Customers can check accounts payable balances, order status and order history, research product specifications and availability, pricing and more at their convenience.
In addition, they can search for specific attributes and get a customized catalog view that displays pricing information specific to their account. Freedom Series/ec21 can be customized to include other business processes that support individual business requirements.
On-line, Remote Order Entry by Customer
Freedom Series/ec21 was a pioneer in order entry by customers. Since its introduction, Freedom Series/ec21 has provided a gateway for your customers to access your system from their place of business. This gateway gives your customers access to a special version of on-line Order Entry that gives you control and precludes your customers from seeing sensitive information. At your discretion customers may view inventory availability, place sales orders, inquiry on these orders, maintain customer item cross reference information and maintain their retail price information. You provide added value to your customers while actually reducing support costs!
Utilizing IBM's Link Protocol Converter with your System i, your customer can establish communications from a PC. Customers with other kinds of mid-range or mainframe computers can also establish communications using one the System i's built in communication protocols.
Utilizing AT&T's Global Network (AGN) with your System i, your customers and sales staff can establish communications via an Intranet link. This link allows secure access to data with the simple point-and-click interface provided by a wide range of commercial browsers.
Using a combination of System i and Freedom Series/ec21 security features, your customer is safeguarded from inadvertently harming your system or any of your data.
Remote Order Entry Using a Hand-Held Device
In use within the distribution industry for nearly 20 years now, hand-held order entry devices are still a popular and efficient means to collect sales orders and transmit them to the Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Order System. These devices (made by Telxon, NCR, Handheld, and others) are small, user programmable computers that, when used with Freedom Series/ec21, are capable of handling your most complex order entry requirements. Whether used by your outside sales representative or placed in the hands of your customers, these devices can be an excellent addition to your total system solution.
Portable, Bar Code Capable
Because the hand-held devices are so light weight and small, they can go where your sales representative or customer needs to go to work up an order--a storeroom, walking the shelves of a retail store, or out to a storage yard. These devices are capable of scanning bar codes, so they reduce errors in order entry and speed the process by scanning bar codes on products, bin labels, pre-printed order forms or even your catalog.
Think of these hand-held order entry devices as store and forward machines: as the order information is entered into the device it is stored in its memory. Then when convenient, 24 hours a day, your sales representative or customer can call your computer and transmit the orders stored in the device over normal voice telephone lines. Your computer can, using voice response, notify the caller when the transmission was successful and give reference numbers for later use if questions about the orders arise.
Freedom Series/ec21 can be configured to accept, validate, and process orders received from hand-held devices without operator intervention. If hand-held order entry devices are part of your current operation or you want them to be in the future, Freedom Series/ec21 provides the features and functions you need to take advantage of this cost and labor saving technology.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
Over the last decade distributors have seen the growth of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) as the means of communicating business documents, especially orders, between trading partners. EDI is a timely, cost effective, computer-to-computer methodology which is becoming a necessary part of doing business. Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the means to start or grow your utilization of EDI in every phase of your communications with customers, suppliers, and freight handlers.
Different industries have developed over the years different formats that your various business documents (Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, etc.) must be in for common use by your trading partners. Freedom Series/ec21 supports all the standard formats used within the distribution industry and provides the tools to implement new formats or change existing standards if necessary.
Most EDI documents are moved between business partners using an EDI network provider as an intermediary. The network provider solves the problems different computers have communicating with each other, and the network eliminates the need for you to have sufficient data lines to handle the volume that could result if all trading partners communicated directly with each other. Whether you use a network provider or direct communications with your trading partners, Freedom Series/ec21 includes the software to handle all your EDI communications needs.
On-line by Your Sales Representative or Customer Service Representative
Although many or even most of your orders may enter the Sales Order System by one of the methods already discussed, there will always be a need for you to enter orders on-line. The Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Order System provides a flexible, fast and intuitive on-line sales order entry function that has received Malcolm Baldrige award winning status. If on-line entry of sales orders is your primary or only means of order entry, in Freedom Series/ec21 you will have a powerful tool for improving customer service--reducing people, time and cost--and increasing sales.
One Screen - One Pass
The Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Order System gives you the ability to enter your sales orders from one screen. There is no bouncing from screen-to-screen to enter the order in the system. From one screen you will be able to identify the customer, enter the items and quantities, do inquiries into price and availability and handle most exception conditions.
