The full life cycle Inventory Management and Sales Order Processing System

Transcription

1 The full life cycle Inventory Management and Sales Order Processing System

2 Table of Contents Welcome to RightControl...2 Setting up RightControl...3 Creating Users...3 Adding A Company Logo...4 Your Company Details...5 Configuring Financial Data...6 Product and Stock Categories...7 The Label Designer...8 Using RightControl...9 Main Menu...9 Customers and Suppliers...10 Purchases...12 Booking In...14 Single Barcoded Items...15 Multiple Items...17 Direct Items...18 Bundle Items...19 Stock...20 Sales...21 Despatch...23 Invoice...25 Returns...26 Credits...28 Reports...29 Copyright of Losoftware 1

3 Welcome to RightControl RightControl stock management and sales order processing system has been designed for ease of use, to meet the demands of businesses requiring smooth daily operation of stock control. RightControl is a full life cycle business management tool with the ability to manage stock input and sales right through to invoice and dispatch. Built in barcoding keeps track of stock levels in a quick & simple, user-friendly fashion. RightControl can be set up to recognise existing barcodes or generate new unique, singular and batch barcodes. Stock-takes and item checks also become quick and painless and if a stock item is returned from a customer, a simple scan supplies the important details needed. A simple to use and comprehensive report engine allows you to review and print off regular vital information, useful for quick analysis. Copyright of Losoftware 2

4 Setting up RightControl Creating Users On running the program for the first time, you are prompted to create the Admin user and password. Before any users can login they must first be added on to the system. Log in with your newly created user with admin status and then select Settings Options from the main menu at the top of the screen. Click the User tab in the Options menu to create a new user, update an existing user or delete a user. Type a user name, initials and password, then check the various relevant menu tab permissions, and then click the New button to create the User. The permissions that you assign will be dependent on the necessary features each user should access, e.g. a sales consultant might only be required to access the Customer, Supplier, Sales, Stock and Reports menus, whereas this may differ from those functions of a warehouse manager. You can also give a user admin rights if necessary by checking the admin access rights box at the bottom. You can edit any user s permissions by returning to the User options and selecting a user from the drop down menu under User Name. NB: Until you receive your activation codes, RightControl will run in Demo mode. Upon activation, the users created will be cleared and must be recreated. Please keep this in mind when creating your demo users. Copyright of Losoftware 3

5 Adding A Company Logo Select the Logo option from within Settings Options and choose your Logo by browsing through your files. RightControl will accept Jpeg and Bitmaps less then 64k in size. You also have the option to resize the logo as required. Once completed it will be automatically positioned and displayed on all relevant documentation within the program. NB: You will not be able to change your logo until you have activated the software. Copyright of Losoftware 4

6 Your Company Details When you receive your registration details, you need to enter them into the relevant sections to activate your software. Enter your company name in the space provided exactly as shown on your registration . Similarly, your Serial Number and Activation Code must be entered exactly in order for the software to activate. Upon successful activation, the software will exit out of demo mode and become fully usable. Any stock you may have entered into the system will be retained, but, for security reasons, all user names will be cleared and you will be asked to create your user again. You may also enter your standard Disclaimer messages regarding purchases and sales, which will show on your printed documents. Copyright of Losoftware 5

7 Configuring Financial Data Select the Financial tab under Settings Options. Here you are able to input and set-up the financial information necessary for your organisation. The settings that you define now are used throughout RightControl for calculations. Tax Code/Percent - Assign a code and its relative percentage (this is useful if you use Sage and wish to follow the same format.). Payment - Enter the type of payment methods that is accepted by your company e.g. Cash, Credit Card, Debit Card etc Card Types - If your company accepts credit cards as a form of payment, enter the different card types here e.g. Visa, MasterCard etc Credit Terms Add in the varied terms of payment here e.g. 7 days, 30 days, COD etc Currency Type of currency your company deals in e.g. GBP, Euro etc Default Surcharge This box will calculate the surcharge on any credit card payments taken e.g. 2.5% etc. However this can also be entered manually on the sales order form. Alter Sales Price Here you can instantly alter prices globally by a percentage, e.g. if you plan to raise all your prices by 1.75 percent, you would enter You can also lower prices by using a negative number Copyright of Losoftware 6

