Passport V 11.6 to 11.7 Upgrades and General Ledger

Posted on by ccsretail

RE:  Upgrades from Passport version 11.6 to 11.7 and General Ledger.

The upgrade utility upgrade routine may not automatically add new paths for two new files used in G/L Financial Statement processing.

After the version 11.7 software is installed and conversion processing has completed, run the Pathfinder (Pathfn.bat) utility.  This should only be done at a time when ALL users are out of the software.  The following needs to be manually added to the General Ledger paths for EACH existing Passport Company that you have on file:

General Ledger Program Path.

Add the new PROGRAM file  YRENDFS and program path GLOBJ\
 
General Ledger Data Path.

Add the new DATA file  TRXWRK and data path of GLXX\

Note: "GLXX" above represents the company data directory (folder) location for the G/L Data.   By default, this is "GL00" for single company users.

More information on the Path Finder Utility is contained in Chapter 10 of the Admin_PBS.PDF file, which is located in the "psidocs" folder on your version 11.7 CD Rom.  If you have any questions or concerns regarding the use of this utility, or if you need any further assistance, please contact the CCS Retail Systems Support department.

Passport Upgrades from RealWorld

Posted on by ccsretail

The current upgrade process from RealWorld version 8.0, 8.6, or 9.X, to Passport version 11.7, REQUIRES a multi-step process. This means that you need to go to Passport version 11.6 first, before going on to version 11.7.  There are specific steps that need to be followed along the way, and the data needs to be checked before moving to the next stage.

Normally, because of the complexity of such upgrades, CCS recommends that you have us do the upgrade work for you.  Even if you choose to do the work yourself, we always recommend that you create a test directory, and do a test upgrade first, checking the data at each stage, also making a backup of the entire installation directory at each stage…

While working with one recent customer’s MIS department, they ignored this advice and hurriedly ran through the upgrade steps, skipping certain processes without checking the data at each step.  This resulted in corrupted and unusable files at the completion of the process.  Luckily, this was only was "test" upgrade and not the “live” one, and they had made backups at each step.  This meant that the were able to just rerun the upgrade steps from Passport 11.6 to 11.7, rather than going all the way back to RealWorld version 8.6.

Starting with Passport version 11.7.9, Passport plans to have a new upgrade utility that will allow you to go directly from specific versions of RealWorld and older versions of Passport.  This should make future upgrades more seamless. This utility is now in Beta testing and should be available for public distribution sometime within the next couple of months.  We’ll keep up posted on this, so please check back here later for an update!

 

Proper Power Protection

Posted on by ccsretail

Proper Power Protection

One common oversight regarding computer installations is  related to not having proper power protection.  Normally, one should have UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) battery backups that are adequate to protect Servers and PC’s, as well associated hardware such as modems, network switches, etc. 

CCS also recommends this for both new and existing systems. Most current UPS systems allow for line conditioning, surge and brownout protection, as well as automated Server/PC shutdown capability (in the event of a complete power failure). 

I recollect one recent example involving a new system purchase, where the customer opted not to purchase a UPS for the primary CP SQL application server.  This was mainly over budgetary concerns.  During a particularly bad seasonal winter storm, they were having both erratic power fluctuations combined with complete outages for extended periods of time. 

The staff chose to leave the server running  during this time period.  At one point, the power went out several times while the server was powered up, causing the server to crash.  Subsequent ping-ponging power fluctuations caused the server to reboot repetitively.  These events resulted in damage to some critical operating system files.  The resulting support work required to recover the damage was almost equal to the cost of the originally quoted UPS.  

Being a firm believer in this technology, I also have my home Computer, Monitor, External Hard Drive, DSL Modem, Alarm System, and Telephones protected.  If you are interested in having your current systems reviewed for proper power protection, please contact the CCS Retail Systems Support Department.

Why Lease a Point of Sale System?

Posted on by ccsretail
Radiant Credit Services offers financing of your new Point of Sale System from CCS. This enables you to start benefiting from the cost-cutting and sales-boosting features of CounterPoint SQL without expending capital up front. Below are the reasons for taking advantage of such a program.

Conserving Capital
Equipment can be acquired without depleting capital that could be used for other business purposes. Also, productive assets can be obtained for the purpose of earning profits for your business when internal capital for purchasing equipment is not available.

New Line-Of-Credit
A lease-line can be viewed as another line-of-credit, which does not impact a company’s existing credit arrangement.

Fixed Rate Financing
Lease payments are fixed at the beginning of the lease for the entire term. Fluctuations in market rates have no impact. Therefore, budget and cash flow planning are made easier.

Full 100% Financing
No down payment is required on a lease. A small advance rental is generally sufficient. Radiant Credit Services is not limited to the financing of "equipment only". They can finance all of the services provided by your equipment vendor including:
+ Hardware                                 + Delivery
+Software                                   + Installation & Programming
+ Training                                    + Service & Support
+Networking                               + Many other needed components!

Use vs. Ownership
In many cases, it is the use of the equipment, not its ownership, which is the important element in its value to a business. The risk of technical obsolescence may make the additional costs of ownership unjustified, and the flexibility that leasing provides may be lost without benefit.

Tax & Accounting Considerations
Lease payments are usually fully deductible expenses over the term of the lease, and many times provide a quicker cost recovery than is possible with the depreciation of a purchase asset. Depreciation expense for purchased equipment enters into the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) calculation, and leasing equipment instead of owning it may help your company avoid a tax liability resulting from the AMT. Leasing can allow you to take advantage of off-balance sheet accounting, which can have a positive effect on your bottom line.