From the Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Order Entry primary screen you can enter stock items, non-stock items, items that need to be shipped from a different warehouse or from the manufacturer, items for future delivery, items that have special payment terms and other exception conditions--then Freedom Series/ec21 in One Pass creates as many different Sales Orders as necessary to accommodate the various conditions. No more entering separate orders by your people, Freedom Series/ec21 handles it for you.
Telemarketing
One Screen - One Pass sales order entry is the foundation for many Freedom Series/ec21 features designed to support your telemarketing efforts. Sales Order Entry is carefully crafted for ease of use and speed. The features discussed below ensure speed and accuracy in your high volume telemarketing operation.
The extensive use of windows to display information about stock status, substitutions, and P.O.'s is just one example of how Freedom Series/ec21 rapidly provides the information you need. Freedom Series/ec21 also uses windows to display customer and item specific information your telemarketers need to be successful. From displays of customer preferences, to reminders about complementary items, to scripts to help your people sell more, Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the tools you need.
Whether you are looking for a customer based on a telephone number or trying to identify an item from its description, Freedom Series/ec21 search facilities are fast and simple to use. Then, when you find the information you are looking for, Freedom Series/ec21 adds it to the order automatically.
With IBM's Call Path installed on your System i, Freedom Series/ec21 can automatically identify the calling customer, start the sales order for you and display the customer information window immediately. No wasted steps, your people are ready to sell.
Handles All Types of Sales Orders
To meet customer demands, distributors must handle sales orders in many ways. Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the ability to handle these various sales order situations easily and efficiently. For most distributors, the majority of orders are filled from their inventory. Your sales representative and customer service personnel must be able to handle these routine orders quickly and accurately. The Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Order System is designed to let you process the routine order with a minimum of effort, but with the flexibility to handle the non-routine. Besides the normal sales order that you will fill from your inventory, Freedom Series/ec21 also provides for the following other sales order handling requirements.
Dropships
Items that must be dropshipped from your supplier to your customer because you are out of stock, don't stock the item, or for convenience are easily handled in Freedom Series/ec21. The need to place the P.O. with your supplier, credit checking, and the other unique requirements of dropship processing are all Freedom Series/ec21 specialties. Automatic ties to Purchasing from the Sales Order System have been developed for ease of use.
Futures
Sales Orders that need to be delivered on a specific, future date are easily accomplished in Freedom Series/ec21.
Pool/Booking Orders
If you pre-book seasonal or promotional sales orders, then pool these orders to purchase the merchandise from your suppliers, you will find that Freedom Series/ec21 handles your needs from creation of special order forms, through Purchase Order creation, receiving, and sales order release and shipment.
Ship Complete - Tag & Hold Orders
Some customers want the entire order delivered complete and at one time. Freedom Series/ec21 provides the necessary functions that you need to tag and hold merchandise as it is available for a Ship Complete order.
Desktop Delivery
When individual lines of an order must be delivered to different departments or individuals you may use the Freedom Series/ec21 DeskTop Delivery option to segregate the information and create the required delivery documents without the need to enter separate orders. The delivery information can be carried forward into picking, packing and invoicing routines.
Agent Direct or Agent Consigned Orders
Many distributors have exclusive territorial agreements with their suppliers and may have to track merchandise that is ordered, shipped or consigned directly from their supplier to their customer or to them for their customer. These distributors want to make sure that the database of sales information includes these kinds of transactions, and just as importantly track, and claim, commissions due the distributor. Freedom Series/ec21 provides you the capability to handle these complex transactions accurately but with a simplicity that you will want for your company.
Your Company Personality and Sales Orders
Over the years, distributors have developed their own business policies and practices based on any number of factors including the size and location of warehouses and sales offices, the needs of their customers, the types of merchandise they sell, and the personality of the owners, managers, and employees. These policies, procedures and practices develop into a company culture or personality. Freedom Series/ec21 is designed to accommodate your company's personality. You can implement Freedom Series/ec21 without having to change your company personality. However, if you believe change is warranted, Freedom Series/ec21 will give you the means to make the changes that are in your interest.