8 Product and Stock Categories By selecting the Product tab you are able to add in your different Stock Categories, Sub-categories and their Attributes and also set up different stock grades and conditions. This is important information that should be set up before using RightControl. You are able to customise any product and stock categories names to suit your industry. The information that you provide here, will depend upon the type of stock you deal in, and all of its related stock properties and attributes. You can go back to Settings Options and Product as an administrator to add or remove further stock categories and to remove redundant attributes or assign new attributes. Enter a Category first in order to edit the Sub Categories. Category Tab Type of product e.g. Coats, Trousers, Shirts, or Laptops, Printers etc Sub Category Tab Type of product within any given Category e.g. a main category might be Coats and its Sub Categories might be Leather Coats, Waterproof Coats etc. Stock Attributes Tab - Product Attributes e.g. Leather coats could have: Size and Colour as its attribute names. A Laptop could have Screen Size, Network Card, CPU and Memory as some of its attribute names. Stock Grade Add a grade to specify the class of goods e.g. A, B, C Stock Condition Add a condition to specify the condition of goods e.g. New, Faulty, 2nd User, Refurbished. NB: This information is vital to proper use of the software and will add clarity to all your product lines. A little time spent clarifying your product categories will save a lot of time in the long run and you can always add new categories or remove redundant ones and their attributes. Copyright of Losoftware 7

9 The Label Designer Click 'Settings' and then selecting the 'Label Designer' option will open the following window: Label Template - This drop down box allows the user to pick the template required. There are 3 standard templates already set, however you can design, add and save your own if required. Label Size - There are 3 standard sizes to choose from, these are Small Medium and Large. The sizes are set to print on standard sheets of Avery labels. See paragraph below titled Print for the Avery labels supported. Printed Fields These fields can be added or removed. Design your own label by selecting a field from the drop down list, then click on the add button. Each field that is added will appear below the Label Template and you can drag & drop it to the desired location on the label template. Print This will print out a sheet of labels and is only required for single bar-coded Items, make sure that you have your correct Avery label sheet in the printer before printing. The 3 sizes are: 1) Small L x 33.86mm 2) Medium L x 25.5mm 3) Large L4731 REV 25.4 x 10mm The barcodes will all be printed out in sequence. To assign each one to an Item, simply use your hand-held scanner to scan the barcode when booking in the Item. Copyright of Losoftware 8

10 Using RightControl Main Menu The toolbar sections on the main window displays all the departmental functions the user has access to, which can be specific to each individual user if you have a multiuser license. Permissions to access the different functions are set by the system administrator. Customer, Supplier, Sales, Invoice, Purchases, Stock, Booking In, Returns, Credits, Reports, Item Check and Despatch. A full description for each sections functionality follows in the next chapters. Copyright of Losoftware 9

11 Customers and Suppliers The Customer and Supplier sections handle contact information for the management system. The stored data is used throughout RightControl for Sales orders, Purchase orders, Invoices etc. It is, therefore, important that the data is accurate. On clicking either Customer or Supplier, you will access the relevant contacts section, opening with the list of your contacts, which, on initial opening, will, of course, be empty. The drop down box at the top of the main screen is a quick search function. You can simply click the drop down box and scroll through the account names to select or by typing the first few letters of the account name and then pressing the Enter key on the keyboard, those entries which correspond to that search criteria will be shown in the list view. Simply clear the drop down box entry and press Enter key to show all the account entries in the list view again. Double-clicking an entry opens the contact details window and allows one to edit the details shown. Copyright of Losoftware 10