Payments Tailored to Your Needs
In most cases Radiant Credit Services is able to offer the following:
+ Even Payment Plan – A set monthly payment for the lease term that you choose
+ Quarterly Payment Plan – Lease payments are made every 90 days.
+ Deferred Payment Plan – Equipment can be installed with no payment due for 30-90 days.
+ Seasonal Payments – For three months of the year, there are no lease payments followed by a fixed payment for the remaining nine months.

And perhaps the Most Important reason leasing allows you to pay for the cost of the equipment with the proceeds of your enhanced operations and improved cash flow.  When viewed this way the CounterPoint Investment can be viewed as a very low cost with a high pay back.

 

When You Call For Support

Posted on by ccsretail

When you call for support at CCS, your call will be more quickly processed if you have certain critical information at hand.  A work ticket is created from this information for the technician who will help you with your problem.  The following list shows what is needed.

     1.  Your name and telphone number
     2.  The name of your company
     3.  A brief description of the problem, i.e., the system is down, a printer won’t 
          print, overnight processing failed, scanner won’t scan, etc.
     4.  The location where the problem is occurring
     5.  Contact name and telephone number if different from your own

Having this information ready when you first call helps us to help you more efficiently!

Avoiding Repetition on Support Calls

Posted on by ccsretail

Sometimes it will be necessary for you to return a call from a technician who has been helping you with a support issue that has not yet been completed.  To avoid having to repeat the details of the initial call, you may just give your name, company name, and the number of the current work order.

This number is assigned on your initial call and can be requested from your technician.  If it is not mentioned, just ask!

CounterPoint V7 Can Save You Paper

Posted on by ccsretail

Over the last month or so, I have noticed a lot of customers are doing their end of year inventory counts, and other tax preparation reports (and rightly so).  I have received a few calls from customers that only want the totals or a certain category from some of the reports that they print that are hundreds or more pages long.

CounterPoint V7 has a way of doing this.  First you will need to print the report to disk so it shows up in System/Spooled Reports instead of directly to a printer.  Once this is done go to System/Spooled Reports and find your report.  Press the "F1" key to bring up the what I like to call the "Page Range" box.  From here you can press the "F2" key to allow you to type in the range of the pages you would like to print. 

For example if you only want to print page 6 you would type in 6 for both the starting page # and ending page # and only page 6 would print for that 150+ page Historical Valuation report.     If you need more than 1 copy, press the "F4" to change the number of copies that print.

By printing reports to disk and only printing the page or pages that are needed can save you from printing 100’s of pages of a report where you only need 1 page or a range of pages.  Also by printing to disk you can go back and look or print other pages as many times as you need without having to run the report again. 

If you need further help with this or have any other questions about reports or Physical Count/Inventory Counts, please email me at support@ccscentral.com or call the CCS Retail Systems Support Dept. at 800-672-4806

Have a great dayalt

Retaining Loyal Customers

Posted on by ccsretail

Most of you are already aware that it’s far more expensive to try and generate new customers, than it is to keep the ones that you already have. Retaining loyal customers is especially important during times of economic uncertainty…

There are some good software tools available that allow you to tune your software. These tools allow you to make it more customer friendly, generate more sales, and keep your existing customer’s coming back for more.

Just some of options available to with CCS software products are:

For CounterPoint users:
 

  • Creating a Customer Loyalty Program along with customized customer loyalty cards.
  • Item Price rules for specific groups or associations.
  • Creating and using "3 for the price of 2" type Price Codes.
  • Using Store Credits and Gift Certificates/Gift Cards.


For CounterPoint and Passport users.

Using various Inventory management and Sales reports in order understand what’s really going on with your inventory levels. This might include determining if you are carrying enough of the right products, if your stocking levels are adequate, if you are overstocked, whats selling and what’s not, and/or determining if your items priced competitively.
Target marketing via custom mailing lists or email lists of customers based on various criteria such as: 
 

  • Customer’s from a certain Zip Code.
  • Customer’s in a specific tax jurisdiction.
  • Customer’s who purchased certain item within a specific data range.
  • Customer’s who have no sales activity as of a specific cut-off date.
  • Or a combination of any of the above, and more.

 

If you would like to pursue any or all of the above options, please contact the CCS Retail Systems support department for assistance.

 

 

The importance of shutting down

Posted on by ccsretail

Shutting down your PC, instead of just turning off the power, is very important.  It is even more important to properly shut down a server.

The reason for this, is that your PC has several files open, even when you do not have any windows open.  These are mostly scratch files that the operating system is using.  However, files such as the Windows registry, are also open.  (The Windows registry is what controls how Windows will work, security, access, etc.)

If you turn the power off, instead of shutting down, then these files are not closed properly.  The risk with this is that any of these files that are open, may become corrupt.  A corrupt Windows registry, may make your PC unusable.  Corrupt data files in Counterpoint may result in lost data (in other words, if the file can’t be repaired, it may have to be restored from a backup, and everything that you have done since the backup will be gone!).

The proper way to shut down a Windows PC, is to click on the "Start" button.  What you do after that will differ, depending on how Windows is setup on your PC.  You may have the option to shutdown on the pop-up menu.  If you do, obviously that is what you select.  If you do not, then select the "logoff" option, and you will have the option to shutdown there.

If you have an SCO UNIX system, you will need to log in as "root".  Once you are logged in as "root" (you will get a "#" prompt), type in "shutdown -y -g0", and the shutdown will start.  If you want to delay the shutdown, to give people time to log off, the "-g" option is the "grace period (in minutes)".  So, for example, if you wanted to allow five minutes for people to log off, "shutdown -y -g5" would be the appropriate command.  The "-y" option is simply a "yes I want to shutdown" confirmation.  Otherwise UNIX will confirm that you really want to shut down.

I hope that this clears up any questions you have on the proper way to shut down your computers.  If you still have any questions, or if there is anything else that I can help you with, please call the office.