When it comes to the Sales Order System, there are many choices that you can make that determine how the system will operate for you. These choices, when recorded in Freedom Series/ec21 control files, will mold the Sales Order System to your company personality.
Locations
Freedom Series/ec21 will work equally well for the single or multiple location distributor. The design of Freedom Series/ec21 anticipates that your business practices may vary somewhat from location to location, and therefore most processing options can be set both at the company and location level. The location level processing choices take precedent in Freedom Series/ec21, so only the processing options that are particular to a location need to be addressed when Freedom Series/ec21 is installed.
Freedom Series/ec21 recognizes that some company locations are sales offices only and carry no inventory. There are several special processing options for this situation, including the set-up of the sales office relationship to a shipping warehouse. The traditional distribution warehouse where both sales and inventory are handled is, of course, accommodated.
Freedom Series/ec21 also allows the creation of logical locations. A logical location does not physically exist, but is always associated with a physical location. It is merely a processing device used to treat inventory assigned to the logical location differently than the rest of the inventory at the physical location.
One of the features of Freedom Series/ec21 allows you to prevent merchandise assigned to a location from being sold. Therefore, a logical location could be set up for quality inspection of received merchandise (either from the supplier or returns from customers) before it is transferred to the associated physical location. This feature is also particularly helpful in handling warranty returns.
Credit Limits & Credit Checking
Since accounts receivable is typically a distributor's first or second largest asset, the Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Order System provides several features to give more control of this asset. For example, dropship sales orders are handled outside the routine order processing by many distributors, therefore the value of dropship sales orders are not reflected as part of a customer's liability to the distributor and credit limits can easily be circumvented. This problem does not arise in Freedom Series/ec21 because dropship sales orders are handled by the Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Order System.
The Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Order System checks credit limits continuously during on-line entry as each line is entered and notifies the person entering the order that the sales order will exceed the customer's credit limit. The system does not prevent the entry of the sales order, but the notification can enable your people to take appropriate actions like offer C.O.D., participate in the collections effort, or report the problem sales order to the collections department.
A default credit limit to be assigned a new customer can be set at the company or location level. This default credit limit is usually set very low and ensures that when a new customer is added your credit policies will be enforced by the Sales Order System until your credit department has the opportunity to establish an individual limit for the customer.
At the company or location level, you can elect to use or not use the Sales Order System credit checking function. When used, Freedom Series/ec21 compares the customer's A/R balance plus current order value to the customer's credit limit to check credit. Provision is made in the Sales Order System for the addition of other credit checking algorithms depending upon your need. The creation of your own credit checking methods does not require a knowledge of programming.
When a sales order fails the credit check, it is reported on-line to the person entering the order and appears on credit department reporting. You may also elect--at the company or location level--to hold sales orders that fail credit checking. Sales orders on credit hold are easily identified in Freedom Series/ec21 and special functions for the review and release of these orders are provided. Special security is provided to ensure that only authorized individuals can release credit held sales orders.
The Split Order feature within Freedom Series/ec21 allows you to partially release a held order, providing you a powerful tool in credit negotiations.
Payment Terms
Your normal payment terms can be set at the company or location level. The normal payment terms are applied to sales orders automatically. These normal payment terms can be replaced by special payment terms associated with a customer, a contract, or a promotional offer. The payment terms can also be entered manually during on-line sales order entry.
Freedom Series/ec21 accommodates all the payment terms common to the distribution industry and many not so common. The major categories of payment terms handled by Freedom Series/ec21 are:
Net
A net payment term with the invoice total due on a specific future date is supported, and Freedom Series/ec21 provides a number of different ways in which to calculate the due date.
Cash Discounts
Freedom Series/ec21 provides the means for you to offer a cash discount for early payment. You have complete control of the discount amount and discount date, as well as the invoice due date.
Split Terms
Freedom Series/ec21 provides the ability to allow an invoice to be paid in any number of equal or unequal installments. Cash discount and discount dates can be associated with each installment if desired.
Anticipation
Anticipation discounts, where the discount is greater the earlier the customer pays the invoice, are supported by Freedom Series/ec21 and can be a powerful incentive to the customer. For example, an invoice due 90 days after the invoice date could include a 6% discount if paid 60 or more days prior to the due date and a 3% discount if paid 30 to 59 days early. Anticipation terms can have very positive cash flow affect.
