| System/Product | SHOPER Retail & Wholesale | Version | | 4.2x / 4.5x | | Document Title | Release Notes | | Author | Shoper Central Support Cell (support@vedha-automations.com) | Revision History | | Date | Particulars | | 11 Sep 1999 | First Draft | | 16 Sep 1999 | Included details specific for wholesale environment | | 19 Sep 1999 | Added this template | | 20 Sep 1999 | Included table of contents | | This document is property of Vedha Automations, 42/1 Cubbon Road Cross, Bangalore, India. Contents of this document are confidential and propriety in nature. In consideration of Vedha Automations' disclosure of this document, the recipient agrees that neither it, nor the information contained therein shall be disclosed to others or duplicated in whole or in part, or used for any purposes other than agreed to by Vedha Automations without the express written consent of Vedha Automations. | Table Of Contents
(click on the asterix next to the topic name to jump to the topic) Introduction *Corrections / Features COMMON for both WHOLESALE & RETAIL versions * GENERAL * Y2K Compliance *
Compatible with the latest networking environments *
Uniform system colour *
Improved methods for removal of old data *
Day-end operations made more user friendly *
Preserving of historical data *
Enhancements in TAG printing *
SHOPER transactions in the form of flat files *
Promotional Schemes *
Easy data conversion methods *
Improvements in the Month Beginning Operations *
Pricing Master corrections *
Description for tax codes in the system *
Arnheim luxury hotelsEnhancements in the Physical Stock module *
Enhancements in Customer Database module *
Other Enhancements *
Bug-fixes * SALES * More items in a document *
Bill printing & re-printing *
Flexible way of entering items and customisable display of details in the billing screen *
Option for creating stock records during any of the sales transaction. *
Creating / Using non-billable products *
Bug-fixes & Enhancements * REPORTS * Report Menu re-organization *
New features in Consolidated Stock Analysis *
Analysis of historic data *
Enhancements in the Off-take reports *
New Reports *
Other Enhancements *
Bug Fixes * PURCHASE & PT File Related * Identification of the Purchase Document *
Option for entering the document qty during loading. *
Purchase Audit Trail & Printing of Stock Discrepancy Note *
Improved method of viewing PT file information. *
Purchase Return Modifications * Other Enhancements * Miscellaneous Transactions *
New features which gives improved flexibility *
Reason-Wise numbering *
Option to create MT Flat files from the menu *
Other Enhancements *
Bug Fixes * Corrections / Features specific for RETAIL version * Option for recording customer Walk-ins *
Interface with Verifone's Credit Card Validation Terminal *
Corrections for IBM POS. machines *
Enhancements in the Sales returns *
Improved Bill suspension methods *
Enhancements in billing, bill printing & reprinting *
Improved CASH handling *
Enhancements in the Credit Card handling *
Bug-Fixes * Corrections / Features specific for WHOLESALE Version * Different tax for the same item *
Enhancements in Customer Database Module *
Printing of Issue documents in Invoice Format *
Customer-wise Prices & Round-off *
Enhancements in the add-ons/ Deductions *
Create PT files for loading from Invoicing & Misc. Issues *
Parameterised Purchase handling for overseas installation. *
Enhancements in field sizes *
Other Enhancements & Bug-fixes * Release notes for SHOPER v 4.2x / 4.5x Introduction This document outlines the enhancements & fixes carried out in the SHOPER v 4.2x /4.5x. 4.1x implies all the releases of 4.1 version viz.: 4.11, 4.12.... Etc. 4.2x implies the 4.2 family 4.5x implies the 4.5 family 4.2x and 4.5x are both Y2K compliant; the difference being the former isspecifically meant for the retail environment and the latter is meant for the wholesaleenvironment. Hence, if you're having a wholesale version of SHOPER 4.1x, you will be usingthe 4.5x series and in the case of retail version (which is the default), you will beusing the 4.2x series.The contents in this document has been classified in the followingmanner:  | Corrections / features pertaining to both the Retail and Wholesale versions, henceforth referred to as COMMON | | Corrections / features pertaining to ONLY Retail environment, henceforth referred to as RETAIL | | Corrections / features pertaining to ONLY Wholesale environment, henceforth referred to as WHOLESALE. | The above is roughly sub-divided into the following general sections: | General | | Sales | | Reports | | Purchases | | Miscellaneous Transactions | The entries will be in the form of bullets or points with the necessary explanation. Corrections / Features COMMON for both WHOLESALE & RETAILversions GENERAL | Y2K Compliance | What is Y2K problem? When date fields are represented in computers, generally, the century part of the year was never stored. So on 1st Jan 2000, the programs that are not Y2K compliant, will store the date as 01-01-00, and assume that the year is 1900. So the chronological order in reporting, processing, etc. is lost as the date is wrongly represented. How does SHOPER handle this problem? The latest version of SHOPER gets over this problem in the following manner: Each date is converted to a number. This number equivalent is stored in the databases. Where reporting is concerned, SHOPER re-converts the number back to the date format. For example, Number-Equivalent 01/12/1999 100 …………………. 