*** ONLINE HELP *** CRIS: The Cash Register and Inventory System Version 3.0 Copyright 1993 Computech, All Rights Reserved Worldwide by Matthew A. McCoy Computech 13185 West Wilbur Drive New Berlin, WI 53151 (414)789-8348 Introduction I feel it necessary to give you a little background to the Cash Register and Inventory System (CRIS) software. CRIS was conceived in 1988 and was originally part of a system being developed for a marina, to track repair costs, repairmen's times, and inventory. CRIS 1.0 was a subset of these routines, with certain modifications made towards point-of-sale transactions. CRIS 1.0 had many fine points, which I've tried to carry throughout the series: easy to use function keys, simple menu system (most options are only a layer deep), and a simple 1,2,3 approach to completing a transaction. The original CRIS 1.0 software had a few faults, however. Tax exemption numbers were only allowed seven digits (not alphanumeric). Zip codes were numeric only, which didn't help Canadian companies using the software. Also, phone numbers were accepted in a format most people didn't want to use: (area code) phone-number. For many small businesses, they already know the area code of their customers, so typing it in is rather redundant. Similarly, foreign users of the software didn't use the same phone number format as we do in the states, so this field was not being effectively used. Many of these bugs (or features, you might call them) were corrected in several versions of the software (2.1-2.9). Most of these versions of CRIS were customized for a particular company, however, and were not released to the general public. There were also a few new developments that I felt had to be addressed: 1. Recently, a county sales tax was implemented for Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. This made me realize the necessity of having a breakdown of state, county, and city sales tax. 2. Initially, I had very little experience with purchase orders, so the thought of adding a PO module to the system didn't really occur to me. Since then, many companies that weren't using PO's are starting to. So, I added a simple PO system to CRIS 3.0. I feel it is quite adequate for most applications, but would be happy to make modifications for a small fee. Now, I present you with CRIS 3.0, the end result of several years of developmental work. A Few Notes on Registration I have instituted a fair system of registering CRIS. I hope you will take advantage of it to further your point-of-sale operation and help encourage future shareware development. You have the opportunity to use the demo system for as long as you want; however, you have the following limitations: a. A maximum of five records in any database, whether it's an account, invoice, inventory item, vendor, or individual items on an invoice. b. As you print sample invoices, a message stating this version of CRIS is unregistered is printed at the bottom of the invoice. c. Technical support is limited to registered users. Upon receiving payment for the CRIS package, you will be notified by either phone or mail (or both) that Computech has received payment. You will be given a password which will automatically upgrade you to the full version. All of your existing data files will be preserved, so any time you've spent setting up the system won't be wasted. Registration, and what you get: 1. Registration fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35.00* This entitles the user to use the CRIS program on one workstation. Additional workstations will be an additional charge of $35.00. 1/2 hour of technical support is also included within continental 48 states. 2. Typeset Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00* A typeset, bound manual containing full documentation to the CRIS system, and information about other Computech products. 3. Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00 / hr.** Maintenance contracts are available which would reduce these rates. We don't consider the CRIS package a high- maintenance product, so we don't emphasize purchasing additional technical support. It is available, however. * Please include 5.5% sales tax in Wisconsin. ** Within continental 48 states. Disclaimer Please be aware that Computech provides this product free from any warranty whatsoever. Use of this product is at-your-own-risk. Computech will not be held liable, commercially or otherwise, for damage to or loss of business as a result of using this product. CRIS is believed to be a sound, error-free product. However, with the complexity of a product such as this, we cannot be 100% certain that this product will work reliably under all circumstances. We are most appreciative of bug reports and "wants" lists, so any additional correspondence is appreciated. Installation The CRIS 3.0 program is distributed as a self-extracting .ZIP file. After running this program initially, a series of files are created. The CRIS software will install from either a floppy or hard disk, so the example below may look somewhat different according to your configuration. To install CRIS