One of the MAJOR differences between eoStar 2009 and prior versions is the inability for a SQL savvy user to directly update the transactions tables (orders,purchases, and transfers) via SQL. Of course, nothing is impossible and if you were a SQL expert, I'm sure you can find a way to get around this restriction. Although I would highly recommend that you refrain from doing so, since we had very good reasons for this restriction. One of the reason being a performance boost to the posting logic. I know to some of you this may seem like you just lost your freedom.
Never fear, Superscreen to the rescue! The Superscreen allows you the flexibility to make some of the changes that you were able previously address with a SQL script. As always, you can find the "How-To instructions" on our wiki: http://wiki-eostar.com/index.php?title=SuperScreen
Friday, June 19, 2009
eoStar 2009 LiveMeetings
We officially released eoStar 2009 on June 1st!
Please visit our wiki to see all the changes to eoStar 2009. (http://wiki-eostar.com/index.php?title=Changes_to_eoStar_2009) and give us a call if you would like to schedule an upgrade.
I encourage you to attend our free LiveMeeting trainings even if you upgraded and currently using the functionality that we will be covering.
The audio conference number is 866-476-8702
The training schedule is as follows:
June 23 (1:30 – 2:00 EST) – Forecasting & MBO
Live Meeting URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/eostar/join?id=Z4N8DR&role=attend&pw=X%24wR32S%21s
Meeting ID: Z4N8DR
Entry Code: X$wR32S!s
June 24 (1:30 – 2:00 EST) – Tap Survey & Daily Delivery Stop Analyzer
Live Meeting URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/eostar/join?id=95JDH7&role=attend&pw=g%5Cp%5Cz%3ASJ7
Meeting ID: 95JDH7
Entry Code: g\p\z:SJ7
June 25 (1:30 – 2:00 EST) – Payment Terms & Warehouse Handheld
Live Meeting URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/eostar/join?id=8BCZWG&role=attend&pw=jS4s%23%24x%22s
Meeting ID: 8BCZWG
Entry Code: jS4s#$x"s
Please visit our wiki to see all the changes to eoStar 2009. (http://wiki-eostar.com/index.php?title=Changes_to_eoStar_2009) and give us a call if you would like to schedule an upgrade.
I encourage you to attend our free LiveMeeting trainings even if you upgraded and currently using the functionality that we will be covering.
The audio conference number is 866-476-8702
The training schedule is as follows:
June 23 (1:30 – 2:00 EST) – Forecasting & MBO
Live Meeting URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/eostar/join?id=Z4N8DR&role=attend&pw=X%24wR32S%21s
Meeting ID: Z4N8DR
Entry Code: X$wR32S!s
June 24 (1:30 – 2:00 EST) – Tap Survey & Daily Delivery Stop Analyzer
Live Meeting URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/eostar/join?id=95JDH7&role=attend&pw=g%5Cp%5Cz%3ASJ7
Meeting ID: 95JDH7
Entry Code: g\p\z:SJ7
June 25 (1:30 – 2:00 EST) – Payment Terms & Warehouse Handheld
Live Meeting URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/eostar/join?id=8BCZWG&role=attend&pw=jS4s%23%24x%22s
Meeting ID: 8BCZWG
Entry Code: jS4s#$x"s
Sunday, February 8, 2009
eoStar 2009 is coming...
When I first started this blog, I was planning to document our changes each week. This was an ambitious plan and it seems that it would be better if I just shoot for once a month. Of course, I will still try to document any big changes that warrant their own article separately.
As planned, eoStar 2009 has been release to our beta testers, Kent Beverage in Grand Rapids Michigan. Kent Beverage is a local Coors Distributor that carries many fine wines as well as energy drinks. So far things are running smoothly. We’ve ran into a couple of issues with the web service and the dot matrix plug-in but we were able to resolve them in a timely manner. Our official release date is March 30th, 2009.