12 New contacts can be added by clicking on the New button at the top of the main window and the contact details window will open as shown above. The sections are fairly self-explanatory with the Details and Address section requiring no further explanation. Take note that upon when adding a new contact, first start by typing the name of the contact in the Account Name section. For individuals you can use their full name such as John Smith, and for businesses, use the trading name, for example, Pepper PC Ltd. Spaces can be used in the Account Name, but avoid non-alphanumeric characters. Once you have entered the Account Name, either click into the Account Number section or press the Tab key to automatically generate an Account Number that corresponds with the Account Name. The Account Number is always unique even if you have contacts which share the same Account Name. When you are still setting up the account, you can alter the account number, but once you click the Finish button, you cannot alter the Account Name or Number. If you manually alter the Account Number after it has automatically generated, the system will check against all the existing contacts when you click the Finish button. If a replication is found, don t worry, simply delete the Account Number you entered and click the Finish button again to automatically generate another Account Number. Once you are happy with the Account Number, click Finish once more to enter the account in to the system. The Payments section is explained in more detail in the Financial Options chapter. Copyright of Losoftware 11

13 Purchases From the Purchase Orders list view, you are shown Pending and Completed orders via the tabs at the top of the window. You can double click on an existing order or click New to create a purchase order, and the Purchase Order Details window will appear: PO No automatically generated. Sales Order No. Sales Order numbers are added automatically on purchase orders created through the Direct Sales Menu in the Sales Order section. Supplier No Drop down box to select the supplier company name. Delivery Date enter or select the expected delivery date. Notes enter notes regarding this PO. Notes can be shown or hidden on the printout. Add New Item to add a purchase order item line. Payment Type Drop down list of payment methods. * Add Surcharge If the Payment Type is Credit Card check the surcharge box and enter an amount, i.e. if there is a 2.5% surcharge, enter 2.5. Payment Terms - select the agreed terms of payment from a drop down list. * VAT Select VAT amount from the drop down list. * Carriage VAT - Select from the drop down list. * Currency choose the type of currency you will be paying. * Net Net value, automatically calculated. Carriage Net Enter the Carriage amount if applicable. Recalculate recalculate total if items have been added or amendments made. Goods Received Check box to flag when Goods have been received. Red lines indicate goods not yet received and purchase orders are flagged as pending. When all goods have been received and checked off, the Purchase Order can be completed by clicking the Complete button. * Editable by an Admin user in the Settings Options Financial menu. Copyright of Losoftware 12

14 Purchase Order Item & Specification Windows Category select the category of the item/s. Stock Code enter a stock code of your choosing if you wish. Batch Code if you have existing stock in the system that you wish to book the goods into, enter the batch code; this updates the quantities in the system. Manufacturer enter the manufacturer. Model No if there is a Model No, enter it here. Description enter a description manually, OR double click to open the Specification Window opens when you double click the Description box. Shows the Attributes (set up in Settings Options Product menu). As you enter new data here, it is stored for later use in the drop down box. Quantity units being purchased. Unit Price cost per unit. Copyright of Losoftware 13

15 Booking In When stock is received, enter it onto the system via the Booking In button. There are several methods of stock entry: 1) Single Bar-coded Items these items are usually unique items that need to be tracked individually, such as Laptops or large pieces of equipment. 2) Multiple Items these are items which are generically the same, such as a tin of beans or a pack of batteries. 3) Direct Items this option can be used in the event that a sales order needs to be made for items which have not been ordered yet. A purchase order will be created for these items automatically to be completed manually. 4) Bundle Items items which are made up of several individual items from existing stock, such as a complete computer system. Each method is explained in more detail on the following pages. Copyright of Losoftware 14

16 Single Barcoded Items Booking goods in is a fairly simple process and much of it can be automated due to the way your system is set up. The Single Barcode goods-in screen is split into 3 sections, in order of process from the top down. So, the first section, we select the goods in details. The entry time stamp is automatically generated, so we simply select the Purchase Order that the goods were ordered on from the drop down box. If there are no Purchase Order numbers populated in the drop down box, that means that the Purchase Order has not been created. Go to the Purchase Order section to learn how. When you select the purchase order number associated with the goods to book in, some of the information is populated into the rest of the form, such as the Supplier, and the Category drop down box is populated with all the item types which were ordered on that purchase. Simply select the item type from the Category drop down list and the Manufacturer drop down box is populated with all the relevant information. Copyright of Losoftware 15

