group or leave blank for all customer groups. Select a specific customer or leave blank for all customers. Select a specific contact or leave blank for all contacts. L-BOSS allows you to define the starting position for the first card to print. This means that partially used paper stock can be recuperated. Click on the label where you want the printing to start. 49

50 Printing a customer list Access the report selection window and open the Lists folder. Select Customer. Several fields are available to filter the output. Enter the customer range to be included on the report. Select a specific customer group or leave blank for all customer groups. Define the Sort order. Select Preview or Print to execute the report. 50