31/12/1999 131 01/01/2000 132 This way, the sequence or continuity of dates is maintained. There is more to this, of course, but is beyond the scope of this document. | | Compatible with the latest networking environments | Multi user version of SHOPER works well in the following environments: | NetWare 3.12 | | Windows 95 (Peer to Peer) | | Windows 98 | | WindowsNT | | | Uniform system colour | The colour distortion/mismatches in various screens/forms of SHOPER has now been rectified. A uniform blue background with white foreground colour is kept as the standard. | | Improved methods for removal of old data | Purging of old data has been made more efficient and flexible. It is also possible to fix a cut-off qty, stock records falling below this qty, can be purged. Besides, automatic removal of old transactions during day-end operation has now been modified to work in a more efficient way. | | Day-end operations made more user friendly | The system day-end operations are now highly paremeterised and invoke various modules like flat file creations, posting of transactions into FINACT, etc. automatically. The status of each process, completed processes & pending processes are clearly indicated. Automatic checking of disk space is now enhanced to handle hard-disks of above 4GB capacity | | Preserving of historical data | SHOPER now has the capability of storing the transaction details in a summarised form for any number of years. This gives the user a powerful option for analysis involving more than one year. Currently, monthly sales comparison report has been enhanced to use this historical data for reporting. | | Enhancements in TAG printing | Option for printing barcode tags from Misc.Issue transactions, Purchase Transactions, etc. are now available. It is also possible to specify the path and file name of the SEQ file, thereby giving considerable flexibility to the user. Restrictions in the program to disallow bar-code printing if the SEQ file contains more than 50 items has now been removed. Option for printing barcode tags for items with zero stock is enabled in this version. Browse option for stock number, product, brand, model, shade, size etc. has been introduced. Enhancements in the tag-layout fixing programs to accommodate the stock number and rate fields. Interface to the dedicated Clever Thermal Barcode printer is an added enhancement. | | SHOPER transactions in the form of flat files | SHOPER system has now provisions to export almost all its transactions in the form of different .SEQ files. These are : BT cc mm dd .SEQ - The Bill Transactions for the period specified. This contains all the bills/sales returns and cancellations. ID cc mm dd .SEQ - This contains stock no. wise details of all the Transacted items. All the transactions pertaining to the item - Purchases, misc.issues/rcpts, sales, sales returns, cancellations, etc. are reflected in the file. IM cc mm dd .SEQ - This contains the details of all the stock no. present in the system and their opening balance as of the month specified. GT cc mm dd .SEQ - This holds the details of all the transactions other than the SALES transactions, like Purchases, Purch.Returns, Misc.Issues, Misc.Rcpts, etc. DS cc mm dd .SEQ - This again holds the details of the various SALES Transactions but in a summarised form according to the product. PT cc mm dd .SEQ - This holds the details of the purchases and Purchase returns. WI cc mm dd .SEQ - This file contains the details of the customer walk-ins recorded during the period specified. CT cc mm dd .SEQ - This contains the details of the cash transactions made in the system. This include cash rcpt. Due to sales, other receipts, cash payouts, etc. ST cc mm dd .SEQ - This contains the details of the submissions made during the period specified. RT cc mm dd .SEQ - This contains the details of the Realizations made during the period specified. FB cc mm dd .SEQ - This contains the details of the current Outstanding of the two balances maintained for the franchisee. Cash & Credit. Note that the Credit here means credit-card transactions and not the actual CREDIT sales. PS cc mm dd .SEQ - This contains details of the payments made to the HO during the period. cc - Stands for the company code mm - Stands for the month dd - Stands for the day Note All these files can be automatically created during day-end for the current date, if the option is enabled. Nevertheless, options are there in the menu using which the user can create the same for any period he wishes. Note2 Some or all of the above flat files may not be applicable for your installation, and can be disabled. Restriction of disallowing of flat file creation during when the day is OPEN has now been modified only to apply for the current day. I.e., it'd be possible to create flat files for previous days' transactions even when the day is OPEN. Creation of ID / IM files for non-chain store installations is another enhancement carried out in this version. | | Promotional Schemes | Promotional schemes in an initial format are available in this version. For details of this, please await our next release / document. | | Easy data conversion methods | Converting your older SHOPER version's data is now simple and straightforward. The system automatically detects the version of your data files and invokes the necessary conversion program to convert it, in a series of steps to the latest version. The whole process is simple and requires very less user intervention. | | Improvements in the Month Beginning Operations | During month beginning operations, to ensure database integrity, the updations which is done during the month end are carried out in a temporary master and only when the entire process is over, the original master is updated. Also, in the event of not finding a month end backup of the name: EN mm yy cc. END, the system will automatically copy the last found .END file for that month as the EN mm yy cc.END file. | | Pricing Master corrections | During price revisions in retail price installations, the COMPUTED COST price is corrected to be same as that of the new retail price. During pricing master import, if a new item is loaded, the price specified in the wholesale price field of the SEQ file is moved to the COMPUTED COST price field of the stock master. In stock number generated installations, the method of calculating the last stock number has been revised to ensure database integrity. The same correction has been carried out in the pricing master import program also. | | Description for tax codes in the system | It is now possible to assign a short description for each tax code catalogued in the system. This description will be printed in the sales summary report. For e.g.: if you have two tax codes with 0% tax, instead of just printing 'Exempted' you can give a more meaningful description like 'Seconds', etc. | | Enhancements in the Physical Stock module | A new option has been introduced whereby it is possible to make zero those stocks for which there is no physical stock. This should be used in conjunction with the 'Discrepancy Updation' option of SHOPER. Option for specifying a range of products/brands is provided in this new option, which will appear in the menu as 'Clear Zero Stocks'. Restrictions have been imposed in the system to disallow discrepancy updation if it is a new installation (i.e. if no transactions have been recorded in the system). The carrying forward of historic data from the stock master during opening stock loading has been blocked in this version. Physical stock import option from a D.C.U now gives the user a chance to abort the import process if any errors are found in the sequential file (due to half-scan or damaged barcodes). In this way, only that entry in the SEQ file, which is valid (i.e., which has got a corresponding record in the SHOPER databases), is loaded into the system. The rest is ignored and the details written in an error logfile. | | Enhancements in Customer Database module | An important change in this version is that the customer master is universally used in the system unlike in the previous versions where the customer master as well as the directory master was used to record customer information. Also a new master is maintained for suppliers in the system. Consequently, all the programs which are accepting the customer/supplier, now accepts the same in a format similar to the one used by CDB maintenance or the customer accepting in billing. A provision is also provided whereby it is possible to import/export the customer/supplier databases. A feature that can be effectively used in a chain-store implementation that wants to maintain a central customer database. | | Other Enhancements | Many enhancements have been carried out in this version. Notable among them : | Standard error messages has been enhanced to show the name of the program where the error has occurred and also the error code in simple numerals, which makes it easier for the user to report and thus facilitate speedy fixing of the problem | | Size-wise reports now prints all the sizes applicable for the product/brand combination. | | The user can define a secret reason code for Misc.Issues/Receipts; transactions made with this reason WILL NOT be reflected in the Issue/Receipt register, thereby providing confidentiality of transactions. | | Enhanced error checking during installation - After each file is opened, the status is checked and if any error has occurred, the user is immediately alerted. | | | Bug-fixes | Many bug-fixes, enhancements have been done in this version. Notable among them, : | Problem in uninstalling of the last company rectified | | Extra lines, which were printed during print/re-print of bills, have been removed. | | Bug in purchase loading, which resulted in a status error (23) if ESCAPE key is pressed at the first field, has been fixed. | | Problems in the MT file creation (during Misc.Issues) have been fixed. | | Last document program, which was accepting a value less than the current document number, has been corrected to disallow this. | | SALES | More items in a document | The 99-entry limitation in billing, sales return, reprint & cancellation has now been overcome. Now, the user can enter up to 9990 items in a document | | Bill printing & re-printing | Enhancements have been made in the way SHOPER prints a bill. Important corrections are: | Reprint of Exchanged / Returned bill is now allowed | | Reprints of cancelled bills are now enabled. In this case, the caption 'Cancelled' will be printed in the customer name position | | If Item-wise discount sale is on, the discount will be printed for each of the item separately. | | Printing of suspended bills is enabled in this version. | | | Flexible way of entering items and customisable display of details in the billing screen | Stock details can now be entered in three ways : | By entering the stock number | | By entering the Product/Brand/Model/Shade/Size Combination] | | And by entering the Model/Shade/Size combination. This last option is applicable