17 Choosing the Manufacturer from the list will again populate the model name list and selecting the model name will fill in the specification of the item. If there is only one item in the Purchase Order, the form will automatically fill in the details. You may now enter a specific Stock Code or Part Number which you may already be using. If the description does not match the actual item, then simply double click in the specifications box and change the attributes of the item. Grade the item, whether it is new, used etc and what quality it is A, B, C etc Next, you will want to update the location and the barcode of the item. You can simply type any location you wish which will be relevant to your business, or, if you have no formal system in place, it would be a good way to organise your stock to start labeling your locations and using those location names in RightControl. With barcodes, you have several options. You can generate one and use a standard barcode printer to print a barcode. You can also print a sheet of labels using readily available Avery Label sheets in a laser printer and assign those barcodes to items by scanning them in at this point. Similarly you can use existing barcodes on items by just scanning them in using your barcode reader. Some extra fields can be used to store other information, such as entering an engineer s report if applicable, or information specific only to that unique item in a batch. Clicking the Finish button will enter the item into the Stock database. If you wish to enter another item into the database from the same batch of the same manufacturer and model type, you can now click the Add Same Model button which will start a new booking in screen with most of the information filled in from the previous entry. Copyright of Losoftware 16

18 Multiple Items The multiple items booking in procedure should be used for items where there are many of the same items, such as cans of beans or a batch of computer keyboards for example. Similar to the Single Item process, select the Purchase Order Number to start then the Category of the items to be entered and select the SubCategory if there is one. This should populate some of the details such as Specification for you. Enter any other details such as Serial Code or Part Number, then update the location and condition of the items. The Batch Code is automatically generated and can be used as the barcode for these items. You can print out a sheet of barcodes if you have a template set up in the Label Designer and the batch code will be replicated in a sheet of labels as the barcode. You may set the reorder level by checking the box and entering the quantity level that you require notification of. When the stock quantity reaches this level, the main stock line is tagged in red on the Stock screen to quickly highlight low stock levels. The quantity from the Purchase order is entered automatically and now you can simply click Add to Stock in order to update the database of stock. You can check your stock levels in the main Stock screen and adjust it manually if required. If you are making an update to any multiple stock lines, perhaps to adjust the description or stock levels, you must first Unlock the screen. The Unlock button will then become the Update button which you click after making any change to details or adjustments to quantity. Copyright of Losoftware 17

19 Direct Items If you are brokering stock, or reselling products from another supplier directly to the buyer, then use the Direct Items booking in method. Here we can add items to stock, even though said items do not exist on site, but will allow the items to be added to a sales order as normal. Choose Direct Items from the Booking In menu and you will be presented the Multi- Item book in form. Enter details as you would when adding muli-items, such as selecting the Category, adding the model and manufacturer names and entering the specification of the items. Some details cannot be entered when in Direct Item mode, which are PO Number, Supplier, PO Date, Batch Code, Reorder Level, Stock Level and Adjust Stock. The quantity will always default to and should not be altered. Copyright of Losoftware 18

20 Bundle Items If you wish to create a product consisting of several items in stock, you can use the Bundle Items option. First make sure you have created a Bundle category in the Products options. Bundle Items appear in the category Bundle in your stock list. To create a new bundle item, select the option from Booking In menu. Click the New button and then at the prompt, enter a name for this bundled item, for example, Free mouse mat with every mouse or 2 Widgets for the price of 1. Next, you are asked to enter a description, so write something meaningful here to describe your new bundle. Then you are asked for the selling price of the bundle. Once these are entered, you will see the stock tabs within the Bundle screen, where you can choose the items you want to add to the bundle, by selecting from the tabs, clicking on a row and then clicking the double arrows pointing left. As you add each item, you are asked how many of these must be added to the item, for example, a buy one get one free offer will need 2 of the same item. Or perhaps a bill of materials would require 20 screws. Click save when you are happy with the items making the bundle. You can return to the bundle and make alterations on the item list if required either via the Booking In menu or from the Bundle category in the Stock screen. Copyright of Losoftware 19