Credit Cards
There are special functions in Freedom Series/ec21 for credit card terms and the handling of sales orders that are paid by credit cards. The person entering the order is prompted for the credit card information and can even indicate that more than one card is being used to pay for the order. Credit card orders can be placed on hold pending credit card approval. Special functions are provided for the entry of approval numbers and the release of credit card held orders by authorized personnel. Freedom Series/ec21 also includes the features necessary to transmit credit card information to an outside service to obtain card approval and to deposit card receipts. When invoiced, both the sales order and payment information is passed to the Accounts Receivable System.
C.O.D and Pre-paid Terms
Freedom Series/ec21 also handles C.O.D. terms and, when used with the UPS manifesting system, will produce the C.O.D. tags and record the Control Number. The Control Number can be used to identify the invoice being paid when payment is received from UPS.
Payments received with the order are easily handled. The payment record accompanies the invoice record when posted by the system in Accounts Receivable. Freedom Series/ec21 can even be set to produce C.O.D. amounts for under-payments or write refund checks for over-payments.
Calculating Cash Discounts and Due Dates
Freedom Series/ec21 includes many different ways to calculate discount and due dates. These dates can be set as a number of days or months after invoice date, you may assign specific invoice due and cash discount dates, Prox and end-of-month dating is supported as well.
Sales Taxes
Although sales taxes are not an issue for many distributors because of their position in the distribution channel, some distributors sell almost exclusively to consumers and must collect sales taxes on almost every sale. Even those distributors who don't normally deal with sales taxes find reporting a problem when items are sold to employees or to customers for personal use. Additionally, the Supreme Court has ruled that companies could be made liable, based on individual state laws, for sales taxes due states to which the distributor ships merchandise.
Freedom Series/ec21 is flexible enough to handle all the routine as well as exception tax conditions. You can set the normal sales tax process at the company or location level and exceptions for customers or items can be handled. Rates for an unlimited number of taxing authorities can be set in the system and be applied based on the customer's location or the shipping location. Whether sales taxes are not an issue for you except in a few special conditions, or you routinely ship to Louisiana where there are an average of eight taxing authorities for each customer, Freedom Series/ec21 can apply and report the correct sales taxes, helping you avoid potential problems or even penalties.
Freight Methods & Charges
How you ship merchandise and how you charge for delivery are two additional factors that make up your company or location personality. Freedom Series/ec21 includes a full UPS manifesting system which handles freight rating of each of the UPS services, C.O.D.'s, A.O.D.'s, over size packages, ground saver and insurance. This manifesting system can also be used for other package services, like RPS, USPS and Federal Express, and common carriers.
Freedom Series/ec21 also provides for those distributors who operate their own truck fleet. Freight charges can be calculated as a percent of the sales order value, with the ability to discount the freight, and to apply stop charges. Whether you use outside carriers or do your own deliveries, you will find the features you need to control your freight costs and revenue in Freedom Series/ec21.
Pricing
How you price merchandise is probably the single most important decision you make as a distributor. No other factor has as much impact on competitiveness and profitability. Freedom Series/ec21 provides you with the tools to price simply or creatively, to control pricing to ensure profitability, and to use your pricing policies as a competitive advantage.
Freedom Series/ec21 covers the entire gamut of pricing, from wholesalers who price very simply to those requiring extremely sophisticated pricing techniques. You may price merchandise at your cost and then add back the cost of services and freight as separate items on the invoice. Freedom Series/ec21 supports quantity breaks at the item and merchandise category level, price levels or groups, contracts, and promotions. Prices can be set as mark-ups from cost, discounts from base (list), or based on gross margin requirements.
Service Charges
Many distributors are making the distinction between the cost of merchandise and the cost of the services they provide their customers. Traditionally, the gross margin of an item had to support the distributor's cost of doing business and profit. Increasingly, distributors are unbundling their services, reducing item prices and charging separately for services the customer wants. If this is how you do business today or can see possibilities in your market, Freedom Series/ec21 can support this market approach.