only if the Model (or the 3rd classification) is unique for a Product / Brand combination. This method is highly useful in installations where the Model/Shade & Size components can uniquely identify the item. | The user can decide the system 's default mode. I.e., accept the stock number OR the Model/Shade/Size combination. Toggling between the two modes is also provided. This can be achieved by means of the HOTKEY combination ALT-F6 The details displayed in the screen during billing, is also user configurable. | | Option for creating stock records during any of the sales transaction. | A provision whereby the user is given an option to create pricing & stock details - on the fly - from within billing is now present in SHOPER. This, like many of the other features in SHOPER, is controlled by a parameter and if set OFF; this feature (termed ABNORMAL PRICING RECORDS OR in short ABNORMAL ENTRIES) will be disabled. This is typically of great use in a chain-store installation, where the actual goods has come, but the Purchase Sequential file has not been received. It is possible to specify a mark-up factor at the Product / Brand level and if this has been specified, when abnormal entries are made, this factor is used to arrive out the Computed Cost Price. Note This markup or markdown factor is specified in the size catalogue of a Product & Brand. | | Creating / Using non-billable products | It is now possible to disallow billing of certain products. This is typically need when the user should not be allowed to sell items like promotional gifts, gift vouchers, etc. thru the normal billing operations. A product if classified as non-billable, will not be allowed to be billed in the billing option of the system. (This can be specified in the PRODUCT catalogue option) | | Bug-fixes & Enhancements | The following bugs/enhancements has be fixed/carried out. | Functionality of F8, F6, ALT-E & ALT-K combinations verified | | Bugs in recalling of a suspended document have been rectified. | | Cancellation of a different day's bill was updating the transactions wrongly. This has been fixed. | | Calculation of sales tax in a 99-item bill has been fixed. | | Validation introduced to ensure that 100% discount is not given for a bill. | | REPORTS | Report Menu re-organization | The report menu has been totally revamped and care has been taken to ensure that all reports are properly grouped thereby reducing the complexity/confusion to the user. On these lines, the reports in SHOPER has been divided into five main sections: Sales Contains all sales related reports like : | Sales bill-wise, item-wise, model-wise, size-wise, cancelled bills, salesman & sales tax registers, etc. | Stocks Contains all stocks related reports like : | Stock movement, stock balances, stock statement, stock analysis, stock queries, etc. | Stock Registers Contains register reports like Issue/Receipt registers, Goods-receipts registers, etc. M.I.S Contains reports & tools which act as an aid for decision making and advanced analysis This includes reports like: | Sales analysis graphs, Gross profit reports, sales contribution graph, monthly sales comparison, Top selling items, stock ageing etc. | Exception This includes reports that highlight exception events in the system. Examples of these Reports are : | Abnormal discount reports, rate deviation report, discount given reports, etc. | | | New features in Consolidated Stock Analysis | Consolidated stock analysis report now has an option for selecting break-ups, which is not dependent on its parent classification. I.e., it is now possible to select only product & shade OR product & size, etc.,de-selecting all the other intermediate classifications. This gives the user a powerful means of taking reports for various combinations. This report is now available for daily, range of dates, and for month ranges Printing of the stock turn out percentage is a new feature added in this report. (note: Stock Turn out % is calculated as the (stock out qty * 100 / (opening qty + Stock in qty))) | | Analysis of historic data | SHOPER now stores the transaction history in a summarised form for any no. of years. Monthly sales comparison has been enhanced to make use of this historic data for its reporting. This report has been enhanced to accept discrete months and years, instead of a range of months, and the reporting is done only for the months selected. For e.g.:, the user, can compare the sales in the month of January for the last four years (ERROR MSGprovided, new version has been in use for so many years) In this context, an option also has been provided to skip those item details for which no transactions has been recorded for the selected months. | | Enhancements in the Off-take reports | The two off-take reports viz.: Product-wise and Period-wise has been totally re-designed with new user interfaces, flexible and powerful reporting options and faster processing. A summary of the new features incorporated in these reports are : | Option for selecting the report for a particular classification of customers | | Option to select the no. of customers (top or bottom) for whom reporting is needed. | | Browse for product/brands, customer classifications, etc. | | Basis of off-take - Whether QTY or Value | | Option to include Returns, Issues, Receipts, etc. for reporting. | | Option to select a maximum of 99,99,999 customers for reporting purposes. | | | New Reports | | Item-wise purchase register has been newly introduced in this version. | | Sales