on your hard drive, enter the following command: A:\> install (drive) (Where drive is a hard drive letter, with colon. eg., C:) *Be aware that the directory CRIS creates is called CRIS30. *A file called CRIS.BAT will be copied to the root directory of C:, so that CRIS may be accessed from any subdirectory on the hard drive. *It is assumed C:\ is in your PATH statement. *When the install program is finished, CRIS will run automatically. *You may run CRIS subsequently by typing "CRIS" at a DOS prompt. Opening Menu The opening menu allows the user to select among different companies' databases. Some businesses set-up separate entities; e.g., a clothing store may have a separate shoe store within the same store. This opening menu accomodates these arrangements. When you set up a new company, or use CRIS for the first time, you must select option 2, "Add Company." The "Delete Company" option allows you to remove a company and its associated databases. This option should be used very carefully! Add Company The Add Company option facilitates the addition of new businesses to the CRIS system. Upon selecting this option, the user is presented with a data screen containing fields for company name, address, phone / fax numbers, and other system parameters. The user must fill in the address and name information as they wish it to appear on an invoice or purchase order. Please note that you are allowed two lines for an address. The following field, "Transaction Types" will be used in future implementations of CRIS. This field will be important in the future for being able to customize certain point-of-sale features. This field may be left blank. The question "IBM Graphics Printer" should be answered with a "Y" for Yes or "N" for no. This question deals with the type of printer being used with the system for invoice printing. If the printer is capable of printing IBM extended ASCII characters, this question should be answered with a "Y". The "Color / Monochrome" setting applies to whether your display monitor supports color. This is also a Yes or No answer. The following fields apply to state, county, and local sales taxes. Please enter the sales tax rates for area you live in. Please note that these fields accept percentages. The last field on the page, "Make Purchase Orders..." applies to some new features to be introduced with later versions of the software such as automatic purchase order generation. This field may be left blank. Upon entering all necessary data on this page, the user may strike escape to exit and save their work. Delete Company The delete company option allows the removal of companies from the CRIS system. Upon selecting this option, please answer "Y" for Yes or "N" for No to delete a company. CRIS Main Menu The CRIS Main Menu is the primary menu used in the system. It provides options for manipulating Accounts, Part Codes, Inventory, Invoicing, Vendors, Reports, Returning to the Opening Menu, Changing Company Settings, Various System Utilities, and Quitting the CRIS program. The following is a short description of these areas: Accounts The Accounts area allows the user to edit any customer's data currently on file. Typically, this information is entered into the system during a point-of-sale transaction. Part Codes The Part Codes Menu allows the addition, modification, and deletion of system part codes. CRIS 3.0 part codes correspond to the "D" for Discount, "N" for Non-Taxable, etc. codes in earlier versions of CRIS. The CRIS 3.0 structure provides the user with a greater deal of flexibility by allowing them to specify what their codes will be, and whether they will be taxable or non-taxable. Inventory The Inventory area allows the user to enter, update, or delete inventory data. Invoicing The Invoicing Submenu will be the primary area used in the CRIS software package. The invoicing area graphically represents an invoice on the screen, allows the user to modify it, and print it out. Vendors The Vendors Submenu allows the user to enter vendor information, and new purchase orders for parts. Reports The Reports Submenu allows the user to print a wide variety of reports from account information to invoices to vendor information. Return Returns the user to the Opening Menu. Setup Company The Setup Company option allows the user to change information previously entered in the "Add Company" option on the Opening Menu. Utilities Utilities allows the user to remove temporary files from the hard drive, as well as delete old information. Quit Quit allows a quick exit from the CRIS package. Accounts The Accounts Menu provides the user with an easy was to retrieve various company information. Upon selecting this option from the Main Menu, a popup window will request "What account do you wish to find?" This question should be answered with either a carraige return to view the whole account list or the first several letters of a company name. The company name retrieval option will filter out any companies' names that do not fit the entered criteria. For example, entering "MCCO" brings up all company names that start with "MCCO". Not only