Elliott Business Software Version 7.0

Transcription

1 4-1 Elliott Business Software Version 7.0 Executive Summary Elliott Business Software from Netcellent, Inc. provides superior value in a multi-user, multi-company integrated accounting and distribution system. Elliott Business Software is based upon Macola s award winning technologies used by thousands of companies worldwide. Introduced in April 1999, Netcellent s Elliott product incorporates over 200 enhancements to the Macola Version 6.0 product line as well as providing an enhanced Windows interface. Elliott s aggressive and competitive pricing model, which is based upon number of seats instead of per module pricing, makes Elliott an extremely cost-effective business system solution without the compromises normally associated with lower-priced systems. Elliott is sold and supported by a dealer network. Support plans are also available directly from Netcellent for ongoing technical support after the initial implementation. Netcellent is making the Microsoft.NET platform the cornerstone of its future development strategy. Elliott s Shopping Cart module provides Internet connectivity to the Elliott back office modules. Active X components are used to provide the business logic for Internet applications to communicate with Elliott. Significant features provided by Elliott include: Attribute Maintenance allows categorization of data fin Elliott according to user specifications. This innovative tool provides an easy method for end users to expand the functionality of their system without programming. Attributes are accessible by the Mass utility allowing targeted mailing based on userdefined criteria. On-line inquiries may also be filtered using the attributes assigned to data files. Shipping Verification provides support for package level detail in the shipping function and produces UCC-128 labels as required by major retailers. Customer Wish List allows customers to request notification automatically of availability when they place an order for an out of stock item. Remote Sales Order Taking allows Order Entry on a Palm with automatic upload to Elliott Version 7.0 Built-in capability to send reports, and documents. Extensive note capability allows notes to be attached to master files throughout the system. These notes can then be attached to documents according to userdefined parameters. Includes tickler system for assigning and tracking tasks. Notes are powerful enough to provide CRM capability within Elliott. Links provide a method of attaching documents to records in the main master files. Documents can be Word, Excel, PDF, Images, HTML, etc. A button on the toolbar will provide access to the linked files. Event management/triggers. Significant system events such as customer exceeding credit limit, item going negative, price override in Order Entry can now be set up to be monitored by the system. The user can define the action to be taken when a trigger goes off such as send an or run a specified program. More triggers are added on a regular basis helping to promote more proactive management than waiting for reports. Multiple user-defined search criteria for on-line lookup of customers, vendors, inventory items. Order Acknowledgements and Shipping Acknowledgements can now be automatically ed. Mass s are supported using the new econtact function. User-defined filters can be applied to allow targeted ing. Enhanced customer account inquiry with the ability to drill-down to supporting invoice detail. System period enhancement to control entry of transactions to other than current period. Ability to archive closed open items in Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable. Design-Your-Own-Form feature which allows users to have multiple document formats and to customize those document formats. Sophisticated Salesman Commission Enhancement providing unmatched control over the calculation of commissions. Sales Desk in Order Entry allows each site to customize their Order Entry Screen for streamlined order taking and tracking of outstanding quotes. Additional inquiry capabilities have been added to this function since the last review. Requisition sub-system in Purchase Orders allows purchase requisitions to be automatically generated from Customer Order Processing for out-of-stock conditions. Landed Cost Tracking Enhanced Inventory Inquiry providing improved visibility to demands and replenishments. Receivings Accrual Reconciliation sub-system provides detailed backup to the General Ledger Receivings

2 4-2 Accrual Account Contract Pricing Automatic Credit Memo from Invoice History PO Creation from Sales Order Entry Windows interface supports both Windows standard navigation (TAB key, mouse) and traditional DOS navigation (ENTER key). Modules System Manager General Ledger Accounts Payable Accounts Receivable Bank Book ** NEW ** Payroll Inventory Control Sales Order Entry/Invoicing Point of Sale Purchase Order Processing Bill of Materials/Production Orders Multi-Bin for Inventory Apparel Shipping Verification Sales Order Export Utility Sales Order Import Utility EDI The Windows interface allows a user to have up to 5 open windows simultaneously without using up licenses, which further enhances usability. One drawback remains even in the Windows interface in that the user must choose to Add, Change or Delete information before entering the body of a screen and cannot use the standard Windows buttons, such as an X for delete to delete records. The necessity to escape out of the screen, select a different file function and return to the screen is outdated and cumbersome. Elliott DOS Order Inquiry Screen Netcellent has aligned itself with the industry leaders of other third party applications that address such important areas as bar-coding, advanced sales tax reporting, shipping manifest, etc. Current partnerships include: F9 from Synex for Financial Reporting StarShip from V-Technologies for shipping Vertex for nationwide sales tax collection and reporting Elliott is suited for wholesalers, distributors, service companies, and light manufacturers. The economical pricing model brings a new level of power to smaller companies, while the wide array of features and scalability makes Elliott an excellent choice for larger companies as well. System Manager Because Elliott provides both a GUI and a characterbased interface, the end-user can choose the environment with which they are most comfortable. The two interfaces are functionally equivalent, and information is presented in the same sequence and screen position in both interfaces. However, new features such as event handling, econtacts and Attributes require the Windows platform. Elliott Windows Order Inquiry Screen On-line help is in the process of being totally rewritten. The new help files which are available appear to be a welcome improvement over the old, much maligned Macola on-line help. Extensive lookups and drill downs are available throughout the system. Each company can define up to 5 alternate lookup fields for customers, vendors and inventory items to assist in locating the desired record.