Product Authority
Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the ability to restrict the sale of specific items to one customer or a limited number of customers. This may be because you stock private label merchandise, want to reserve specific lots or batches for a particular customer, or simply because the item is in short supply and you expect it to stay that way. Freedom Series/ec21 gives you control in these or similar situations, ensuring that product only goes to those customers that you have authorized to purchase it.
Small Order Charges
Given the economics of processing a sales order, many distributors have chosen to institute a surcharge on small dollar value orders as an incentive to their customers to increase order size. Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the ability to institute a small order charge, but provides the flexibility to exempt a customer from this type of charge.
Minimum Order Amount
Another sales order related policy supported by Freedom Series/ec21 is Minimum Orders. If invoked, Freedom Series/ec21 puts orders failing to reach the minimum order threshold on hold. When customers call to place new orders, Freedom Series/ec21 will inform you if there is an order on hold so that you can add to it. You also retain the ability to manually release, with proper authority, the order even if it does not reach the minimum. If your best customer happens to place an order that failed to exceed the threshold, you can cause the order to be processed anyway. Again, Freedom Series/ec21 provides a tool to enforce a productivity enhancing policy, but the tool is flexible enough to handle real world situations.
Export Requirements
A number of additional requirements for documentation and processing are necessary to handle the export of merchandise. Freedom Series/ec21 fully supports these requirements, but the special export screens that support the export requirements are only displayed during Sales Order Entry if you desire.
The special export screens provide the ability to record the Inland Freight Carrier, the Port of Exit, the Ocean Carrier, the Port of Destination and the Consular Declarations. You also have the ability to enter instructions for the Freight Forwarder, instructions about special markings that need to be on the containers, and instructions about insurance. Instructions can be set up as Standard Comments and pulled into an order, reducing data entry requirements.
You can record information about the customer's Letter of Credit and the issuing bank, and use the letter of credit number to look up the sales order. You also have the ability to handle any agent commissions and can even record your customer's import license information and produce a pre-invoice for the customer's use in obtaining an import license from the appropriate government.
Freedom Series/ec21 also handles foreign currency transactions. You may invoice and record sales in Accounts Receivable in a foreign currency. These transactions are recorded in the general ledger in US dollars (if that's the normal currency you use) based on the exchange rate the day of the transaction. When the invoice is paid, any gain or loss due to changes in the exchange rate are calculated and posted by Freedom Series/ec21. Additionally, Accounts Receivable balances can be reported by country to give you the information you need to make decisions about the extension of further credit.
Serial Numbers
It is necessary for many distributors to track the movement of individual items through serial numbers because of warranty or legal requirements. Freedom Series/ec21 fully supports serial number tracking from receipt, through sale, return from customer, return to vendor for warranty work and eventually back to the customer. Freedom Series/ec21 is very complete in this area and customers who use this facility have fully met the requirements of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF).
Backorders
If your company policy includes backorders, Freedom Series/ec21 has the flexibility and power to handle these difficult transactions. Freedom Series/ec21 provides the necessary links to Purchasing to ensure that backorders are considered when placing orders, allows you to stop backorders for a customer or item, allows you to backorder promotional sales orders only, and provides a number of manual and automatic backorder release methods.
Margin Checking
To help ensure your profitability, Freedom Series/ec21 can include gross margin checking on every line of every sales order. The system allows for the creation of an acceptable margin range at the company, location, and customer level. The system can be set to simply warn you of a margin exception or to hold an order until the exception is cleared. The Margin Checking feature can be an important part of your overall control of pricing and profitability.
Licenses
If you handle products--from chemicals to guns--that require the buyer to have a current license or licenses to buy the product, Freedom Series/ec21 has the tools necessary to monitor and enforce license checking. Freedom Series/ec21 will help you stay in compliance with all federal (DEA, ATF, etc.), state, and local regulations in this important area.
Automatic Dropships
One of the innovative features of Freedom Series/ec21 is the ability to indicate that certain items should be dropshipped, instead of shipped from stock, when the value or quantity of the item warrants dropship processing. This feature can increase profitability of certain items because of freight, handling cost or price considerations of large orders for the item. Automatic Dropships are just one more way Freedom Series/ec21 can be tuned to your company personality to ensure that it fits your business needs.
