Advanced Features Introduction

Transcription

1 Advanced Features Introduction Advanced Features for IBM i I/O DMAS Plus! From I/O International, Inc. Version: 1.08 Prepared by

2 Suite 2002 Pinewood Business Center Somers, New York The term IBM i refers to the IBM operating system under which DMAS operates. The IBM i operating system is available as an operating system on several models of IBM hardware. Since the operation of DMAS is primarily dependent on the operating system under which it functions, this document refers to the latest version of DMAS as IBM i DMAS. References in some DMAS manuals still refer to AS/400 DMAS, iseries/400 DMAS, etc. The current hardware on which DMAS can be installed and operated is no longer limited to a single IBM hardware box (i.e. iseries/400 ), but may be any one of several IBM hardware models as long as they can run the IBM i operating system. Telephone: (914) Fax: (914) I/O Support: support@iointernational.com I/O web site: File: +IO_DMAS_Plus_AdvFeatures.doc 12/15/2015 1:51:00 PM iseries 400 is a registered trade mark of International Business Machines Corporation DMAS is a trade mark of Infor (previously Agilisys, Aperum, Software Solutions, Inc.) IBM is a registered trade mark of International Business Machines Corporation Copyright I/O International, 2012, 2013, /15/2015 1:51 PM +IO_DMAS_Plus_AdvFeatures.doc Page ii

3 Contents Introduction... 4 Overview... 4 I/O DMAS Application Enhancements... 6 DMAS Billing... 6 Bar Code Assisted Picking and Replenishment... 6 Canned Comments in Order Entry... 6 Enhanced Shipping and Handling... 6 EDI Spreadsheet Order Processing *... 7 Expanded Credit Checking... 7 Item Features & Options... 7 Open Order Management... 7 Order Entry Customer Level Notes... 7 Order Entry Item Level Notes... 8 Purchase Order / Sales Order Interface *... 8 Shipping Management... 8 DMAS Accounts Receivable... 8 A/R Bank Payment Processing... 8 DMAS Inventory Control... 9 Work Orders... 9 DMAS Purchasing & Receiving... 9 Bar Code Assisted Receiving and Put-a-Way... 9 Import Tracking and Landed Cost... 9 Special Order Items DMAS Sales Analysis Regional & Group Sales Analysis * DMAS Related Web / Browser Based Applications Web Order Entry (WEBOE) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Non-DMAS Related Applications User Query Control Master Files and Master File Maintenance New / Improved Master File Maintenance Functions Item Features and Options Other Application Functions Commission Accounting * Sales Allowance Processing * /15/2015 1:51 PM +IO_DMAS_Plus_AdvFeatures.doc Page iii

4 I/O DMAS Plus Advanced Features Introduction In past years, I/O International has offered the DMAS user a number of application enhancements that significantly enhance the capabilities of iseries 400 DMAS. By utilizing the various enhancements from I/O, the DMAS user has been able to continue to use iseries 400 DMAS as the backbone in his data processing system and yet address the constant challenges of staying competitive while maintaining an IT investment at an acceptable level. With these enhancements from I/O, the DMAS user has been able to stay abreast of technological changes in IT, address requirements placed on him from both vendors and customers, and implement solutions never before considered attainable. I/O International now offers the DMAS user an enhanced version of DMAS, I/O DMAS Plus. I/O DMAS Plus includes a number of major benefits including: A large number of enhancements for DMAS from I/O that apply to business needs that may be considered to be non-typical for average DMAS users. Web based applications including the ability for the wholesale distributor to host his own web site on his own iseries 400. Technology based applications that allow the user to utilize hand held scanning devices when receiving product into the warehouse, placing the newly receive product into the proper location within the warehouse, fulfilling orders within the picking process directly from the hand held scanning device without the need to print paper documents, and managing the warehouse with product moves. And many others. I/O DMAS Plus requires the host iseries 400 Operating System level to be V5R4 or later. This document provides a brief overview of advanced features (enhancements) available from I/O International, that complement I/O DMAS Plus. These enhancements are not part of the I/O DMAS Plus! base product, but may be acquired individually and installed with I/O DMAS Plus as a prerequisite. Overview I/O DMAS Plus as well as the add-on enhancements described in this document, are only available from I/O International. I/O DMAS Plus, as well as most of the add-on enhancements discussed in this document, are available only to those companies that presently have DMAS installed (there are a few exceptions). Some of the major add-on enhancements for I/O DMAS Plus that include significant functionality, ease-of-use, and productivity features, include: o Several enhancements are entities in themselves and go beyond the intended scope of any of the original DMAS applications such as bar coding technology, web based applications, and customer relationship management. 12/15/2015 1:51 PM +IO_DMAS_Plus_AdvFeatures.doc Page 4