21 Stock The Stock menu shows all your current stock, categorised in tabs for quick reference. You can further drill through the categories to find individual item lines using the search tools at the top of the Stock screen. The first drop down box allows a general search using a single criteria from the list of Model Name, Model Specification, Manufacturer, BatchCode or Serial No. The second row provides filter conditions starting from Manufacturer; the Model Name will list only those items from the Manufacturer you selected and the Specification will show only those items of the Model Name you selected. You can also perform an Advanced Search which allows you to build a set of conditions to search by through all the fields that are available. Click Advanced Search to begin, then select first the field you wish to set a condition for, such as Quantity_available. Next select the arithmetic operator, for example > for greater than. Lastly, input the criteria to compare against, either a keyword or a number, whichever is more appropriate for the condition. If you try to search for a condition which is numerical with a criterion which is alphabetic, the results will be empty and vice versa with alphabetical conditions and numerical search criteria. You can add more conditions to search for by clicking the More label, or remove them by using the Less label. Click Search to see the results back in the Stock main screen. In the main Stock screen, double clicking on a stock line will open a descriptive window, where you can edit details such as reorder level, cost price, sales price, stock code and serial number. You can also add more stock onto the batch or print Batch Barcodes. Copyright of Losoftware 20

22 Sales The Sales screen opens with the list of current and pending sales. As with the other parts of the system, double clicking a specific line will open the details of that Sales Order. You can also generate a new sales order from here by clicking the New button. The tabs at the top indicate the section you are viewing and you can return to the list to pick another order or look through the details of the current open order. Order details contains the main body of information, such as the Customer, which you select from the drop down list, the items selected and the totals with VAT calculated. Adding an Item to the Sales Order is simple: click Add Item to select from the Stock list. With unique stock that has been singularly barcoded, you may select individual items and right click the item line and choose Add to Order. You may also drill into the Item details then click the Add to Order button. RightControl can also operate like an EPOS system, allowing you to scan the item s barcode onto the Sales Order: just click the Scan Item button and run your reader over the associated barcode. If required, stock not already entered on the system can also be added from the Sales screen if you have the item in front of you. When you have items added to the sales order, you can change the Sales Price by simply double-clicking individual sales items and altering the price. The total price should be calculated for you, with net totals, VAT totals according to the tax codes you have set up, carriage plus VAT if applicable and gross totals, showing VAT element. Copyright of Losoftware 21

23 Clicking on the Customer Details tab allows the salesperson to alter the invoice address and add a delivery address if need be. Adding Invoice notes will show these notes on the printed Invoice. Make sure a payment type is selected or the Order cannot be completed. Selecting a credit card will allow entry of card details. Save the order or complete it by clicking the Despatch button. You can also create a Pro Forma sales order upon request by creating the sales order, adding the items and customer details, then click the Pro Forma button. This creates a printed Pro Forma invoice for customers who require invoicing before ordering of goods. Copyright of Losoftware 22

24 Despatch Completed sales orders are sent to despatch, ready for picking and packaging. Items on the order must be scanned in, or, alternatively, the barcode number entered manually before it can be completed in full. This is to prevent wrong items being shipped off, but this can be overridden by Administrators by clicking the Override button should this be required, which is usually ok for users with a low number of stock lines and/or do not possess barcode scanners. Print out a picking list if you have many items and a large amount of stock. You can also use the printout as a despatch note in the shipment. Items waiting to be scanned are highlighted red and switch to white when scanned in. However it is possible to complete a part order, for example, if you are waiting for more stock to arrive from a supplier, but the order will remain partly despatched in the pending list until all remaining items are scanned out. Click Scan items to start scanning. As each item is scanned, it is added to the list. If you do not have a scanner you can type the barcode number manually and pressing enter or the return key on your keyboard will add the item to the scanned list. Clicking complete will first check all items are scanned, where you can specify if the current order is to be part despatched. You will asked to enter a delivery reference, if Copyright of Losoftware 23