could this include names such as McCoy, but also McCormick, etc. After striking a return, the user is presented with a company data screen. This data screen contains a great deal of information which will allow the user to setup and maintain a client list. This database is appended to as new names are entered in the point-of-sale portion of the system. At this point, the user has several options depending on the number of users found either in this search or in the database itself. The user may stike Alt-A to Add an Account, Alt-E to Edit an Account, or the Delete key to remove the company from the system. Escape returns the user to the Main Menu. The Account data screen allows the user to add or change any information pertaining to a customer's address, phone number, tax exemption number, In-House charges, and credit card information. You may use the arrow or enter/return keys to move through the fields. When you are finished adding data, you may hit carraige returns to the bottom of the screen, or the escape key. Part Codes The Part Codes submenu provides the user with a screen to modify the part codes database. The part codes database gives users the ability to group certain items together. For example, a drug store may have a pharmacy section, and a greeting cards area. A part code could be created for both "Pharmacy" and "Greeting" cards. If one of these new categories happened to be tax exempt, a "N" could be entered for the taxable item area. The three fields in this database are: "Part Code", "Description", and "Taxable Item". Part Codes is a one character field which contains the shorthand code used for this item on an invoice. In our earlier example, a shorthand code for the "Pharmacy" field may be a "P", as long as there aren't any other areas which use a "P" as their code. Description is a short field which contains a description of this Part Code. This information will be printed on an invoice form. Lastly, Taxable Item refers to whether sales tax should be calculated upon the sale of items within this part code. As in the Accounts area, the user may hit Alt-A to Add, Alt-E or Return/Enter to Edit, or the Delete key to delete a code. When the user is finished editing the database, they may hit Escape to return to the Main Menu. Inventory Inventory provides a comprehensive screen for adding and keeping track of parts. The keystrokes for modifying the inventory database are the same as the first two areas: Alt-A to Add new items, Alt-E or Return to Edit existing items, or the Delete key to Delete a part from inventory. The Escape key returns the user to the Main Menu. How the Inventory Screen works: The Part Number field provides a link between the invoice database and inventory. This part number field should correspond to any bar coding (such as UPC codes) on the particular item, for it is the field used to retrieve parts from inventory. The Vendor field is an abbreviation of the Vendor's name that replacement items will be ordered from. This field is important if you plan to use the purchase order system within CRIS. The List field provides an area for list price to be entered. This is the amount that a customer will be charged for an item. The Description field will be used on invoice forms to describe the part number. On the invoice form, as the part numbers are entered, the description field will be filled in automatically. The Location field provides the store owner with information as to the item's shelf location. This could be especially useful if you run a hardware store or repair business with many small parts. The Minimum Order field will be implemented more extensively in future releases of the product. It will indicate to the system how automatic purchase orders will be created. The first Net Price field corresponds to the minimum order area. This is the price that will be charged when the minimum order is placed. The Current Stock Quantity field should be edited as new parts are received. This field is automatically subtracted from as parts are purchased. The Bulk Order 1 / Net Price fields correspond to large orders. Bulk Order 1 designates a quantity of items that would qualify an order for a bulk price. The Back Ordered Qty. field may be changed as items are placed on Back Order. Like earlier fields, this area will be implemented more extensively in future releases of CRIS. The Bulk Order 2 / Net Price fields correspond to large orders. Bulk Order 2 designates a quantity of items that would qualify an order for a bulk price. The On Order field provides a reminder to the user as to how many parts are currently on order. The Weight field in future releases of CRIS will be used as a guideline to automatically calculating weights for products. For countries using the English system of weight measure, any number may be entered. For countries on the metric system, a "K" should follow any data in this field to indicate that the weight is measured in kilograms, not pounds. The Oz field only applies to countries utilizing the English system of measure. This provides an area to enter the ounce portion of the