5 o o o Eleven functional enhancements that relate to and significantly uplift the billing application with added functionality and ease-of-use, addressing areas that may not be typical for the average wholesale distributor. Other application areas that also address non-typical wholesale distribution business needs such as work orders for light manufacturing and kits on the fly that offer options to the user for making content selections for custom made products. And several other enhancements in the areas of accounts receivable, inventory control, purchasing, and sales analysis. NOTE: This document addresses enhancements that are currently available and complement I/O DMAS Plus. I/O International may add additional upgrades and/or new functions as time allows, that may not be addressed in this document. 12/15/2015 1:51 PM +IO_DMAS_Plus_AdvFeatures.doc Page 5

6 I/O DMAS Application Enhancements This section briefly describes new and enhanced DMAS functions for various DMAS applications where I/O DMAS Plus is already installed. DMAS Billing I/O DMAS Plus provides a number of features that enhance the DMAS billing application. The new features are as follows: Bar Code Assisted Picking and Replenishment The I/O BCAPR (Bar Code Assisted Picking and Replenishment) enhancement is a series of programs that provide RF picking functionality for the DMAS billing application. This enhancement is designed for the wholesale distributor that wishes to utilize bar code reading equipment (hand held bar code scanning devices, typically using radio frequency (RF) communications) to guide the order picker through the picking of orders and recording how many of which items are being picked from which bin locations. This enhancement also provides RF functionality that guides the warehouse person carrying an RF device on when a bin location needs replenishment, where to pick up the replenishment items, and in which bin to place the items, recording all of the item movement and bin locations via bar code scans. This enhancement is designed such that the picking and replenishment personnel require very little data processing knowledge and very little knowledge of the DMAS billing application. For more information about the I/O Bar Code Assisted Picking and Replenishment feature, please refer to the I/O Bar Code Assisted Picking and Replenishment User s Guide available from I/O International. Canned Comments in Order Entry The I/O Canned Comments enhancement allows the user to define in advance, a list of commonly used comments that may be used within either an order entry comment record or an order entry special charge record. Each canned comment may contain up to 31 characters. As the user enters either a comment record or a special charge record during order entry, the list of existing canned comments may be displayed by pressing a function key. From the list, the user may select one or more canned comment lines, each selected line then being returned and placed into the comment or special charge record being entered. With the use of this feature, it is quicker and easier for order entry personnel to enter repetitive comment text and to maintain text consistency within comment and special charge records. The use of this feature should help improve comment text clarity as well as minimize the occurrence of misspelled words in comment and special charge text. For more information about the I/O Canned Comments feature, please refer to the I/O Billing Add-On Enhancements User s Guide available from I/O International. Enhanced Shipping and Handling The I/O Shipping & Handling enhancement provides a mechanism with which shipping and handling charges can be automatically calculated and inserted into sales orders as they are entered, including web orders entered via the I/O e-dmas Retail web order entry enhancement. For more information about the I/O Enhanced Shipping and Handling feature, please refer to the I/O Billing Add-On Enhancements User s Guide available from I/O International. 12/15/2015 1:51 PM +IO_DMAS_Plus_AdvFeatures.doc Page 6