3 4-3 Some fields are validated but lack screen lookups. For example, the Customer Type is validated in Price Code Maintenance, but a lookup window is not provided. The user then either needs to exit the window and lookup valid codes or print a list prior to performing Price Code Maintenance. All validated fields should have lookup windows provided consistently throughout the system. User-defined notes can be created throughout the system. The Note function provides tremendous flexibility and allows the user to expand the system in many creative ways to make routine tasks easier. Notes can be assigned note types allowing the user to control the behavior of each note type separately. Notes can be used for internal purposes only to provide information about the customer, vendor or item related to the note, or to provide general information to operators about system functions. Examples of widely used applications for the note function are to store routings for manufactured items, product specifications for purchased items, hazardous material data sheets and credit history for customers. The user can also control on which documents notes will print, whether the notes can be overridden, and who has access to the notes. The tickler feature of the notes function allows users to define task lists with follow-up dates. Supervisor can assign tasks to other users. There is an alarm feature which will alert the user when a tickler item requires attention. Ticklers can also be used by supervisors to assign tasks to their employees with automatic reminders and provide follow-up reports for tracking status of tasks. New to Elliott Version 7.0 is the ability to link external documents directly to customers, vendors, and inventory items. The documents can be in any format such as, but not limited to Word, Excel, HTML. The documents are accessed through a button on the toolbar and are available anywhere the master file record is accessible in the system. Reports can be printed directly, viewed on the screen, saved to the disk, or ed. Saved reports can then be viewed or printed. Viewed reports are displayed using either Notepad or Wordpad depending upon the size of the report. Reports can be viewed for a specific operator or for all operators(assuming proper security clearance). Reports can be defined and deferred for printing at a later time. Elliott has the ability to store the last print option for each report for each user, essentially learning each user s printing preferences. Reports can also be archived at user-defined intervals to user-specified folders providing the ability to reprint journals at any time and helping to provide a true paperless office. The Security system has been revamped for Elliott Version 7.0. It still is a traditional menu level security scheme, but provides more flexibility when defining supervisor capabilities. Relationships can be set up between employees which provides for group type security. A Macro feature allows users to record keystrokes for later playback. Macros are either external, meaning they call an application outside Elliott such as a word processor and pass data to the application, or internal, meaning the keystrokes are executed wholly within Elliott. Technical Foundation Elliott runs on several operating systems including Microsoft Windows (Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, Windows NT). Like most network-based business systems, Windows XP Home is not supported. Supported network platforms include Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0, Novell, LAN Manager, and other Net- BIOS compatible networks. Elliott Version 7.0 now requires Pervasive SQL Source code for Elliott is available from Netcellent at an additional charge if needed. Pervasive SQL 2000 provides ODBC capability Support and Documentation Elliott s manuals have been replaced by completely rewritten on-line help files and PDF manuals which can be printed by the user. The new manuals are a welcome improvement over the previous version s documentation. Support is available through Elliott s dealer network and Netcellent offers a variety of direct phone support plans. Netcellent does not include any on-line tutorials or workbooks, but does include a good sample database, allowing users to familiarize themselves with the system's functionality during the implementation phase. There is a 15% annual license fee, which entitles each site to product updates and major releases, keeping users of the software current on the most recent release. General Ledger Each account can have up to a 15-character account number with up to 3 segments Each account may have up to 99 budgets per year. Budgets may be copied and budget-to-budget reportsf can be defined. Strong financial report writer provides for flexible financial statement formatting and reporting. Job numbers can be specified for each entry.