Ageing analysis - Which reports the sales performance of an item over a period is now available. | | A report in a similar format of sales ageing - but which also includes a price-point option is another new feature in this version. | | Promotional Performance report - For analysing the effectiveness of the promotional schemes. | | A report, which lists the sales return made, is now available in SHOPER. In case of retails version, this reports has an added flexibility of be taken for a specific return reason. This reason-wise reporting is NOT available in the wholesale version.. | | | Other Enhancements | | Item-wise sales report now has a daily option. Also this report has been modified to handle negative values. | | Size-wise sales/ stocks prints the shade in a different line, thereby printing the entire model, without any truncation | | Salesmen register now has an option for printing only the summary part of the report, without taking the detailed part. | | Option for printing the product code OR description in the stock balances and consolidated stock analysis reports. | | Report that prints the net of sales prints a legend stating this. | | Discount given report has been modified to skip those bills, which are cancelled. | | Stock ledger report now has an option for taking the report by specifying a specific style/shade./size. | | Sales summary - Bill-wise has been more optimized and has been made to process more fast. This report also prints the tax description, which is accepted in the cataloguing option, in the tax-wise summary part. | | Model Wise sales which was reporting the net sales has been modified to report the net of sales (i.e., sales - discount) | | Stock movement report now accepts a range of dates instead of months. Also this report now prints the current bal. Qty & value and the net of sales value. | | | Bug Fixes | | Bugs in Pivotal Size Stock Out reports have been fixed. Option is also provided for printing a grand total line | | Starting page option in many reports, which was not functioning correctly, has been corrected in this version. | | The D.C ref., Which was getting printed in all the lines of the goods-receipt register, has been fixed. | | Model wise sales report which was reporting erroneous values when the qty is zero has been fixed. | | Bug in gross-profit report and sales contribution graph, wherein the program was going into an infinite loop, has been fixed. | | Inconsistency in the reporting of the opening and closing balances has been fixed. | | Size-wise stock balances, which was not printing the size matrix correctly has been fixed. | | Problem in the Issue/Receipt register, if taken for a specific reason has been fixed. | | Bug in the calculation of opening balances, which resulted in wrong figures in the stock reports, has been fixed. | | PURCHASE & PT File Related | Identification of the Purchase Document | The document number, which is used to identify the purchase, is generated by the system instead of assigning the number that comes in the PT File. This way the complexities involved in making sure that the PT files does not contain numbers which clash at the HO/Supplier level is now removed. Nevertheless the system internally maintains the sender's document no. and uses that to validate whether a purchase has been loaded or not. PT File naming convention has been revised. A suffice has been included in the extension name of the PT file, which will identify the source of the PT file. This suffix is also accepted during the loading of the PT file. The need for a separate identification will be felt if an installation receives PT files from two sources on the same day, the PT file, which was downloaded first, will be overwritten with the second. This can be overcome by the PT file suffix, which also serves as an identification of the PT file's source. | | Option for entering the document qty during loading. | Towards improving the ease of use of the module, the purchase loading module now displays the document qty and accepts the actual qty that has been received. This way the method of recording the discrepancy is made much more simple and error-free. | | Purchase Audit Trail & Printing of Stock Discrepancy Note | In addition to printing of the normal purchase audit trail, the program also generates a Stock discrepancy report (SDR) which will contain only those items that are having discrepancies. Bug-fixing has been done to the Purchase Audit trail, which was not being printed correctly after the first page. If no discrepancies are found in a loaded document, a legend, which states so is printed at the end of the audit trail. | | Improved method of viewing PT file information. | SHOPER now has a provision to print a summary report of the documents present in a PT file. The filenames, path, etc. is accepted and a concise report on the PT file details is displayed. | | Purchase Return Modifications | Purchase return now accepts duplicate entries in a purchase return document, though clubbing of duplicate items, like in billing, is not done. If no purchases for the returned item is found, the purchase return program will move the item's Computed Cost price to the rate field of the returns screen. | | Other Enhancements | | Changed the caption 'Purchase Date' to 'PT File Date' | | Purchase return now accepts duplicate entries in a purchase return document, though clubbing is not performed. | | Check has been introduced to make sure that not more than 36 sizes are catalogued for a product/brand