The past few months have been busy months for our developers and there are a lot of new changes that I want to cover, in addition to the new functionalities and GUI changes, I should also mention that the entire communication structure between the web service and the handheld has been re-written. We also worked on the way we save and read the data files. In the past we’ve relied on the OS to move the data correctly which causes issues at times. I will cover the web service changes later on.
Laid-in-cost manager:
We have two types of cost in eoStar, the purchase cost which is the cost that is associated with a purchase order and the cost of goods sold which is the cost that will be sent over to the general ledger. This module affects the cost on a purchase order. Similar to the front line price manager you can enter an effective date for a cost type by supplier. For how to instructions read the following wiki article: http://www.wiki-eostar.com/index.php?title=Laid-In-Cost_Manager
Apply Hold Code:
The apply hold code feature allows the user to mass assign a no sell hold code to a group of customers based on pre-define rules. This is handy for customers that have violated their terms.
For how to instructions read the following wiki article: http://www.wiki-eostar.com/index.php?title=Apply_Hold_Codes
Order Type for driver charge invoices:
DRS driver charge orders can now be tagged with an order type for reporting purposes. This can be done from the database configuration screen.
Non-returnable items :
You can now define which items can be entered as negative quantities on an order by a user on the handheld. This can be done by defining a non returnable item set and assigning a password with the items. Read the following article for how to instructions: http://www.wiki-eostar.com/index.php?title=Overview:_Returnable_and_Non-Returnable_Items
Delivery handheld Check out sheet:
This functionality is only available on eoMobileCF handhelds version 9.1.7.23 and higher. This is essentially a blind count that allows the driver to confirm his inventory with the warehouse supervisor prior to leaving for the day. Read the following wiki article for how to instructions: http://www.wiki-eostar.com/index.php?title=Delivery_Handheld_-_Check_Out
GUI Changes
Along with new functionality they’ve been many GUI changes to the interface. The biggest change has been moving all the configuration screens that have been “sprinkle” in various parts of the application into one menu option. The File>Database Administration>eoStar>Setup menu has been removed. This means that users will notice options “missing” because of this change.
Additional GUI changes:
1. DRS – the transfer now have the time stamp displayed along with the expected date
2. Inventory Reconcile>Transfer screen now display the expected transfer date
3. SRS – You can now select multiple suppliers for exports
4. Auto Bump – replaced the customer entry screen with the customer selector
5. Fintech- There is a new export format since we now support X12 format under the view export screen.
6. Fintech – The hyperlink to change the invoice has been removed since it was redundant to have both the order hyper link and a separate menu to change the PO number.
As always make sure to visit our wiki site for the complete list of changes and enhancement.
As planned, eoStar 2009 has been release to our beta testers, Kent Beverage in Grand Rapids Michigan. Kent Beverage is a local Coors Distributor that carries many fine wines as well as energy drinks. So far things are running smoothly. We’ve ran into a couple of issues with the web service and the dot matrix plug-in but we were able to resolve them in a timely manner. Our official release date is March 30th, 2009.
The past few months have been busy months for our developers and there are a lot of new changes that I want to cover, in addition to the new functionalities and GUI changes, I should also mention that the entire communication structure between the web service and the handheld has been re-written. We also worked on the way we save and read the data files. In the past we’ve relied on the OS to move the data correctly which causes issues at times. I will cover the web service changes later on.
Laid-in-cost manager:
We have two types of cost in eoStar, the purchase cost which is the cost that is associated with a purchase order and the cost of goods sold which is the cost that will be sent over to the general ledger. This module affects the cost on a purchase order. Similar to the front line price manager you can enter an effective date for a cost type by supplier. For how to instructions read the following wiki article: http://www.wiki-eostar.com/index.php?title=Laid-In-Cost_Manager
Apply Hold Code:
The apply hold code feature allows the user to mass assign a no sell hold code to a group of customers based on pre-define rules. This is handy for customers that have violated their terms.
