Using this manual
The document you are now reading is very much a user's manual, and so should be readily available for reference by the operator of the program.
This integrated package has been designed to be easy to use and maintain, but it is important that the manual is read through at least once before use to ensure satisfactory operation.
The manual has been divided into 3 sections:
Section 1 : gives an overview of the programs and provides a list of the standard features for quick reference.
Section 2 : describes the procedure for setting up the programs for use. This includes entering customer and stock information, passwords etc.
Section 3 : contains detailed explanations of how to operate all options.
Garments
Wash Markout
Rental Invoices
Personnel
Driver/Stop
stock
Debtors >---------------Maintenance (Aged Trial Balance)
Statements
Register of Invoices
BackupOverview
This manual is made up of various sections depending upon which modules you have. The list of modules and relevant programs is almost endless but can be broken down into five major groups.
1) Invoicing (Rental/ Brought Forward / Open Item )
2) Debtors Control (Customers)
3) Personnel (Your customers employees/rental charges)
4) Stock Control
5) Creditors Control
When using this manual please refer to the relevant section first. Depending on any alterations that were made specifically for you or your company this manual together with our hot-line can solve any of your queries. We are also available on a half-day basis to train staff on any aspect of your computer system.
Terms and Conventions
There are several terms and conventions used throughout the programs:
<Esc>
Pressing this key will allow you to back up 1 step from what you are currently doing. This enables you to re-enter information or to bail out of an action you no longer want to take.
<End>
This must be used to save the information you have just entered and complete the current operation. Unless you are in an input cell, where End will take you to the end of the current line and home will take you to the start
<Enter> Press <Enter> to accept the information on each line.
<Ctrl-Y> Deletes the current line.
<Home> Takes you to the beginning of the line.
<Menu>
When a list of options is presented on screen, use the up and down arrows to highlight the desired option, then press <Enter> to select it. Alternatively, typing the first letter of the option name has the same effect.
<Editing> When editing on screen move the cursor to the item to be changed and either:
a) Type in the new information from the beginning OR
b) Press <Enter> and this will allow you to correct what was already on display.
<Search> This may refer to a Customer Code or a Stock Code.
<Keys>
Each customer and stock item has, associated with it, a unique code of up to 6 characters. Garments have a unique code of up to 8 characters. This means you need only type a short code to tell the computer which item you want displayed.
These can be done as frequently as you wish and should be done at least once daily. It is recommended that you have 2 back-up disks, one for odd days of the month and one for even days.
When you are ready to make a back-up, put the correct back-up disk in the drive, choose the 'Back-up' option from the main menu and follow the instructions given on the screen.
A recent innovation is Read-Writable CD’s. These operate as a floppy disk would only can hold a hundred times the information.
Section 2 : SETTING UP
Initial setting up of the software for your use will be carried out by the supplier. Attempting to perform this function without consultation with the supplier may erase your data from the hard disk.
Passwords will be established during the set-up. These ensure that sensitive information is only available to authorised personnel.
After the initial set-up, you will need to enter all your stock, customer and creditor data. (We can do this for you, if required). Refer to the sections headed 'Stock', 'Customer' and 'Creditors' for further information.
When you first turn on the computer, a main menu will appear e.g
Select an option by typing the first letter (G for Groups) OR use your cursors (up and down keys) and then <Enter> to select the Item.
These are the major options available in the program and some will have a sub-menu of their own (shown by a > ). Below is a brief description of each option's function.
All garments must be scanned once, iether comming in or going out of your laundry.
WASH
All garment must be scanned before they are washed. This information is then stored against the garment
MARKOUT
All garments can be scanned on the way out of your laundry as they are ready for delivery. Although this information can be gathered from the wash records it is better to scan the garments on the way out to isolate missing garments and keep your records accurate. It is the markout that posts the washes to the Personnel file and therefore must be completed before the invoice is produced.
Customer View/Edit customer (debtor) details.
Aged Trial Balance (Detailed or Summary)
Payments Enter payment details, Journals or Print a Bank Summary.
STOCK
Stock View/Edit details of any stock item.
Print Stock Reports/Labels. These are all the items you may process.
eg. WPO or White Poly Overalls
Groups View/Edit/Print stock groups.
Each stock/processed item must have a group number from 1 to 99 and each group must have a supergroup from 1 to 10
Set Sales Tax level.
ALL SYSTEMS
End of Month Back up transactions for the month.
Clear transaction file and move amounts forward a month.
Backup Copy important data to a floppy disk.
Scan the garments as you pocket them to record a wash against the garment
Scan the garments as they are ready to deliver back to your customer. As you do this the overdue garments will disappear off the screen.