4 4-4 Can open new year before closing prior year. Can post to any period no hard period close. No default Chart of Accounts Does not support encumbrance accounting Does not include standard financial statements, which must be created by the user. Does not allow an account to be designated inactive. Columns cannot be set up to provide departmental comparisons. Accounting period structures supported include monthly, quarterly, 13 4-week periods, or the user can define a custom financial year. Account numbers can be up to 15 characters. Up to 3 segments can be defined, with a segment maximum of 8 characters. Account numbers can be alphanumeric. The account number structure is main account-profit centerdepartment. Financial entities allow grouping by profit center/department combinations. The entities do not need to be comprised of contiguous codes. Accounts may be set up with Auto Distribution codes to automate allocation of entries to departments or divisions. Ratio codes may be defined for each account enabling management reports showing basic business ratios such as Current Ratio, Quick Ratio, A/R to A/P Ratio, Return on Asset Ratio, Profit Margin on Sales Ratio, Return on Net Worth Ratio, etc. These ratios can also be represented graphically. Companies with many GL entries appreciate the counterbalance account feature. Automatic reversing accrual entries may be made. These entries must have a predefined source code of ACCRUE, which some users may find restrictive. Transaction Entry Elliott s General Ledger module supports entry of regular journal entries, recurring journal entries and accepts entries from the Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and Inventory modules. Sales and Cost of Goods Sold entries from the Customer Order Processing module flow through the Accounts Receivable module. Purchase Order receiving entries flow through the Inventory module. Elliott s General Ledger is transaction-date driven. Posting to prior periods is permitted as defined by the system supervisor. Out of balance is allowed for special circumstances, but can be disabled by the system supervisor. Audit Trails Every posting throughout the Elliott system that impacts General Ledger is assigned a unique journal code that follows each transaction from the source journal all the way through to the General Ledger providing traceability of all transactions. A history summary file is maintained by the system providing batch totals for further security. Inquiry/Reporting On screen inquiry for GL accounts is convenient. The user can specify an account number and a date range for the inquiry. The trial balance can be printed in either account number or profit center sequence and account number, profit center, date and financial entity ranges may be selected. Subtotals can be printed by date or month. A Chart of Accounts can be printed by number or name. A source cross-reference report is useful for tracking down all pieces of a transaction. Detail compression can be defined for each account. Accounts can be compressed by day, by period, by source by day, by source within period or no compression. The user controls the timing of detail compression. Budgets and Comparatives Elliott allows budgets for unlimited years with up to 99 revisions per year per account. Comparative data can also be stored for an unlimited number of years. Comparative data is only stored in summary, transaction detail is purged during the year end process. If detail for prior years is required, it is easy to set up a separate company to retain prior year detail. The financial report writer is powerful enough to generate most financial statements required by the average company. Setting up financial statements, as in most systems, is cumbersome and tedious, but allows a great degree of control and flexibility. Accounts need not be defined consecutively in the layout and ranges can be defined to minimize future maintenance. Up to 13 columns can be defined. Layouts can be copied to help

5 4-5 in the creation of report definitions. Shortcomings include the inability to print account numbers on financial statements and the inability to define columns by department or division. Cash flow reports are generated automatically provided the accounts have been correctly categorized in account setup. Accounts Receivable continually updated during cash receipts entry. Elliott has the ability to enter chargebacks during cash receipts entry, a feature much appreciated by companies dealing with retail customers and chain stores. Write-offs during cash receipts are also allowed. An Open Invoice Worksheet can be printed prior to Cash Receipts Entry to help streamline data entry. A special Credit Card Processing function is newly available as part of the Cash Receipts function to streamline the credit card application process. Can produce invoices with or without Inventory Control Historical aging report for any date Flexible invoice formatting Flexible AR Aging Report Convenient cash receipts entry Well-designed account inquiry with drill-down to invoice detail Can archive paid open items Credit Card processing is a new function of Cash Receipts Cannot maintain Commission Due file No support for lockboxes Files The customer file in Elliott is comprehensive containing not only standard name, address, phone and other static information, but many fields for credit management (see screen below). Using Elliott s extensive note system, credit contact notes and tickler notes for credit follow-up are easily maintained. Notes may also de defined to store shipping notes, packing notes, sales contact notes, etc. There are also 7 user-definable fields available for storing additional structured