7 EDI Spreadsheet Order Processing * (To be available in the future) Expanded Credit Checking This enhancement provides a vehicle with which you can tailor how credit checking is to be performed (at sales order entry time as well as within the credit check function within the customer inquiry function of QSEARCH). With the I/O Expanded Credit Checking feature, you can consolidate any number of customers into a single enterprise group to be used just for credit checking purposes. Customers included in such a group may have completely different customer numbers, may be all customer / branch records that have the same customer number root, or a combination of both. In addition, customers within a single enterprise may be limited to a single DMAS company or may reside in two or more DMAS companies. For more information about the I/O Expanded Credit Checking feature, please refer to the I/O Expanded Credit Checking User s Guide available from I/O International. Item Features & Options See Item Features and Options under the heading Master Files and Master File Maintenance, New / Improved Master File Maintenance Functions found later in this document.. Open Order Management The I/O Open Order Management enhancement is an enhancement to the AS/400 DMAS Billing application. It is designed for the wholesale distributor that frequently receives customer orders considerably in advance of a requested ship date and wants to record those orders in the DMAS database but delay actual allocation of inventory until a reasonable time before it is necessary to start processing the order through the warehouse. The I/O Open Order Management enhancement also provides functionality that allows the user to set up an open order so that the total quantities ordered, are to be broken down and released in multiple shipments over a period of time, typically releasing and shipping set quantities of each item ordered, in scheduled, periodic releases. This capability is often referred to as having the ability to handle standing orders. The focus of the I/O Open Order Management enhancement is to provide easy to use tools so that, using requested ship dates for every order, the wholesale distributor can minimize the number of printed pick tickets in the warehouse at any one time, schedule multiple shipments (if more than one) to occur on a periodic basis, allocate inventory stock only when appropriate, and yet provide the ability to record customer orders in the DMAS database as soon as the orders are received. For more information about the I/O Open Order Management feature, please refer to the I/O Open Order Management User s Guide available from I/O International. Order Entry Customer Level Notes This enhancement provides a vehicle with which the distributor can create notes and/or instructions at the customer level for order entry personnel that will automatically display when a new order is started. Notes may be specific to display for a specific customer / branch / ship-to, all ship-to addresses of a specific customer / branch, or all branches and ship-to addresses of a specific customer. Customer order entry notes / instructions will display automatically when beginning the entry of a new sales order with the audible alarm sounding. When reviewing an existing sales order, the order entry clerk may display pertinent customer order entry notes (if any) by pressing a function key. Customer order entry notes may be created such that they only display during order entry (thereby 12/15/2015 1:51 PM +IO_DMAS_Plus_AdvFeatures.doc Page 7

8 being operator notes ), display during order entry AND are automatically copied to the sales order (thereby becoming shipping instructions ), or display and OPTIONALLY may be copied to the sales order by the order entry clerk. For more information about the I/O Canned Comments feature, please refer to the I/O Billing Advanced Features User s Guide available from I/O International. Order Entry Item Level Notes This enhancement provides a vehicle with which the distributor can create notes and/or instructions at the item level for order entry personnel. that will automatically display when entering a new line item record for the specific item. Notes may be specific to display for a specific item / customer / branch / company, all branches of a specific customer, or all customers within a specific company. Item order entry notes / instructions will display automatically when beginning the entry of a new line item for the specific item with the audible alarm sounding. When reviewing an existing line item, the order entry clerk may display pertinent item order entry notes (if any) by pressing a function key. Item order entry notes may be created such that they only display during order entry (thereby being operator notes ), display during order entry AND are automatically copied to the sales order (thereby becoming shipping instructions ), or display and OPTIONALLY may be copied to the sales order by the order entry clerk. For more information about the I/O Canned Comments feature, please refer to the I/O Billing Advanced Features User s Guide available from I/O International. Purchase Order / Sales Order Interface * (To be available in the future) Shipping Management Shipping (Varsity Shipper interface), Checker / Packer, and/or EDI Advance Ship Notice. The shipping management enhancement is a warehouse application which provides for the checking of picked sales orders and recording of carton contents as they are packed and being prepared for shipment. The user works at a PC connected as a workstation, which may optionally be equipped with an integrated barcode laser scanner and barcode label printer. The user can scan the order number from the picking list. Using the scanned order number, the order detail is then retrieved from DMAS in real time, and displayed as a full screen on the workstation, similar to the picking list. The application functions include: 1) Updating of the actual order quantities shipped; 2) Reallocation of inventory (and bins) as needed; 3) Recalculating the order dollar values based on actual quantities shipped; 4) Capturing and recording of carton detail; 5) Verification and updating of order step status; and 6) Conditionally allowing UCC-128 label printing to be invoked. For more information about the I/O Shipping Management feature, please refer to the I/O Shipping Management User s Guide available from I/O International. DMAS Accounts Receivable A/R Bank Payment Processing This enhancement provides a vehicle with which data that represents A/R payments made directly to a financial institution by customers, is electronically received by the DMAS user and applied to DMAS accounts receivable without any data re-keying required. For more information about the I/O A/R Bank Payment Processing feature, please refer to the I/O A/R Bank Payment Processing User s Guide available from I/O International. 12/15/2015 1:51 PM +IO_DMAS_Plus_AdvFeatures.doc Page 8