The rental invoice will be created from the information entered in the Personnel area. It is printed in the Driver/Stop order for the day you want to run the invoices. The number of washes for each garment type against each person is cleared. Each invoice can be saved to be reprinted, if necessary, later.
Each company must be given a driver number (1-9) and a stop number (1-999) and a delivery/invoicing day (1-7)
If you want to take a company off the invoicing system then, remove or change the driver number. If you deliver to the customer on two or more days during the week you can either cut the rental price or use the other days as a delivery only.
(Menu)It is here that the information for the invoice is gathered. Each of your customers employees can have a Man Number (It can be a letter) and all the types of garments they have are listed here with the associated charges.
The charge can be rental (charged on every invoice), appearance (charged for every wash) or a combination of these.
The changes information is not used by our software and is there only as information to be printed on the invoice.
For every garment to be charged, there must be a match between the garment code and the man number in the garment file and the information shown against the employee in the Personnel file.
For example
Key GIL100
Name GILBERT CARTHRIGHT Personnel Code: 11
Address OXFORD ROAD Name F KLANGER
Description Item Changes R/Charge A/Charge Washes
White Poly Trousers WPT 3 / 5 $3.00 $1.04 1
White Poly Jacket WPJ 3 / 5 $3.00 $1.04 1
Total $8.08
To view how the invoice will look go back to Show Personnel and you will see the invoice.
Company GEMPRO GEMICALL PRODUCTION
Personnel Menu
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>Show Personnel for a company< |
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Add a Personnel to a company |
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Change/Delete a Personnel |
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Reprice Garments |
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List Personnel |
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Move a Personnel |
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New Company |
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Find a Personnel |
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Re-sort Personnel |
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Find all codes for Personnel |
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Show All Garments |
Show all of the charges associated with this customer
Add a charge to this customer
Change or delete a charge for this customer
Change the price for all garments for this customer eg.WPO's
A different way of viewing the customers
Move an employee of one company to another company
Start working on a new company
Find an employee name amongst all of your customers
This will search the man numbers and remove bad characters
If you are searching for a man number with say '21' in it this will find all of 121 2221 1212 and etc
Each garment can and should have a unique garment number printed on a label on the garment. This Unique number can also be represented as a barcode.
This is the information kept on each garment.
Search Key 01919111
Description WPO White Poly Overalls
Company GIL100 GILBERT CHANDLER CAMPUS
Number 11 F KLANGER
2nd Number is used by you customer
Grade A Grades can be A - Z or 1-9
Size 10
Day TUE The day the garment is washed
Issue 10-Mar-99
Cost 34.55
Supplier C'TEAM
PurchDate 15-Feb-99
Wash.Life 90
Line Desc
Type C/P/S - Can only be washed once a day
No.Wash 4 Prev.Wash Scanned Out
Last ScanIn
Service Date
The Description must match the
personnel file, otherwise the garment will not be recorded on the invoice and if this garment is an appearance charge then the garment will not be charged at all.To start adding garments first make sure the information is correct in the PERSONNEL file and that the garment code (eg.WPO) exists in the STOCK file.
(Menu)
All stock items are categorised into
PRODUCT GROUPS and SUPER GROUPS. For example, you may have as a stock item, 'White PolyCotton Overalls' which belongs to the Product Group - OVERALLS and the Super Group - WASHED GARMENTS. In this way information about the number of items processed and stock levels and sales of groups of items can be monitored. If Product and Super Groups have not already been set up, go to the section headed 'Groups' before proceeding.All stock items are also categorised as either STOCKED or UNSTOCKED. The most common examples of unstocked items are Garments and Mats where indicating 'quantity in stock' is not applicable. But if you sell mats or garments you may like these as STOCKED items
When you select the 'Stock' option from the main menu, a prompt for the correct password will appear. Type this in, if known, or press <Enter> to bring up the 'Stock Main Menu'. This will consist of some or all of the following options:
Edit Stock File
Convert Stock
Stock Report
Reorder Report
Label Print
Update Stock File
Group Report on Stock Held
The 'Stock Edit' menu is as follows:
ADD a Stock Item
Change a Stock Item
Delete a Stock Item
Modify a Search Key
When using the first 3 options, information about sales for a particular stock item will be displayed at the bottom of the screen. (TD=Today or since the last Invoice Register, MTD=Month-To-Date, YTD=Year-To-Date).
1. Enter a search key of up to 12 characters for the new stock item. For example, if adding the stock item 'White Poly Cotton Overalls', suitable search keys would be 'WPO' or 'WPCO' etc.