weight. The Suggested Quantity area provides the user with a method of monitoring items that need to be ordered. As the Current Stock falls below the Suggested Stock, a report in the Reports Menu will provide the user with information as to which parts need to be ordered. The Alt. P/N 1 & 2 fields provide the user with a means of tracking equivalent parts from other manufacturers. The user may enter another manufacturer's part number, where to buy it from (vendor), and the cost from the other vendor. The By: field provides the user with a comment area that may receive information as to who the last person to purchase this part was, along with the purchase order number, date, and the last purchased quantity. The last set of fields contain total sales information for previous years. This information will be useful to enter into spreadsheets to graphically show sales for previous years. As in other data areas, the user may enter any information they wish in the screen. When they are finished, they may either hit Return through the fields, or Escape. Invoicing The next option from the Main Menu is invoicing, which will be the primary area used by most people. Invoicing provides an easy, yet powerful, system for billing customers. We have tried to give the user as much flexibility in the system as possible, while minimizing their learning curve. The following is a list of functions within the invoicing window, and how a typical transaction is carried out: F1 key - Help As in other parts of the system, online help is available in the invoicing area. F2 key - New Invoice (abbreviated "NewInv") The New Invoice function allows the user to enter a new invoice. Upon striking the "F2" key, a popup window appears prompting the user for an Account Number. In the future, CRIS will provide a feature for printing account cards for customers with barcodes. Their account number will then be scanned from their card, and name, address, etc. will be filled in automatically. If the customer does not know their account number, or is a new customer, the user may enter their name, address, etc., in the following fields. This information will then be added to the Accounts database, which will be useful for printing mailing lists or other information later on. The Tax Exemption Number is one of the most important fields within this window. Entering a number here will designate this invoice as a sales tax-free invoice. The Terms field may or may not be filled in, depending on your particular uses of the CRIS program. The Credit Card information area may be useful in the event of a returned item. The In-House charge area allows the user to have invoices billed to a house account. This account information may be tracked be running reports, and will be added to in later releases of the software. The last feature of this window is the "F2 - Accounts" key. By hitting the F2 key, the user is instantly able to pick out an account from the accounts list and fill in the entire screen. This windows, of course, applies only to previous customers. Hitting Return or Escape will return the user to the invoicing screen. Upon returning to the invoicing screen, the user is able to enter comments, salesperson initials (or numbers), and an invoice date. After entering this information, the first part of creating an invoice is complete! F3 key - Edit Invoice (abbreviated "EdInv") The Edit Invoice command allows the user to edit most information entered in the New Invoice screen, including Name, Address, Tax Exemption Number, Terms, Charge Account information, Comments, Invoice Date, and Salesperson data. F4 key - Delete Invoice (abbreviated "DelInv") The Delete Invoice command will delete an invoice and all its parts from the system. These items WILL NOT be put back into inventory. F5 key - Find Invoice (abbreviated "Find") The Find Invoice command allows the user to quickly jump to a particular invoice number. This command assumes you are done with the current invoice, so it will not let you edit it if you return later. F6 key - Tender The Tender command should be the last command used (before printing) of the invoicing process. The tender command tells the CRIS system how the customer paid (Cash, Check, Charge, or In-House Charge), the Amount they paid, and any discount they may receive from the purchase price. The tender command will also tell the salesperson what the correct change should be from the cash drawer. After running the tender command, NO ITEMS ON THE INVOICE MAY BE ALTERED. F7 key - Print Invoice (abbreviated "Print") The Print Invoice command should be the final phase of the invoicing process. This command looks at settings you have made in your Company Setup Screen, such as printer type and transaction type, and prints your invoice accordingly. For people experiencing slow printing, they may wish to shut off the "shading" option in the Company Setup Screen. This will remove the pretty (but slow) shading from your invoices. F8 key - Add Part (abbreviated "AdPt") The Add Part command allows the user to enter a new item on the invoice form. Upon hitting the "F8" key, a new