combination. | | The stock number-accepting window in size-purchase entry has been changed in such a way as to not overlap with the details. | | Option for entering the % for sales tax, add-ons, deductions, discount, etc. has been incorporated in the Purchase module. | | Miscellaneous Transactions | New features which gives improved flexibility | The 99-entry limitation in the Misc. Document has now been overcome. A Misc. issue/receipt document can now accommodate up to 9990 entries. Other features incorporated in the sales module like: accepting of the model/shade/size in lieu of the stock number, if model is unique for a product & brand has been incorporated in this module also. Receipts supports the feature of creating new stock details which is not present in the SHOPER masters in a manner similar to the sales module. Note that this feature (termed 'Abnormal Entries') is dependent on the parameter and will not be available if this feature is turned-off. Issues/Receipts can be made to a customer OR a supplier. This information can be stored reason wise and when a particular reason is selected, depending on the type associated with the reason, either customer OR supplier details are accepted. Please Note: Even though the reasons are catalogued by default by the installation program, the user has to ensure that the customer/supplier indicator for the reason is properly catalogued, failing which all the issue/receipts will be made out to CUSTOMERS only. Provision for creating flat files for import has now been introduced in the system. | | Reason-Wise numbering | SHOPER now has the provision to store separate document numbers for different reasons. This way the user can maintain different series for different reasons and can keep track of them separately. Another advantage is the fact that, using this option, increased confidentiality can be given to the Issue/receipt transactions (Refer : 'Other enhancements' sub-section of General Correction Notes) | | Option to create MT Flat files from the menu | SHOPER now has an option for creating the Misc. Issue transactions in the form of a sequential file. This option, which was present only during Issue entry, now is also available as an option from the menu. The user can create MT files for a day or range of days, specific document, etc. | | Other Enhancements | Other important enchantments/fixes are listed below: | Printing of Miscellaneous transactions - The header, details printed, etc. can be configured by the user. | | Provision to print the customer's address is now provided. | | Compulsorily accepting of the customer / supplier details ensures database integrity and reduces reporting bottle-necks. | | Provision for allowing re-print of an Issue/Receipt document made on another day is now enabled. | | It is possible to set the various prices that are valid for generating issues. By default, all the prices (Sale, Computed, and Wholesale prices) are enabled. The user if he wishes so, can disallow issues with any of the above prices. | | | Bug Fixes | | Bug in the deleting of a document has been fixed. | | Bugs in importing of Misc. Receipts into the system have now been fixed. | | Corrections / Features specific for RETAIL version | Option for recording customer Walk-ins | As a M.I.S tool, a provision is provided whereby the user can record customer walk-in to the shop. A comparison of the number of walk-ins with the no. of actual sales made is provided by the walk-in conversion report (Under M.I.S option). This report shows the walk-in Vs actual sales for different time slots and the percentage of conversion. This option for recording walk-ins is provided in the billing module at two points: | At the Customer entry position | | At the Salesman entry position | | | Interface with Verifone's Credit Card Validation Terminal | This version of SHOPER has been successfully interfaced with the OMNI-460, Verifone's on-line credit card authorization terminal. The bill amount, details etc are seamlessly transferred between SHOPER and the Omni-460 terminal, and the charge slip can be printed in the Omni-460 or by SHOPER's bill printing program. Other features include: | Automatic creation of submission entries in SHOPER system. | | Automatic settlements (Realizations) during day-end. Option from the menu also | | Separate house-keep module for diagnostic services | | Automatic voiding of the transaction in the terminal when a bill settled thru credit card using online validation is cancelled in SHOPER | | Reporting which efficiently handles the transactions done using the SHIOPER / Omni-460 interface. | | Option for re-printing the charge-slip, while re-printing the bill. | | Option to use an external card reader or OMNI-460's internal max-swipe unit | (Note: This module is not implemented as of this release. Awaiting CITIBANK'S approval for the activation of this feature) | | Corrections for IBM POS. machines | Many corrections have been carried out for fine-tuning of SHOPER operations in IBM POS. machines. Important among them are: | Bottlenecks in the re-routing of bill printing to the internal printer and the re-routing back to the normal printer after billing (so that the reports can be taken in the external printer) has been overcome in this version. | | Customer Display Handling has been enhanced to display the details in a better way. | | Suspension printing, which was happening in the external printer, now has been corrected to print in the internal printer. | | Interface to Verifone's online credit