If the search key already exists, a warning message will appear below and you will need to press <Enter> and select another key. <F3> will display a list of current stock items.
2. Provide a full description for the stock item. This may be up to 20 characters long.
3. Enter the 5 different price levels.
4. Enter the number of items currently on order (Onorder) and the minimum level at which reordering should occur (Min Level).
5. Choose the number of the product group you wish to use for this stock item. If you need to refer to the product group list, press <F4>. If the stock item belongs to a new product group, select an unused group number. This new group will need to be named later using the 'Group' option from the main menu.
After entering this information, 'Stocked' or 'Unstocked' will appear, this information is dependent upon the group.
6. Enter the preferred supplier for this stock item.
7. Enter the location at which the stock is kept.
Use a 2 character code.
Change a Stock Item
1. Enter the search key of the stock item to be changed. All details of the stock item will then be displayed. (Use <F1> if required for a list of all stock items).
If this key is incorrect, a number of similar keys will appear at the bottom of the screen. Use left and right arrows and <Enter> to select the correct key. If the desired key doesn't exist, press <Esc> and select 'Add a Stock Item'.
2. Move the cursor to the position(s) where you wish to make a change and type the new information.
Delete a Stock Item
1. Enter the search key of the stock item to be deleted. All details of this item will appear on screen.
Modify a Search Key
1. Enter the search key you wish to change.
2. Enter the new search key.
This will print out a list of all stock items within specified limits.
1. Enter the range of product groups to be printed by giving the first and last product group numbers. Alternatively, just pressing <Enter> will print all product groups.
2. Enter the range of stock codes to be printed by typing the first and last codes required. Alternatively, just pressing <Enter> at each prompt will select all stock codes in the product groups nominated.
This will print out all stock items needing to be reordered i.e. those whose quantities are below the Minimum Level.
1. Type in a particular supplier code or use <Enter> to select all suppliers.
2. Enter the first and last stock codes
LABEL PRINT
This option is used to print stock labels for your shelves. Make your selections as for Stock Report.
UPDATE STOCK FILE
This will update stock prices from a floppy disk or via modem from head office.
GROUP REPORT ON STOCK HELD
This option will print up-to-date stock totals (values and quantities) in group order.
This section takes care of PRODUCT GROUPS and SUPER GROUPS. For further information, refer to the 'Stock' section of this manual.
Selecting this option takes you to the following menu.
Change Product Groups
Change Super Groups
Price Adjustments
Stock Report
Change Product Group for Stock Items
CHANGE PRODUCT GROUPS
This option can be used to either change an existing Product Group name or enter a new one.
1. Enter the number of the Product Group to change or choose an unused number to add a new Product Group name. All details of the Product Group will then appear on screen. If required, use <F1> to display the Product Group list (different Super Groups are displayed in different colours) and <F3> to display the Super Groups.
2. For existing Product Groups, use cursors to move to the item(s) to be changed and type the new information. For new Product Groups, enter all information as follows:
Description use up to 20 characters
Stocked Y/N select Y or N as appropriate
Super Group 1-10 choose the super group for this
product group to belong to.
Tax Rate e.g. if the rate is 25%
enter '25'
Appear on Invoice Ignore this option
Cost at Invoice Ignore this option
3. Press <End> to save the information.
Note: <F2> can be used to print a current list of product groups.
This option is used to change or add new Super Group names. You may have up to 10 Super Groups.
Type the number of the group to change or choose an unused number to add a new group. Use <F1> to display Product Groups, <F2> to Print Groups and <F3> to display Super Groups.
PRICE ADJUSTMENTS
This option can be used to alter stock prices by a percentage of the cost or trade price or by a fixed amount.
1. Choose which product groups of stock you wish to alter. Pressing <Enter> selects all groups.
2. Choose the first and last stock codes to be changed. Pressing <Enter> at each prompt will select all codes.
If required, pressing <F1> will display all stock and pressing <F2> displays all groups.
3. Choose the base price used for calculating the price adjustment.
C = Cost Price
T = Trade Price
<Enter> means no base price but an across the board change by a fixed dollar amount or percentage.
4. Any of the 5 price categories (Cost, XSpec, Spec, Trade, Retail) may be changed. Press <Enter> to skip over price categories which are not to be changed.
Examples of price adjustments appear on the right hand side of the screen.
CHANGE PRODUCT GROUP FOR STOCK ITEMS
This will reallocate a group of stock items to a new product group. Enter the first and last stock codes of the group of stock items to be changed.