information. Transactions Transaction types include sales, credits, debit memos, finance charges and payments. If the Customer Order Processing module is not implemented, invoices can be generated in Accounts Receivable (although Inventory will not be updated). Alternatively, invoices generated from a system other than Elliott can be recorded after the fact. If the Customer Order Processing module has been implemented, invoices are automatically transferred from COP to Accounts Receivable and the AR module is then used primarily for Cash Receipts and reporting. The Cash Receipts function is well-designed and easy to use. Payments can be applied against a specific invoice, a range of invoices, oldest invoices or on account. A popup window displaying unpaid invoices is available and is Inquiry/Reports Customer Account Inquiry shows Credit Summary information and allows the display of all transactions or just open transactions. Transactions can be displayed in chronological order or with invoices and payments matched up. A drill-down feature to show all details pertinent to displayed invoices is available. Another feature is the ability to group all invoices paid by a specific check. An inquiry screen summarizing open items by invoice number is another choice. Aging Analysis reports can be run with many different options to provide different information. Summary vs. detail, credit balance customers only, past due customers only, in number or name sequence. Aging reports can be run as of any date even if invoices or cash receipts have been posted since the request date. Commission due reports can be run based upon invoice or cash receipts. A nice feature would be the ability to exclude invoices paid more than a user-defined number of days past the due date. There is no facility in the system to edit the Commissions Due file to make adjustments. The Sales Tax Liability report allows entry of sales tax codes by zip code and will validate the sales tax code in the Customer Master file whenever a new invoice or order

6 4-6 is entered and will optionally update the master file with the correct codes. Customer statements may be printed on demand with the ability to filter output by statement code, balance etc. Lists of all master files and supporting files are available. Processing Features Paid open items can be archived to a history file and viewed on screen. Drill down to invoice detail of archived items is available. Accounts Payable Invoices can be easily matched against Receivings and Purchase Orders. Invoices may be run through approval process prior to update. Cash payment process well-designed Can add vendors and GL account numbers on the fly Receiving accrual reconciliation sub-system Can drill down to distribution detail on vouchers during Payment Review No quick check print feature No terms code table Files System control files include the ability to designate multiple checking and accounts payable accounts, and whether check reconciliation or tracking by job is needed. The vendor master file includes basic demographic data as well as purchase order options. A vendor can be set up with pre-defined General Ledger distributions that can be overridden during voucher entry. Vendors can be flagged as on hold, no purchases or normal. Seven user-defined fields are available. In addition, the note function permits the entry of user-definable unlimited notes about each vendor categorized into user-defined types. Vendors can also be assigned to a remit-to vendor for printing checks to a factor or other third party. Transaction Entry Invoice entry uses the voucher method, whereby a unique identifying number is assigned to each transaction. Invoice entry is straightforward with the system checking for duplicate invoices for each vendor to prevent duplicate payments. Invoices may be separated into batches and each batch reviewed and posted individually. Once posted, invoice due date, discount date, discount amount and general ledger distributions can be changed. Recurring vouchers can be set up with start and end dates. Invoices may be optionally matched up against Purchase Order Receiving detail to validate receipt of items being invoiced. A detailed Receiving Accrual Reconciliation file is generated to assist in reconciling the Receiving Accrual balance in the General Ledger. Manual checks can be entered which pay existing invoices on file. Prepaid checks can be entered which create the voucher and the payment in one step. Using due dates and vendor ranges, invoices can be flagged for payment with a minimum of data entry or invoices can be individually selected for payment. A Cash Requirements Report is helpful in the identification of parameters for payment. Once invoices have been selected for payment, a Pre-Check Writing Report can be run to verify the choices before checks are printed. Alternatively, the new Pre-Check Review allows the user to review selected payments on-line. A great feature of the Pre-Check review is the ability to drill down to the original GL distributions. The Pre-Check Review can be used to interactively select or defer invoices for payment. Checks can be printed on either continuous form or laser checks and the formats are customizable. If there is a problem during the printing of checks, the run can be restarted at any point and misprinted checks will be automatically voided. Checks can be voided and any invoices paid are automatically reinstated. Check reconciliation is performed in the Accounts Payable module. The reconciliation feature assumes that all deposits were made intact and only allows flagging checks as cleared/uncleared. Checks need to be cleared one at a time; there is no range function. A Bank Book module in development should address these issues. Paid items can be archived to an open item history file which can retained as long as the user chooses. Inquiry/Reports On line inquiry of Vendor Accounts allows the display of unpaid invoices only or all invoices. A starting voucher number can also be specified. These functions are available for archived invoices also. Aging reports can be run for ranges of vendors for any date based upon invoice or due date. This report can be set up to ignore transactions after a cutoff date in order to see the balances as of any date. Vendor analysis reports can be generated to monitor Vendor Performance and Purchase Statistics. Distribution to General Ledger produces a Purchases Journal and a Cash Disbursements Journal. The Distribution report has