25 applicable, such as the consignment number given to you by your courier, but you can simply click cancel if there is none. An invoice is automatically generated and is now available in the Invoices section. Copyright of Losoftware 24

26 Invoice The layout of the Invoice screen is identical to the Sales Order screen and self explanatory, with a list of All Invoices in the first tab, then the Invoice Details and the Customer Details tabs. There are additional functions in the Invoice screen which differ from the Sales Order screen. The delivery reference is displayed here from the despatch. If the item was a returned item, the return note can be accessed from here Details cannot be altered here, but clicking the Paid checkbox will update the customer s details and change the balance owed or credited in the customer record. Once checked this cannot be undone. Copyright of Losoftware 25

27 Returns In the event of a returned item, you can simply create a new return and scan, or manually type, the barcode to enter into the system. If the item is trivial or not worth re-entering into the system, then disregard. The system will ask for a fault entry which can be edited in the Engineer s report for that particular item if it is uniquely barcoded. Additional notes can be entered for internal use and a new return address set. Click the 'Save' button and the Return record will be saved to the Pending returns list. There are several options regarding returned items: Clicking on the Credit button will issue a credit note to the customer for the items in the Return. Double clicking on an item in the Returned Items list will open a window with futher options regarding that item, namely, to Repair and Restock the item, setting status to Unit Repaired and updating the status to Returned to Customer or Supplier. You can record the parts changed, the cost of parts and the cost of labour here, as well as the length of warranty provided with the repaired item. You can also open the individual item s details and edit there or release the item from the system. Copyright of Losoftware 26

28 If an item is sent back to supplier, the return should not be completed until you receive the faulty item back repaired, in which case it can be restocked to returned to the customer. If you are refunded by the supplier the Item must be manually released from stock to ensure your stock levels remain accurate. You can do this by clicking Open Item and manually releasing it from the system. Complete: When you have fully completed the return, click on 'Complete' and it will be moved from pending to the complete returns list. This cannot be undone. Copyright of Losoftware 27

29 Credits When you have items returned by a customer, you can issue a credit note or refund. Record these transactions here either by generating a new credit from the main credit list window, or from the returns section. Copyright of Losoftware 28

30 Reports The reports engine is very comprehensive and interrogates the database directly. First you choose the table you wish to see which corresponds with the sections in the system, such as Sales Orders, or Stock Items. Then you select all the fields, or details, which you want to appear on your report, such as Manufacturer and Model Name etc. In the Search Conditions panel, you create the query to search the database. Queries are formatted in a straightforward way: if animal = zebra for example, so for stock items, we can try Model Name = ipod which will show all items which match. For less exact searches, for example, if you are searching within a category named Hard Disks and you want all those with a capacity of 160gb, you would have to search the Model Specification field. Now, unless the only specification attribute was the size, the search would not return much. Hence, we can use the LIKE operator instead of the = sign, so that all stock item entries with 160gb in the specification would be returned in the report. The reports section is most useful for collecting and collating a group of data, such as all the Invoices in a given period. We would do this through the Invoice table: Select the Invoice table and the fields you wish to see, such as Customer, Date, Gross etc In the Search Condition, select Invoice Date In the operator drop down select > In the Value drop down, type in 01/01/2008 This will create a Comma Seperated Value file (CVS), which can be seen in a spreadsheet package such as Microsoft Excel, of all invoices made after the date entered. Copyright of Losoftware 29

31 You can add multiple conditions using the More label which adds more condition boxes. Although it is a comprehensive engine, in that it can look through all your data in the system, to make the most out of your reports, you can output your list from the database using a general query, such as all Invoices of 2008, to your spreadsheet package, and use the more powerful functions in the spreadsheet software to filter the results. If you feel comfortable with Microsoft Access, you can even create your own customised queries using MS Access or through MS Excel or other spreadsheeting or dedicated reporting tools. Copyright of Losoftware 30