9 DMAS Inventory Control Work Orders The I/O Work Order enhancement includes application functionality that allows users to enter items to be created via work orders, via the standard billing order entry facility (modified to allow for the entry of a new order type; work order). Orders created with the new order type are referred to as work orders. As with normal DMAS orders, items entered into a work order are allocated from inventory as the item is entered (if allocation is being used). Work orders are typically used to describe a process by which one or more items are pulled from inventory, specific manufacturing processes applied, and assembled according to specific instructions, resulting in a new finished goods product. The use of the DMAS kitting function is recommended as the preferred method of defining the manufacturing and/or assembly processes, including how many of which inventoried items are required within the manufacturing process. Once the kits are defined, to generate a work order to manufacture a specific item, the user starts the work order and enters the kit parent (that defines what is necessary to create the desired finished goods item) and quantity desired. An entry in the I/O manufactured items file, cross references the kit parent item to the item number of the finished goods item. For more information about the I/O Work Orders for Manufacturing & Assembly feature, please refer to the I/O Work Orders for Manufacturing & Assembly User s Guide available from I/O International. DMAS Purchasing & Receiving Bar Code Assisted Receiving and Put-a-Way The I/O BCAR (Bar Code Assisted Receiving) enhancement is a series of programs that complement the iseries 400 DMAS Purchasing application. This enhancement is designed for the wholesale distributor that wishes to utilize bar code reading equipment (hand held bar code scanning devices, typically using radio frequency communications) to record the receipt of merchandise as it is unloaded from the delivery vehicle and the subsequent put-away of the stock to each item s appropriate warehouse bin location. This enhancement is designed such that the receiving and put-away personnel require very little data processing knowledge and very little knowledge of the DMAS purchasing application. For more information about the I/O Bar Code Assisted Receiving and Put-a- Way feature, please refer to the I/O Bar Code Assisted Receiving and Put-a-Way User s Guide available from I/O International. Import Tracking and Landed Cost The I/O International Import Tracking and Landed Cost Processing enhancement (often referred to as the Landed Cost enhancement ) for DMAS, allows a user to distribute costs related to acquiring and shipping products, directly to the item cost of the products involved, and post those item costs at the time the item receipts are posted in purchasing. Costs that a user may want to distribute directly to items may include overseas shipping charges, local drayage or freight, duty, local shipping, or any other import or transportation charges. Although partially labeled as an Import Tracking enhancement, the basic functionality of this enhancement is by no means limited to only import related costs. Any DMAS user that experiences inventory related purchasing costs and wants a mechanism to prorate those costs and distribute them down to the item cost level at receiving time, will find the I/O Import Tracking and Landed Cost Processing enhancement applicable and extremely helpful. This enhancement also offers a choice of two methods by which landed costs are posted to general ledger; 1) at the time the receipt is posted, or 2) at the time the approval is posted. For more information about the I/O Import Tracking and 12/15/2015 1:51 PM +IO_DMAS_Plus_AdvFeatures.doc Page 9

10 Landed Cost Processing feature, please refer to the I/O Import Tracking and Landed Cost Processing User s Guide available from I/O International. Special Order Items This enhancement provides an automated vehicle through which items that are coded as special order items (including items that are to be direct shipped) and are ordered by the customer, are identified, assigned to a vendor, and passed to purchasing as a P/O, to be ordered and either direct shipped or indirectly shipped to the customer. With the I/O Special Order Items feature, you can specify certain items to be special order items or items that are always to be direct shipped. Such items may be class items (never stocked in inventory) or regular inventory items. These items default to be either direct ship, indirect ship, or specified by the user at order entry time, whether for this particular order, the item should be direct or indirectly shipped. For more information about the I/O Special Order Items feature, please refer to the I/O Special Order Items User s Guide available from I/O International. DMAS Sales Analysis Regional & Group Sales Analysis * (To be available in the future) DMAS Related Web / Browser Based Applications A major ease of use and functional enhancement for DMAS general ledger including but not limited to: Web Order Entry (WEBOE) For business and/or consumer applicability. With the e-dmas enhancement from I/O, the user can establish secured access for selected (registered) customers (typically wholesale business customers), allowing those customers to enter orders directly via the Internet. In addition, a registered customer may also search for and review existing orders, including the present shipping status of each outstanding order. When necessary, the business e-user (the registered customer) may also search for and review historical invoices including the ability to re-print an entire invoice directly to his PC client printer. Another e-dmas feature allows the registered customer to view the status of his accounts owed (your accounts receivable from him). With this feature, he may view a summary of his account, invoices that are currently open, recent payments and how they were applied, and view details of historical accounts receivable transactions. If the user has outside sales personnel, a feature is available that allows the user to define outside sales people as multi-customer e-users, or CSRs (an e-dmas term standing for Customer Support Reps). This feature allows certain people, such as outside sales people (CSRs), to enter orders on behalf of any one or more of their customers, review current outstanding orders for that customer, look at historical invoices, and (if the feature is installed) review the A/R for that customer, all from a PC via the Internet. As the distributor and host of e-dmas, the user can define exactly to which customers a particular CSR (or multi-customer e- user) is to have access. Once established, as the CSR signs on to e-dmas, a list of the customers he is authorized to represent is displayed. Once he selects one of his customers, e-dmas functions just as it does for a registered business customer. For more information about the I/O e-dmas Web Order Entry feature, please refer to the I/O e-dmas Web Order Entry Administrator s Guide available from I/O International. 12/15/2015 1:51 PM +IO_DMAS_Plus_AdvFeatures.doc Page 10