7 4-7 been enhanced to allow specification of ranges of vendors, invoice numbers, voucher dates and GL account numbers, making it a powerful management tool. NETcellent should consider adding these same types of ranges to the GL distribution reports in the AR and Inventory modules. Check history report lists checks with ranges specified and associated invoices as well as the GL distributions of those invoices. Inventory Control When creating new item, can copy data from any existing item which simplifies and speeds up inventory item setup Comprehensive inquiry capabilities with drill-down Full physical count processing built-in Comprehensive note tracking. Notes can be tied to orders, receiving, dangerous goods notices, production, etc. Lot / Serial flag is company wide defined. Cannot have both lot and serialized items. Costing is global, not maintained by warehouse Cost changes don t generate entry to General Ledger Files A prerequisite to any good distribution or manufacturing package is a strong Inventory Control Module. The Elliott Inventory Control Module is outstanding for single or multiple locations. If multiple bins per item are required, a multiple bin module is available at extra cost. The Item Master File is comprehensive, and plays a major role in determining how items are treated in both manufacturing and distribution. It includes production information such as buying rules, time fences, manufacturing and planning lead times, gross requirements rules, part type, kit type, whether the item is lot or serial traceable, and whether the item is a Master Schedule item. The Item File also retains the primary stocking location for each item, as well as min, max, safety stock, unit cost and landed cost. The item number can be up to 15 characters and alphanumeric. Average, last and standard costs are supported. Three different units of measure can be defined for each inventory item, allowing the item to be stocked, sold and purchased in different units of measure with the system automatically converting quantities based upon these units of measure. Kit items are supported as well as a more sophisticated feature/option bill of materials which allows a product to be configured or customized during Order Entry. Different note types can be defined for inventory items, controlling where the notes print out or are displayed. These notes are available to print on the appropriate documents. For example, the purchase order note can automatically print on any purchase order for that item. This is an excellent tool for providing additional information to customers, vendors, shipping/receiving and manufacturing personnel. Elliott allows the user to establish a general ledger code for each material type by location. The Inventory module includes a comprehensive Physical/Cycle Count system. Part numbers can be selected for counting by location, ranges of items or cycle count code. Inventory balances can be frozen permitting regular daily processing to proceed while the physical inventory reconciliation process is performed. Several variance reports are available, as well as the ability to confirm or cancel the count. Elliott creates a transaction for all adjustments, and generates a posting to the General Ledger based upon the frozen count. Transactions Most transactions to the Inventory will be generated through either Work Orders in the Bill of Material module, receiving in Purchase Orders, and sales in the Customer Order Processing module. Any other transactions such as adjustments, transfers between warehouses or other miscellaneous transactions are performed in Inventory Transaction Processing. The Inventory Transfer screen was recently changed to provide greater efficiency. General Ledger distributions for Inventory transactions are displayed based upon Item setup and can be overridden. All transactions, regardless of their source, are recorded in the Inventory Transaction Audit Trail File, allowing detailed history of each item tracked. The Future Price Code Update allows export to an Excel file for manipulation and import back in when the price change is effective. Inquiry/Reporting The on-screen inquiry capability is very strong. A summary screen for an item shows the quantity on hand, available, allocated, on backorder for each location. From this screen, the user can drill down to the Available to Promise Screen which will display a chronological list of