For how to instructions read the following wiki article: http://www.wiki-eostar.com/index.php?title=Apply_Hold_Codes
Order Type for driver charge invoices:
DRS driver charge orders can now be tagged with an order type for reporting purposes. This can be done from the database configuration screen.
Non-returnable items :
You can now define which items can be entered as negative quantities on an order by a user on the handheld. This can be done by defining a non returnable item set and assigning a password with the items. Read the following article for how to instructions: http://www.wiki-eostar.com/index.php?title=Overview:_Returnable_and_Non-Returnable_Items
Delivery handheld Check out sheet:
This functionality is only available on eoMobileCF handhelds version 9.1.7.23 and higher. This is essentially a blind count that allows the driver to confirm his inventory with the warehouse supervisor prior to leaving for the day. Read the following wiki article for how to instructions: http://www.wiki-eostar.com/index.php?title=Delivery_Handheld_-_Check_Out
GUI Changes
Along with new functionality they’ve been many GUI changes to the interface. The biggest change has been moving all the configuration screens that have been “sprinkle” in various parts of the application into one menu option. The File>Database Administration>eoStar>Setup menu has been removed. This means that users will notice options “missing” because of this change.
Additional GUI changes:
1. DRS – the transfer now have the time stamp displayed along with the expected date
2. Inventory Reconcile>Transfer screen now display the expected transfer date
3. SRS – You can now select multiple suppliers for exports
4. Auto Bump – replaced the customer entry screen with the customer selector
5. Fintech- There is a new export format since we now support X12 format under the view export screen.
6. Fintech – The hyperlink to change the invoice has been removed since it was redundant to have both the order hyper link and a separate menu to change the PO number.
As always make sure to visit our wiki site for the complete list of changes and enhancement.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
More Known Bugs in version 8.10.30
I want to thank ShawdowInc for inspiring this article. By now, if you haven't upgraded to eoStar 2008, I would recommend that you wait for eoStar 2009 since we will be releasing in it soon. I hope by the end of January. It has some really cool features that I will cover in another article.
In the past couple of weeks we ran into more issues with version 8.10.30. They have all been addressed in the 2009 version. The issues are:
1. Upgrade will fail if you are trying to upgrade from a 2007 with a "versions" column error (hence my recommendation that you wait to upgrade to 2009.
2. When during a return on a pre-sale order for an item that was sold at a discount and the promo has since expired, the program didn't stamp the promo nid on the line item, which will cause the total invoice to be incorrect even though the discount amount will display on the line item. As a work around you can schedule a script to run that will sent the correct bit in the orderlines.
3. The FIFO logic would not consider the inventory available for usage until the next day when a negative write off was used to increase inventory. This caused a discrepancy between FIFO and the online inventory system which resulted in a zero cost for the remaining cases for the day the write off was created.
In the past couple of weeks we ran into more issues with version 8.10.30. They have all been addressed in the 2009 version. The issues are:
1. Upgrade will fail if you are trying to upgrade from a 2007 with a "versions" column error (hence my recommendation that you wait to upgrade to 2009.
2. When during a return on a pre-sale order for an item that was sold at a discount and the promo has since expired, the program didn't stamp the promo nid on the line item, which will cause the total invoice to be incorrect even though the discount amount will display on the line item. As a work around you can schedule a script to run that will sent the correct bit in the orderlines.
3. The FIFO logic would not consider the inventory available for usage until the next day when a negative write off was used to increase inventory. This caused a discrepancy between FIFO and the online inventory system which resulted in a zero cost for the remaining cases for the day the write off was created.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Permission on Excise Tax
I’ve been meaning to document this issue for some time but forgot about it until last week:
There is a known issue that occurred ever since we moved the excise tax plug-in into the core program. The permission bit that governs this option is the one under the Access panel and not the plug-in panel:
There is a known issue that occurred ever since we moved the excise tax plug-in into the core program. The permission bit that governs this option is the one under the Access panel and not the plug-in panel:
Inventory Bug in DRS version 8.10.30
DRS inventory issue:
There is a known issue with DRS and negative inventory batches in earlier builds of version 8.10.30. The issue would arise when reconciling invoices that were not originally assigned to the driver. The settlement summary report will show that the truck was reconciled correctly but the order would have still remained in the old inventory batch which would create a discrepancy. We have corrected this issue in the 12/10/08 build of version 8.10.30.3. If you are currently using version 8.10.30 please call support to get the correct hot fix.