card validation terminal | | | Enhancements in the Sales returns | Sales return now accepts the reason for returns, which can be catalogued by the user. This reason is accepted for each item (in the case of partial returns) and once for the document in the case of a full or complete return. In addition to this, special emphasis has been given towards improving the user friendliness of the program. Towards this end, returned qty and value, both are displayed and a confirmation is obtained before clearing the transaction if ESCAPE key is pressed from the first entry in the returns screen. The data entry screens have been revised to make it more similar to billing. Also a running total value of the returned items is also displayed in the 23 line of the screen, while keying in the return details. In the case of partial returns, (if add-on/deductions are not applicable) any residue that may appear in these fields (as a result of round off) is initialized and NOT carried forward in the new bill. But please note that this initialization is NOT done if the full bill is returned. | | Improved Bill suspension methods | It is now possible to suspend up to 99 bills at a time and recalled later. In addition to this, option for printing the suspended bill's details has also been provided. The user has a choice on the method of assigning numbers to the suspended bills. This number can be generated by the system OR assigned by the user. If the user assigns this number, when billing program is invoked, it will first accept the suspended bill's number, load the details and continue with the normal operation. A number HAS TO be entered in this field. If details are not found with the entered suspension no, it will create a new entry with the user entered suspension number. This is typically useful in restaurants, where each table will have a number and the bills are made with respect to the table number. Provision is also given whereby the user can change the caption that has to be displayed while suspending or recalling the bills. Also, whether or not to print the suspended details is also provided. (For modification of these options : Use 'Bill suspension parameters under the Setup menu') | | Enhancements in billing, bill printing & reprinting | The size of customer code for retail environments has been enhanced to a maximum of 16 digits. The confirmation message in the cash-accepting screen has been enhanced to show the bill settlement mode also. Validation has been introduced to ensure that the amount paid for bills paid by credit card does not exceed the bill amount. Change due calculation logic has been slightly modified to take into account bill settlement thru gift vouchers. If the bill is settled thru gift vouchers, NO CHANGE DUE will be printed or recorded in the bill. (I.e., gift vouchers can't be redeemed for cash.) Note that the bill amount updated will be the actual bill amount and not the gift voucher amount. Printing of customer name & address is now enabled in this version (ONLY for 80 col. Stationery) Printing of customer code in the bill. | | Enhancements in the Credit Card handling | A new option for handling of rejected charge-slips is now available in this version. You can assign one of the system-defined reasons for the rejection of the charge-slip. Option for entering a round-off for each charge-slip during realization. The user can specify the maximum/minimum value this round-off can entertain. For e.g.: if the user decides that a round-off of + or - 5 can be applicable for a charge-slip, then if a round-off of more than 5 or less than 5 is given, the system will reject it. The submission module, which was skipping returned bills, has now been corrected to include them also when a submission is made. | | Bug-Fixes | Bug in the cancellation of an exchanged bill has been fixed. Bug in the updation of discount during sales return has been fixed. Bug in the re-print of credit bills in retail environment has been fixed. Printing of customer code and name in the cash-lift/pay-out options has been verified. | Corrections / Features specific for WHOLESALE Version | Different tax for the same item | An item in wholesale version can have different taxes associated with it. This is decided by the customer to whom the invoice is made. For e.g.: an item, say, a shirt which suffers 4.2% tax for a local customer, may suffer a different tax rate for a customer in another state. So the same item, when billed to two different customers should have different tax. The wholesale version of SHOPER supports this concept. Optionally, it is also possible to have a different bill series for bills made for each tax type. How this is it be done in SHOPER | Firstly the user defines the various tax types which is applicable in his system | | The tax codes are catalogued for each tax type defined. | | When defining a customer record, specify the tax type the customer belongs to. | | Subsequently, any bills made for that customer will use the tax rate of the tax type associated with the customer. | The pre-requisites for this feature to be enabled are:. | Customer Database should be active. | | For each tax type defined, make sure that the number of tax codes defined are same and is matching. For e.g.: if for tax code 01 of tax type 1, you've used to define the tax code associated with a stock number, say, 1, then all tax types' tax code 01 should be in such a way that it is relevant for the stock number 1. | | | Enhancements in Customer Database Module | Many