8 4-8 demand and replenishments which can be helpful in determining when an item can be shipped or needs to be replenished. If an item needs to be manufactured before shipment, another drill down can be accessed which shows the availability of components required. If substitute items have been defined, yet another drill down displays substitute item choices. Available reports include a Stock Status Report, Usage Exception Report, ABC analysis and Reorder Report. The Stock Status Report can be run in a variety of sequences. The Stock Status Report by GL Account Code is particularly useful in reconciling the inventory to the General Ledger. The ABC Report shows inventory in descending order and categorized into three user-defined percentage groupings. The rankings can be based on YTD Usage, Sales, Cost of Sales or Margin. To assist with kit items, there are two reports a Kit Where Used report detailing all kits an item is used in, and a Kit Gross Requirements Report. By entering a required quantity of a kit parent, this report will list all kit components, and the quantities of each required, on-hand, allocated, backordered, on order, available and out of stock. Customer Order Processing Rapid data-entry capabilities for quotes and orders Sales Desk allows customization of which fields are presented to the user and the sequence of those fields. This allows each company to optimize the order entry screen for their environment. Flexible formatting of orders and invoices which can beseigned to print on plain paper. Multiple formats can be saved. Default formats can be stored for customers. Documents can be ed or faxed directly from Elliott. RMA Tracking Included Sales Analysis and Reporting included Comprehensive, flexible pricing and commission calculation. Future price maintenance with export to and import from Excel. Can create requisition or Purchase Order for out of stock item during Order Entry. Supports consolidation of multiple orders into a single picking slip increasing efficiency in the warehouse Shipping verification option provides pick and pack capability as well as the ability to print UCC-128 labels. Elliott's Sales Order module provides extensive functionality from order entry through order fulfillment. There are several types of orders allowed, including a traditional two step Sales Order, a one step, immediate Invoice, Blanket Orders, Credit Memos, Returns and Quotes. The Blanket Order accommodates multiple ship dates either for the same or different items. The new Sales Desk is designed for high-speed quote and order data entry. The screens can be easily customized to ask for quote and order information according to the user s environment. Quotes can be quickly converted to orders or retained for future tracking and inquiry. Quotes may be entered without having to specify all of the customer details, which can be provided when the quote becomes an order. Orders are entered on a multi-line item entry screen, with a scrolling window displaying all line-items in a tabular fashion. An optional apparel add-on provides the capability of entering orders using a grid organized by size by style. Special picking tickets grouping items by size by style are also available for the apparel enhancement. Multiple ship-to choices per customer are supported. Alternatively, a master account/sub account structure is supported. The master/sub account feature allows the user to link multiple customer master records to a "master" customer master record for billing purposes. Having separate master records for each shipping destination allows the user to retain more detailed information than is kept in the ship-to file. When an invoice is printed for a sub-account, the history is retained by the sub-account, but the open item is attached to the master account for cash receipts, statement and aging purposes. Each order can be split among up to 3 salespeople. The split is based upon the total order, not line item by line item. Commissions can be calculated using an extremely powerful Sales Commission matrix similar to, but more even extensive than the Price Code matrix.

9 4-9 Orders can be created by copying existing orders, whether from the same customer or a different customer. The order can then be edited minimizing repetitive data entry. Picking tickets can be printed immediately or in batch mode. The tickets are customizable using the Design- Your-Own-Order feature or Laser forms. Laser forms can print bar codes. Multiple picking tickets formats can be saved. Multiple Packing Lists and Invoices can also be designed and saved. WAVE picking is also available. Shipping Verification uses barcode scanners to verify the product being packed. As the items are scanned the order is updated with the actual items shipped. Any invalid item for the order causes an immediate alert. Any overshipment also causes an immediate alert. A UCC-128 label can then be printed to apply to the carton. A Bill of Lading can also be printed. Pricing can be based upon the whole order or on a line-byline basis. A powerful hierarchical price matrix can be defined based upon the user s priorities. Depending upon the price code, pricing can be either discount or markup by percent or fixed amount, or a fixed price. Quantity breaks are also supported. During order entry, customers may be added on the fly. The user can maintain extensive notes on-line against the customer and the order. Notes against the customer can print out on the aging report. Notes can be defined to copy from the customer and/or item files automatically and printing on Order Entry documents can also be defined. A comprehensive Credit History window displays credit, sales and payment information during Order Entry. Elliott will check credit against the customer's credit limit, credit terms, or both, and will require credit authority to release the order from a hold status. Credit limit checking is performed after each new line item is added. Order entry includes a customer/item cross reference that maintains each customer's part number against each internal item, and allows the use of either during order entry. During line item entry, there is on-line inquiry for quantities on-hand, on