January 20, 2003
-
Highlights:
- New enhancements
- 2002 Phone Support Statistics
-
Enhancements Recently
Compiled:
- The AR05 returned check
screen now gives you the option of automatically reversing out the check
using the info in the cash receipts journal. (This requires that you retain
the cash receipts journal info long enough to return NSF checks and correct
data entry mistakes. Probably all sites already retain this info for a
sufficient time period.) This enhancement eliminates the need to key in
the invoice numbers to "unpay". It also removes the limitation on being
able to reverse out a maximum of 8 invoices.
- The reverse date option
now works on the AI01 inquiry when you are using the purchasing (as opposed
to remit-to) vendor. This enhancement requires a database change.
- The inventory period-end
process will now save off the ending inventory value. Also, the II75 and
SI75 inquiries have been changed to use this info to calculate the average
inventory value. Same for the IN/545 and IN/741 reports. This will improve
the accuracy of vendor turn rate calculations, particularly on small to medium
vendors. Overall turn rates by branch and company should be relatively unaffected.
Note: This enhancement requires a database change and the running of an initial FIX program. Also, it will take the passing of months for this enhancement to have much effect. After one year, it will be fully effective.
- Manual costs are now
tracked on the line items like manual prices have always been.
Note: This enhancement requires a database change.
-
Phone Support Statistics
for 2002
Total support calls (including faxes and e-mails) came to 1743, up 28% from 2001. The average initial response time was 24 minutes, compared to 21 minutes in 2001.
Broken down by functional area, the percentage of calls was as follows:
| Order Processing | 24.9 | % |
| Inventory |
16.6
|
|
| Operating System/Hardware |
15.5
|
|
| File Maintenance | 10.7 | |
| E-Commerce |
7.2
|
|
| Accounts Receivable |
6.8
|
|
| Sales Analysis |
6.7
|
|
| Accounts Payable |
5.8
|
|
| Fax Module |
3.5
|
|
| General Ledger |
2.1
|
|
| All Others |
.9
|
|
| DMI/VMI |
.5
|
|
| Execusense |
.5
|
|
| Impulse |
.2
|
-
Thinking of changing some procedures or getting users to start using
new features available in Power Plus? Now might be an excellent time
to do so according to Dave Kahle of Da Co Corp., a consultant to the wholesale
distribution industry, who says "The labor pool is much deeper and the
current staff, knowing their positions less secure, tend to be more adaptable
to change".
And here's a suggestion from another distribution industry consultant, Steve Epner of BSW Consulting in St. Louis. "One of the things I suggest people do is every three or four years pretend they're buying a new computer system. Come up with a list of the capabilities you desire or problem areas with the current system, and take that to the vendor and ask them if they already have those things built in. Most of the time, the answer is yes". [And, our note, if not, we would likely add it in.]