changes have been incorporated in the wholesale version to effectively and efficiently handle the customer database module. Notable among them are: | Re-organization and revamping of the customer database module's screens | | Option for specifying the tax type to a customer. This tax type will be used for handling multiple taxes for the same item | | Option for specifying a customer's price factors and round-off - both his buying and selling. (The latter is significant ONLY during PT file creation) | | Provision for classifying customers in a group type having similar price factors and round-off. There is a separate cataloguing program to define the customer types and the price factors and round-off associated with it. | | It is possible to specify the transactions allowed for a customer. By default both issues and invoicing are allowed for all customers. The system can be configured to restrict sales OR issues for a customer. If only issues are to be allowed for a customer, it is further possible to specify one reason that is valid for the customer. (I.e., for that customer, only issues with the specified reason in the customer master will be allowed.) | | As a pre-requisite for creating PT files during invoicing, the customer's SHOPER company code (i.e., the Retail version of SHOPER used at the customer's shop), version and whether the customer's installation parameter is Tax inclusive or Exclusive, etc. are recorded during creation of the customer. Leave the SHOPER company code blank for not creating any PT file during invoicing for that customer. | | Browse has been provided for the available tax types, customer types, versions, etc. | | The customer list now lists information that is relevant for the wholesaler like the price factors, round-off, transporter details, etc. | | The on-line credit checking facility during invoicing has a provision to create new customer records, on the fly, in the financial accounting system, FINACT. | | Barcode tag generation has an option to print tags based on a customer's price factor or based on the invoices made to the customer (Note: This last option will be available only if the customer's SHOPER company code is non-blank). | | You can specify the default % for add-ons / deductions which are set as customer specific in the add-on / deduction catalogue. | | Option to skip the various screens in the CDB module during edit mode. | | | Printing of Issue documents in Invoice Format | Provision has been provided for printing the Miscellaneous Issue document in a format similar to the Invoice format. (For enabling this, in the Issue catalogue, set the 'Print document in bill format' to TRUE) | | Customer-wise Prices & Round-off | It is possible to have customer wise prices for the same item present in the stock. This is enabled in Miscellaneous issues also. For details refer notes on Customer Database Module. | | Enhancements in the add-ons/ Deductions | It is now possible to define whether an add-on / deduction should be applied before tax or not. If an add-on / deduction is defined as 'Before Tax' then the sales tax is re-computed after applying the add-on / deduction. NOTE! This feature will be available only if your system is set parameter is set as TAX EXCLUSIVE. Additionally, it is possible to decide the printing position of the add-on/deduction i.e., whether it should be before printing the tax OR after printing the tax. Option is also provided to define a default % for the add-on/deduction and whether this rate should be changeable during invoicing. Also, it is possible to define certain add-ons/deductions as customer specific. I.e., only for applicable customers will the add-on/deduction be used. These can be configured thru the Add-ons/deduction catalogue in the catalogue menu. Related to this, in the sales summary report, add-ons / deductions before tax is printed in a separate column, different from the general add-ons/ deductions. The same is applicable in the sales tax register also. | | Create PT files for loading from Invoicing & Misc. Issues | Wholesale version of SHOPER has a provision for creating PT files for loading during the invoice generation and from the menu also. A similar provision has been provided for Miscellaneous Issues also (provided, flat file creation for the reason is set to TRUE) Please Note: This feature is automatically disabled if the SHOPER company code specified for the customer is BLANK. It is possible to control the selling price at the customer's end (when the PT files are loaded in the retail version of SHOPER) by the selling price factor and round-off specified as a part of the customer master definition. The version of the PT file created is also taken from the customer master . | | Parameterised Purchase handling for overseas installation. | Handling of purchases is enhanced for overseas installations. Briefly, this involves: | Cataloguing of a local currency code, conversion rate, and the date of conversion rate. | | Conversion of the rates in the PT files to the local currency's equivalent. | | Using the local currency code catalogued in the invoice printing program (This is the only place where the string 'Rupees' is hard-coded). | | | Enhancements in field sizes | The L.R number field, which is accepted during invoicing, has been enhanced to record and print a 40-character string. The purchase reference that is accepted in the purchase entry modules has also been enhanced to accept a 40-character string. The same is printed in the audit trail also. | |