order, on backorder, and available by stocking location. It will also show all purchase orders and work orders the item appears on, with quantities, due dates and commitment status. Plus there is information on alternate items, existing sales orders for an item, and Available-To- Promise, invoice history by item or by customer. During line item entry, if an item is a purchased item and the quantity to ship exceeds the quantity available, the operator can optionally create a purchase requisition for the item automatically. The purchasing agent can then review it, select a vendor, shop for a price, etc. and then have the system generate a PO once the requisition has been confirmed. An order audit file captures all activity of the order entry function allowing the creation of Booking Reports, Lost Sales Reports, etc. Product Configurator The Sales Order Feature/Option function was created to address the needs of assemble-to-order manufacturers whose products are comprised of multiple combinations of predefined components and subassemblies. Configured items, referred to as Feature/Option Items are maintained in the Bill of Material module. The operator can select each appropriate option. When each option has been selected, a price can optionally be calculated and then the order can be transferred into the Bill of Material module where a work order is generated triggering the production of the required item. Billing Line items are billed either by billing the entire order, specified line items, or all items except those specified. After selecting line items, miscellaneous charges, tax freight and comment lines can be added to complete the invoice. If StarShip from V-Technologies is used, the freight amount can be automatically updated by StarShip. The new Shipping Verification module provides even greater efficiencies. Invoices are then printed. Invoices can be printed on continuous forms or laser forms. Multiple invoice formats can be defined. If there is a problem during invoice printing, the print process can be restarted. Invoices can be reprinted at any time. Purging of Order and Invoice History files is performed as user requires. A Bill of Lading can be produced. Backorders Backorders can be filled in two ways - by manually designating when a line item on an order can be shipped, or by taking advantage of the on-line Backorder Fill program. If the automatic option is chosen, the computer will fill orders until all are filled or the available quantity is exhausted. Selecting the manual option requires entry of the order to be filled and the quantity to fill. This immediately updates the quantity available, which is displayed on the screen. Reports include back orders for stocked items, non-stocked items, or all items, and open orders for non-stocked or all items.

10 4-10 Sales Analysis Sales history is maintained in detail for every line item billed and can be retained as long as desired. A bucketed Sales Analysis file is also maintained which provides Sales Analysis reports showing current period compared to same period last year, and year-to-date compared to last-year-to-date. Report sequences include by Customer, Product Category, Customer/Product Category, Salesperson, etc. Inquiry/Reporting On line inquiry in Customer Order Processing includes Customer Account Inquiry, Stock Status Inquiry, Order Inquiry, Invoice History Inquiry, Newly Received Item and Line Item Audit Inquiry. Each of these inquiry screens has extensive drill down and additional pop up windows providing quick and easy access to up-to-date relevant information. Inquiry is available through the View section of the Customer Order Processing Main Menu, the Order Header screen, the Order Line screen, and Order Billing screens. Purchase Order Entry Requisition system with price shopping Cross references can be established for vendor part numbers Receivings Accrual Reconciliation sub-system provides proof of GL Receivings Accrual Account or fax Purchase Order directly from Elliott. User defineable forms print on plain paper. No inspection process. Can t inquire on vendors inside the Purchase Order module. Can t inquire on stock status inside the Purchase Order module Awkward to delete PO s which have been printed The Purchase Order module includes requisition processing, purchase order entry and receiving. There are four types of orders: normal, drip ship, blanket and blanket releases. During line entry you can designate due date, job #, and general ledger account number by line item. Unlimited notes may be entered for both for the order header and for each item on the PO. Non-inventoried items, such as supplies and services may be placed on purchase orders During Purchase Order entry, vendors can be added "on the fly." Elliott has a Vendor/Item cross reference file allowing the user to maintain multiple vendors and vendor part numbers for each item. During order line entry, if a vendor part # is not already assigned, the operator can enter the vendor part # and the cross-reference file will be updated automatically. Modifying or canceling orders is easy until the time the orders are printed. After printing, the process is more difficult with cancellation or modification of items on purchase orders triggering the reprinting of purchase orders. Printed purchase cannot simply be deleted, they need to be canceled, printed and then purged. Requisitions The requisition process provides a convenient mechanism for grouping, reviewing and changing requests for product generated through Customer Order Processing and the Inventory Reorder Report. Requisition processing can optionally group multiple requests for an item into one requisition, changing the vendor, ship to