When you select the 'Customer' option from the main menu, a prompt for the correct password will appear. Type this in, if known, or press <Enter> to bring up the 'Customer Main Menu'. This will consist of some or all of the following options:
Add a Customer
Delete a Customer
Change Customer Info
Modify a Search Key
When using the Delete, Change or Modify options, you may view a list of current customers at any time by pressing <F2>.
(Menu)ADD A CUSTOMER
1. Enter a search key of up to 6 characters for the new customer. For example, if adding the customer 'ANDERSON & SMITH', suitable search keys would be 'ANDSMI', 'ANDERS', 'A&S' etc.
If the search key already exists, a warning message will appear below and you will need to press <Enter> and select another key.
2. Enter the name and address as you would like it to appear on invoices. The name can be up to 30 characters long. Three lines each of 30 characters are provided for the address. At the end of the third line is a prompt for the postcode.
3. Enter the phone number.
4. If applicable, enter the 90, 60 and 30 day balances still owing, then the current balance. (not able under open item)
5. Choose a sales category for this customer.
Trade, Retail, Special or eXtra Special. In most cases you would probably choose Trade.
6. Enter the Sales Tax Number, if applicable.
7. Enter the customer's cheque account details (bank and branch).
8. Enter a memo / comment or contact for this customer if you wish. Note: this memo will not appear on invoices, quotes etc. only when the customer is called up on the computer.
9. Press <End> to save all the information.
DELETE A CUSTOMER
1. Enter the search key and customer details will appear on the screen.
2. If you are sure you wish to delete this customer, press 'Y', otherwise <Esc> will take you out of this option.
Note: Customers with outstanding debts cannot be deleted. (Menu)
CHANGE CUSTOMER INFORMATION
1. Enter the search key and customer details will appear on the screen.
2. Move the cursor to the position where a change is to be made and type the new information or press <Enter> and the old information will appear and you can alter this. You can change everything except the search key which is done through Modify Search Key
3. Press <End> to save the changes. (Menu)
MODIFY A SEARCH KEY
This option is only available when the appropriate password has been entered.
Enter the current search key for the customer. You will then be prompted to enter the new search key next to the old one.
(Menu)
AGED TRIAL BALANCE (Summary or Detailed)
This is password protected to stop just anyone getting a print-out.
1. Choose whether to print customers with a zero balance or not.
2. Choose Small Single Line Print
(Shows key, name, balances and total)
OR
A more complete list for a wide printer (Shows key, name, phone, balances, total last paid amount and date with a blank line in between for your notes)
3. The Customer type you wish to print.
(Menu)
LIST ALL ACCOUNT INFORMATION
This is password protected to stop just anyone getting a print-out.
This will print the key, name, address and phone number of each customer.
This section is used to record payments by debtors.
The payment menu consists of:
Payment
Journal
Bank Summary
PAYMENT
1. Enter the search key for the customer.
2. Enter the amount of payment.
3. Enter a description.
Where applicable enter the amount of settlement discount you have allowed them.
4. Brought Forward
Open Item
The amount of the payment will be allocated against the oldest invoices. If the allocation is not correct then use the cursors (up and down arrows) and the number keys to correct the allocations. The difference between the amount you have allocated and the payment received is shown at the bottom of the screen. You can use:
<F1> allocates the total amount of the invoice
<F2> adds the difference as a settlement discount and journals the difference to a debtor called ZSETT
<F4> This will turn off the automatic allocation
At the bottom right in the middle of the double lines you will see the difference between what you have entered as the Payment recieved and the amount you have allocated against each invoice. This should be 0.00 when you have allocated all of the payment.
After pressing <end>, if the total payment is less than the allocated amount then you will be asked if you wish to offset this against a claim.
5. Enter the cheque details i.e. Bank and Branch.
JOURNAL
To move a debt from one debtor to another (eg. BAD DEBT)
BANK SUMMARY
This option will print a summary of the day's receipts to use when banking.
This print-out is usually performed daily. It lists a summary of all invoices since the last invoice register was done, the amount of cash collected and payments made.
Please do a backup before you run this report.
If anything happens during Clearing of stock and you have not performed a backup then the information has to be restored from the last backup which will probably mean adding all of todays invoices/payments and quotes again.
You will be asked two questions.
1. Print Invoice Register
Answer Y the first time and the register will be printed and you will be asked again. Check that the printer printed it correctly and answer N.
Each invoice will appear on the screen.
If you are keeping track of employee information at the end of every invoice then you may be asked to enter the employee initials again because the initials that were entered at the time of invoicing have not been found.
To create a new employee or change the information kept on file run a program called Employee from DOS
2. Clear Stock Totals
This will run several reports that can be printed at any time but most importantly it will clear today's sales totals.