11 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) The I/O CRM application provides the ability for end-users to interactively record customer and prospect communications as notes. Each note is identified to a contact (an individual) and each contact is identified as belonging to an enterprise (may be an existing customer or a prospective customer). Multiple contacts may be identified for any given enterprise. All contacts in the existing DMAS customer master file that are referred to as each customer s General contact, are automatically contacts in the CRM application and do not have to be re-entered. Each of these contacts is considered the primary contact for the respective enterprise (customer). Additional contacts for existing customers may be entered directly into the contact file via the CRM browser pages as well as any and all contacts for prospective customers. The end-user interface is designed for workstations that have standard browser capability (Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape). For more information about the I/O CRM for e-dmas feature, please refer to the I/O CRM for e-dmas User s Guide available from I/O International. Non-DMAS Related Applications Several I/O improvements and exclusive I/O fixes, improving the accuracy of data reflected in the Executive Information System. User Query Control The I/O User Query Control (UQC) enhancement is a tool for any iseries installation whose users utilize the IBM AS/400 Query product for ad hoc reports, displays, or file creation, but where management wants to control the degree of latitude, flexibility and access to data that each query user has within the iseries database. This enhancement provides the ability for management to control which users have various forms of access to the DMAS database via the use of Query. For more information about the I/O User Query control feature, please refer to the I/O User Query Control User s Guide available from I/O International. Master Files and Master File Maintenance This section briefly describes new and enhanced User Friendly Maintenance (UFM) functions for existing DMAS master files as well as some new master files added by I/O DMAS Plus. New / Improved Master File Maintenance Functions Nearly all new master file maintenance functions listed below, are now built around a work with architecture (lists existing batches, records, etc. from which the user selects) that is similar to methods used for other recently updated DMAS customer service and financial applications and maintenance functions. This design results in a significant improvement to user productivity and ease-or-use, allowing the user to page through existing records or narrow the list down by searching for desired records by utilizing numerous selection options, eliminating the need to print and/or refer to offline lists. Item Features and Options A flexible kitting function, often referred to as kits on the fly. The I/O Item Features and Options enhancement offers alternative functions for DMAS kits, groups, and extended item description (DMAS Item Relationship) features. This I/O enhancement may not only be an alternative to standard DMAS kits, groups, and extended item descriptions, but it may co-reside with the DMAS Item Relationship function, allowing the DMAS user to selectively use whichever kitting, group or extended item description feature best fits the 12/15/2015 1:51 PM +IO_DMAS_Plus_AdvFeatures.doc Page 11

12 needs of any given item. The primary capability of the I/O Item Features and Options enhancement is that it offers to the distributor, the ability to define a relationship of items that, during order entry, the components within the relationship may be modified on the fly by the order entry person, but only within the constraints provided by the distributor at the time the relationship was defined. The I/O Item Features & Options enhancement supports DMAS Order Entry, I/O Web Order Entry, I/O Inter-Warehouse Transfers, and I/O Work Orders. For more information about the I/O Item Features & Options enhancement, please refer to the I/O Item Features & Options User s Guide available from I/O International. Other Application Functions This section briefly describes new and enhanced DMAS cross application functions provided by I/O DMAS Plus as compared to original DMAS at PTF 772. Commission Accounting * (To be available in the future) Sales Allowance Processing * (To be available in the future) *** End of Document *** 12/15/2015 1:51 PM +IO_DMAS_Plus_AdvFeatures.doc Page 12