and/or cost. The system can be set up so that users can only view their own requisitions and a supervisor for requisitions can be established. Once the purchasing agent confirms requisitions, they can be posted and become regular purchase orders. Receiving Receiving processing can be set up to interface or not with the General Ledger. The system can automatically display the next item not yet received on a purchase order during receiving processing which speeds up the entry process. A Mass PO Receiving function is available for PO s that are received in their entirety. Warnings are displayed if the receipt date is earlier than a specified scheduled date, the quantity differs from the quantity expected, or if the unit cost differs from the expected unit cost by a userdefined percentage. Inquiry/Reporting There is an excellent inquiry function that shows all existing purchase orders by item or by vendor. Inquiry by Item shows a line for each PO containing the item requested with the ability to drill down to the order itself. The presentation of Inquiry by Purchase Order allows the operator to scroll up and down a through a list of purchase orders displayed on the left side of the screen while the right side of the screen changes to reflect the items on the highlighted order. Once again the operator can drill down to see further detail on the order. The Purchasing module reports include Open POs by item or vendor and Scheduled Receipts by item, vendor or job. Report parameters include specifying the number of days late and buyer code. A Drop Ship report allows follow up for verification of shipment. The Vendor Performance

11 4-11 Analysis report shows average lead time, average days late, number of PO lines received late, percent of line items received with a cost variance, percent of lines received with rejects and percent of lines received late. The Cash Requirements Projection report includes four aging periods defined by the user at the time the report is run. It displays and ages all open PO line items to assist the finance function in planning future cash disbursements. Bill Of Materials Existing structures can be copied, reducing data entry Includes Work Order system Cannot modify quantities of components for backflushing when work orders are produced. Inventory cost updates require manual journal entry to keep inventory and GL synchronized Elliott s Bill of Material module allows you to maintain the relationship between items and their components. In addition, Work Orders for manufactured items can be created, reported against and tracked. Phantom items are supported enabling the reusability of common subassemblies. Files The Product Structure File contains the components that are related to each parent. New items can be created on the fly from within the Bill of Material module. Existing structures can be easily copied and then maintained, easing the data entry of new structures. A mass replace feature allows the fast replacement of an obsolete item throughout all structures. Each component has beginning and ending effectivity date, a 180 character reference designator (or comment), and a scrap percentage. The Feature/Option bill allows the creation of end items having multiple choices for each feature contained in the end item. Assuming the end item is a computer, possible features could include a disk drive, modem, memory and monitor. Options would be the size of the disk drive, speed of the modem, amount of memory and type of monitor. All possible choices would be set up in the Feature/Option maintenance. During Order Entry, the operator is then prompted for each feature in turn and selects the option the customer wants. The configured order can then be copied into the Bill of Material work order file and produced. Production Order Processing The Production Order Processing capability allows the entry of work orders for items to be produced. The work order allows entry of the quantity required, the due date of the order, a job number if applicable, the location for the production of the item and a comment. The work order is then printed which shows the quantities needed for all components of the required item, and allocates the components. When product is produced, the production can be recorded and the order flagged as closed. All components are relieved according to the Product Structure File. Discrepancies between the Product Structure File and actual usage must be separately recorded in the Inventory Module. Engineering Change Control Elliott allows the entry of changes to the Product Structure File to be maintained in an Engineering Change History File. The changes can be entered with an effectivity date and processed once approved. The history of changes can be printed until purged by the user. Inquiry/Reporting In addition to providing a Product Structure Inquiry, you can view either a single level or an indented Bill of Material. Feature/Options can also be viewed. The Production Schedule Report prints Open Work Orders for user-defined item #, date and location ranges. Single-level and Indented Bills of Material can be printed. A Costed Bill of Material can be printed and optionally update the calculated cost in the Inventory Item File. However, if the cost is updated, no entry to the General Ledger is generated so the user must be careful to note beginning and ending values and make a manual General Journal entry to ensure that the General Ledger and Inventory modules stay in sync. A Where-Used Report can identify either the next level or the end items in which a part # is used. The Gross Requirements Report can be used as a mini- MRP to identify shortages for a selected list and quantity of manufactured items.