line appears on the invoice. At this time, the user must enter a quantity and part number of an item. If this item is found in stock, the remaining fields will be filled in automatically. If it is not, the item is assumed to be a special order item, so the Code, Description, and Unit Price must be entered manually. F9 key - Edit Part (abbreviated "EdPt") The Edit Part command allows the user to change any information on a previously entered item. The Edit Part command will affect the field the cursor is currently positioned over. On occasion, the user may notice a popup window requesting clarification as to which part they are editing. This is important for some stores which have many different parts with the same part number. It is important the system knows which part is currently being edited. In the event this window appears, highlight the vendor's name and description that correspond to the part in question. F10 key - Delete Part (abbreviated "DlPt") The Delete Part command removes a line item from the invoice. It is important to note that this item is not automatically returned to inventory. Alt-P key - Previous Invoice (abbreviated "Prv") The Previous Invoice command, accessed with the Alt-P key combination, allows the salesperson to jump to the previous invoice in the system. For example, if the current invoice is number ten, the salesperson jumps to number nine, as long as number nine hasn't been deleted. It is important to note that this command assumes you are finished with the current invoice; the current invoice may not be edited if you return to it at a later time. Alt-N key - Next Invoice (abbreviated "Nxt") The Next Invoice command allows the user to jump to the next invoice in the CRIS system. This command is usually used with the "F5 - Find" command and the "Alt-P Previous Invoice" command to view earlier invoices. It is important to note that the Next Invoice command assumes you are done with the current one, and will not let you make changes if you return to it. Esc-Return As in other parts of the CRIS system, the Escape key returns the user to the previous menu. The Invoicing Process: Generally, there are 6 steps to creating an invoice: 1) F2 - New Invoice: The allows the user to add the next invoice form. 2) F3 - Edit Invoice: This allows the user to change any mistakes they may have made in step one. 3) F8 - Add Part: This allows the user to add an item a customer wishes to purchase. This step may be repeated several times. 4) F9 - Edit Part: This step allows the user to correct any mistakes they may have made in step 3. 5) F6 - Tender: This step requires that the salesperson take payment from the customer, and record any discounts. 6) F7 - Print: This step involves printing the finished invoice. Vendors The CRIS system provides a simple method of entering purchase orders and vendor information. It is our intention of increasing the features of this area should demand dictate. The Vendors submenu from the Main Menu provides an easy way of keeping track of vendors. The user will feel comfortable using this area, for its closely resembles the Accounts submenu. Upon selecting this option from the Main Menu, a popup window will request "What vendor do you wish to find?" This question should be answered with either a carraige return to view the whole account list or the first several letters of a company name. The company name retrieval option will filter out any companies' names that do not fit the entered criteria. After striking a return, the user is presented with a vendor data screen. This data screen contains a great deal of information which will allow the user to setup and maintain a vendor list. At this point, the user has several options depending on the number of vendors found either in this search or in the database itself. The user may stike Alt-A to Add a Vendor, Alt-E to Edit a Vendor, or the Delete key to remove the company from the system. The Return key brings the user into the purchase order area for that particular company. Escape returns the user to the Main Menu. The Vendors data screen requests the Vendor's name, address, phone and fax numbers, a contact name, and terms. You may use the arrow or enter/return keys to move through the fields. When you are finished adding data, you may hit carraige returns to the bottom of the screen, or the Escape key. Purchase Orders The Purchase Orders screen closely resembles the looks and functionality of the Invoicing screen. The following is a list of functions within the purchasing window, and how a typical purchase order is generated: F1 key - Help As in other parts of the system, online help is available in the purchase orders area. F2 key - New Purchase Order (abbreviated "NewPO") The New Invoice function allows the user to enter a new purchase order. Unlike the invoicing screen, the user has already selected the company the items will be purchased from. So, there is no popup window. The user may enter enter comments, a purchase order date, modify their default terms, give special shipping instructions, or enter the cost of shipping the order. After