There is a known issue with DRS and negative inventory batches in earlier builds of version 8.10.30. The issue would arise when reconciling invoices that were not originally assigned to the driver. The settlement summary report will show that the truck was reconciled correctly but the order would have still remained in the old inventory batch which would create a discrepancy. We have corrected this issue in the 12/10/08 build of version 8.10.30.3. If you are currently using version 8.10.30 please call support to get the correct hot fix.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Payment Terms
In order for a company to be successful in today’s economy it must be diversified. This statement has been true for many companies around Michigan, especially those that are in the automotive sector. This trend holds true to all retail oriented businesses and the Beer industry hasn’t been immune. Along with recent consolidation we’ve also seen distributors adding new lines of products along with expanding into different type of business lines such as Craft, liquor, etc.
In order to address these changing needs eoStar is constantly evolving. We’ve added the ability to enter multiple payment terms to a single account. Previously the user was restricted to only 2 payment terms (alcoholic, and non-alcoholic). This is no longer the case you can now enter unlimited number of payment terms which correspond to a set of products. If a product is included in more than one product set, eoStar will use the payment term that is associated with the first payment term listed from top to bottom. eoStar will automatically partition an order if the customer is flagged to partition based on payment terms. The partition logic is currently only on the mobile device.
In addition to the above changes we’ve also added a new field in the payment terms table. It is called “Processing Method”. The processing method defines how eoStar should process the order. (I.e. via the Fintech interface, Miller UFF EDI, manually, or X12 EDI) This field was previously scattered in various panels of the application such as the EDI Partner> EDI setting screen. We also added a Fintech pre-fix for distributors that work with Chains that require a prefix on each invoice number to seperate product categories. In order to do so you must create a payment term for each product category and assign the proper Fintech prefix to each payment term.
We also removed the IsCharge and IsEFT columns from the customer table since the columns already exist in the payment terms table. This implies that any reports that currently use these columns will fail. Please make sure to test such report prior to installing the version in a live environment.
For “how to instructions” please go to the following wiki entry:
http://www.wiki-eostar.com/index.php?title=Payment_Terms
In order to address these changing needs eoStar is constantly evolving. We’ve added the ability to enter multiple payment terms to a single account. Previously the user was restricted to only 2 payment terms (alcoholic, and non-alcoholic). This is no longer the case you can now enter unlimited number of payment terms which correspond to a set of products. If a product is included in more than one product set, eoStar will use the payment term that is associated with the first payment term listed from top to bottom. eoStar will automatically partition an order if the customer is flagged to partition based on payment terms. The partition logic is currently only on the mobile device.
In addition to the above changes we’ve also added a new field in the payment terms table. It is called “Processing Method”. The processing method defines how eoStar should process the order. (I.e. via the Fintech interface, Miller UFF EDI, manually, or X12 EDI) This field was previously scattered in various panels of the application such as the EDI Partner> EDI setting screen. We also added a Fintech pre-fix for distributors that work with Chains that require a prefix on each invoice number to seperate product categories. In order to do so you must create a payment term for each product category and assign the proper Fintech prefix to each payment term.
We also removed the IsCharge and IsEFT columns from the customer table since the columns already exist in the payment terms table. This implies that any reports that currently use these columns will fail. Please make sure to test such report prior to installing the version in a live environment.
For “how to instructions” please go to the following wiki entry:
http://www.wiki-eostar.com/index.php?title=Payment_Terms
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