Answer Y and you will see all of the stock codes appear on the screen as their totals are cleared.
There are several reports that are produced at this time so if you run this program make sure that you only clear stock totals when you really need to (end of every day). You can however print an invoice register at any time without clearing.
An invoice register is also available for the whole month that will print all invoices, payments and credits for the month.
(Menu)
This will print statements for all customers specified.
1. Choose the first and last customers required.
2. Choose the date (month and year) to appear on the statements.
3. Answer 'Y' if you wish to run a test pattern first to ensure that the statement paper is correctly lined up on the printer.
Press <Esc> to pause printing if required.
There are several types of statements and if you are not happy with your current format please ask Vinron for a set of Statement types and we will change your format of statement for you.
(Menu)END OF MONTH
Use this option to move customer and creditor amounts forward a month. The transaction file will be deleted. Use your end-of-month back up disk to save the month's information. You will be asked if you have printed statements, Aged Trial Balance and invoice register.
This MUST be done when you have finalised all transactions for the month. Please save this disk so all information may be recovered at a later date, if required.
When you select the 'Creditors' option from the main menu, a prompt for the correct password will appear. Type this in, if known, or press <Enter> to bring up the 'Creditor Main Menu'. This will consist of some or all of the following options:
Add a Creditor
Delete a Creditor
Change Creditor Information
Modify a Search Key
When using the Delete, Change or Modify options, you may view a list of current creditors at any time by pressing <F2>.
ADD A CREDITOR
1. Enter a search key of up to 6 characters for the new creditor. For example, if adding the creditor 'ANDERSON & SMITH', suitable search keys would be 'ANDSMI', 'ANDERS', 'A&S' etc.
If the search key already exists, a warning message will appear below and you will need to press <Enter> and select another key.
2. Enter the name and address. The name can be up to 30 characters long. Three lines each of 30 characters are provided for the address. At the end of the third line is a prompt for the postcode.
3. Enter the phone number.
4. If applicable, enter the 90, 60 and 30 day balances still owing, then the current balance.
5. If applicable, enter any discount you receive from this creditor.
6. Enter a memo or comment about this creditor if you wish.
7. Press <End> to save all the information.
DELETE A CREDITOR
1. Enter the search key and creditor details will appear on the screen.
2. If you are sure you wish to delete this creditor, press 'Y', otherwise <Esc> will take you out of this option.
Note - if there are outstanding debts you will not be allowed to delete this creditor.
CHANGE CREDITOR INFORMATION
1. Enter the search key and creditor details will appear on the screen.
2. Move the cursor to the position where a change is to be made and type the new information.
MODIFY A SEARCH KEY
This option is only available when the appropriate password has been entered.
Enter the current search key for the creditor. You will then be prompted to enter the new search key next to the old one.
CREDITORS INVOICE
These are entered in exactly the same way as Debtors invoices. Using the creditors search key and the stock items purchased. The cost prices of the stock items and the quantity of the stock items are both altered at the completion of the invoice.
CREDITORS PAYMENTS
When you are ready to pay a creditor enter the creditors payments section and enter the payments as you would for a debtor.
A remittance slip can be printed to accompany the cheque. If your module is connected to the general ledger package the relevant information can be batched across at any time to save re-entering the information.
CREDITORS AGED TRIAL BALANCE
To print the amounts owing at the current time. This option is also available in the Creditors menu if you enter under the correct password.
There are many reports that come standard with all modules and you only need to have these added to your menu to have access to them. Because you are entering all of the information, any other report that you wish to have can be easily prepared by our software section and will be added to the list of reports that you can generate.
Each report is an ASCII file and can therefore be imported into any word processor document or printed by typing copy ?????.XXX lpt1 or you can View the document by typing
VIEW ????.XXX
All daily reports are produced at the time of the invoice register and are overwritten when the next invoice register is printed and cleared.
End of month reports remain intact until you run another end of month, at which time they will be overwritten with the new information.
Each company and branch of the company will have a different Branch Code this is represented by XXX.
to view all of the reports you have produced type VIEW *.XXX where XXX is your branch code.
ERROR 3 CORRECTION
NOTE: Information about these programs is included for completeness of the manual. They are included in the software you purchased in order to be able to correct errors speedily. Errors can occur for a variety of reasons such as fluctuation in power supply or hardware malfunction. It is recommended that you contact your supplier if any errors occur as use of these programs by non-experienced operators may cause more problems than you started with.
INTEG This program will check the integrity of all files and report any differences. These differences can be caused by operator error or by a fluctuation in power supply to the main computer. Normally they are easily corrected as long as you have kept a check on error reports throughout the month and your backups are up to date.