entering this information, the first part of creating an invoice is complete! F3 key - Edit Purchase Order (abbreviated "EdPO") The Edit Purchase Order command allows the user to edit the information entered in the New PO screen. F4 key - Delete Purchase Order (abbreviated "DelPO") The Delete Purchase Order command will delete a PO and all its items. F5 key - Find Purchase Order (abbreviated "Find") The Find Invoice command allows the user to quickly jump to a particular PO number. F6 key - Print Purchase Order (abbreviated "Print") The Print Purchase Order command should be the final phase of the PO process. This command looks at settings you have made in your Company Setup Screen, such as printer type and transaction type, and prints your PO accordingly. For people experiencing slow printing, they may wish to shut off the "shading" option in the Company Setup Screen. This will remove the pretty (but slow) shading from your purchase orders. F7 key - Add Part (abbreviated "AdPt") The Add Part command allows the user to enter a new item on the PO form. Upon hitting the "F7" key, a new line appears on the PO. At this time, the user must enter a quantity, part number, description, and unit price of an item. F8 key - Edit Part (abbreviated "EdPt") The Edit Part command allows the user to change any information on a previously entered item. The Edit Part command will affect the field the cursor is currently positioned over. F9 key - Delete Part (abbreviated "DlPt") The Delete Part command removes a line item from the purchase order. Alt-P key - Previous Purchase Order (abbreviated "Prv") The Previous PO command, accessed with the Alt-P key combination, allows the user to jump to the previous PO for that company in the system. Alt-N key - Next Invoice (abbreviated "Nxt") The Next PO command allows the user to jump to the next PO for the current company in the CRIS system. This command is usually used with the "F5 - Find" command and the "Alt-P Previous PO" command to view earlier purchase orders. Esc-Return As in other parts of the CRIS system, the Escape key returns the user to the previous menu. The Purchasing Process: Generally, there are 5 steps to creating a Purchase Order: 1) F2 - New PO: The allows the user to add the next PO form. 2) F3 - Edit PO: This allows the user to change any mistakes they may have made in step one. 3) F8 - Add Part: This allows the user to add an item the user wishes to purchase. This step may be repeated several times. 4) F9 - Edit Part: This step allows the user to correct any mistakes they may have made in step 3. 5) F7 - Print: This step involves printing the finished PO. Setup Company The Setup Company command from the CRIS Main Menu allows the user to modify information they entered when originally installing the package. This includes Company Name, Address, Phone Numbers, Tax Rates, and other options. You may wish to review the section marked "Add Company" for more information about this area. Utilities The Utilities submenu allows the user to do various maintenance work on the CRIS system. This includes packing databases (which doesn't always get done on a network), deleting temporary files, and year-old invoices. Pack Databases This command removes records marked for deletion from the CRIS database system. Delete Temporary Files This command removes all TM*.* files from the CRIS subdirectory. This command should be used sparingly in a networked environment. Delete Year-Old Records This command will remove all old invoices (greater than 1 year old) from the database system. Networking The CRIS software package was programmed in Clipper Release 5.01. Clipper provides extensive record and file locking features which have been implemented in this system. The following are a few notes I have on networking the CRIS product: The MAIN.EXE file must be marked as Read Only in a Netbios network such as Lantastic, or Read-Only/Sharable in a Novell environment. The CRIS system will try to perform a file lock on databases when any type of delete transaction is performed. It is important to do most of your deletions in off-times so that the pack sequences may be processed successfully. Many of the networking features of CRIS were used from other networkable software developed for our wide customer base (many of whom use networks daily). However, CRIS 3.0 specifically has not been fully tested in a networked environment. If you decide to network the CRIS system, and have problems with it, please contact us with the particular area the error took place. It is important to remember that being networkable does not necessarily give you the right to let everyone use the software on their workstation. It is necessary to contact Computech to obtain a site license for this product. If you have any other networking questions, or need to purchase a network, please contact us. We are Novell Authorized Resellers, and pride ourselves on unique solutions to customer's needs. For the Record Company Names used within the system are trademarks of their respective owners. Computech is a registered tradename in the State of Wisconsin.