Divisions
Many distributors are in more than one line of trade. Some distributors organize into divisions, each division handling different product types. These divisions often have very different policies and practices--different personalities. This usually is not a problem when the different divisions have totally different customers. But, if the different divisions have customers in common, most systems cannot cleanly handle the distributor's business. These systems will cause the distributor to set up separate customer records for the same customer or some other such work-around -- not Freedom Series/ec21. Freedom Series/ec21 is designed to let different divisions share the same customers and locations while maintaining the individual personality of each division.
Customer Personality and Sales Orders
Just as a company and its various divisions and locations can each have a different personality, the business relationship you have with an individual customer can have a unique personality. Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the ability to tailor many of your business practices to each customer. This ability gives you the control you need to ensure high customer satisfaction with your services. Most customers, after price and fill rate, name the ease of doing business with the distributor as the reason they pick a supplier. These factors may include pricing the order as agreed, shipping as requested, consistently providing the customer's P.O. number on documents, and using the customer's item number for products.
Starting an Order - Customer Search
In Freedom Series/ec21, a customer number represents each customer and the customer's unique characteristics. Of course the person entering a sales order must be able to easily identify the customer, therefore the Freedom Series/ec21 Customer Search feature provides several keys with which you can to find the correct customer record.
Customer Search Keys
Customers can be identified in Freedom Series/ec21 by all or part of the customer name, the customer's city, state, phone number or zip code. This search capability is quick and easy, and once you have found the correct customer record it is automatically placed on the sales order for you. The search capability by phone number, when used with IBM's Call Path system, can provide automatic customer identification when the customer calls you.
Customer Unique Practices and Requirements
The following features can be uniquely set for a specific customer, or can be replacements to policies set at the company or location level.
Authorized Buyers
You can help your customer control his own buying process using the Authorized Buyers feature. Using this feature, you can record the names of the buyers your customer authorizes to buy from you. You can also indicate a maximum order value that they can place with you, a maximum number of orders they can place over a given period of time, and a maximum total value of all orders they can place over a time period. The Sales Order System will prevent you from violating the customer's desires without manual intervention by your management in consultation with the customer. This service can make you the distributor of choice for many large customers.
Retail Services
If you are a wholesale distributor serving retailers, Freedom Series/ec21 allows you to offer several services to your customers. Freedom Series/ec21 can maintain the customer's retail prices, maintain the customer's numbers for products, produce price stickers and bin labels for ordered merchandise including bar codes, and use customer specific or generic encryption methods to make the wholesale price unreadable to consumers. Through remote customer access you can actually have customers maintaining these files themselves. There are provisions for the automatic charging for price stickers or bin labels if desired and support of separate print styles for each customer. These features coupled with the ability to handle customer sales order entry by remote on-line, hand-held devices or EDI make for a complete offering of retail services that will help you keep and attract new customers.
Purchase Orders
Freedom Series/ec21 allows you to record your customer's Purchase Order number and date on your sales order. Additionally, Freedom Series/ec21 can be set so that for a particular customer the entry of a Purchase Order number is mandatory. The Sales Order System will simply not let you end a new order without a Purchase Order number. The same can be true for a Job Number. Job Numbers, common in the construction industries, can be used by your customer who wants to develop accurate job costing.
Because many customers who require these numbers on your invoices will not pay your invoices without them, this feature can also be a significant contributor to reduced A/R and improved cash flow.
Sales Representatives
Up to three sales representatives, by division, can be assigned to a customer. Freedom Series/ec21 tracks each sales order, reports historical sales by sales representative, and calculates commissions for each sales representative. Commission rates do not have to be the same for each sales representative assigned to a customer.
Credit & Payment Terms
Your standard credit and payment terms can be individualized for a customer, by division. Although your standard terms may be 2% 10 Net 30, they can be entirely different for a particular customer.
Sales Taxes
The customer's sales tax status can be recorded and applied by Freedom Series/ec21. This includes recording a customer's tax exempt status or only taxing personal use items if the customer is normally tax exempt. For those customer's from whom you need to collect sales taxes, Freedom Series/ec21 can handle an unlimited number of taxing authorities.
Freight Methods & Charges
Exceptions to your normal delivery method can be recorded for a customer. For example, your normal method may be UPS Ground Service, but a particular group of customers physically close to your warehouse are delivered by your own truck. These exceptions can be recorded for your customers and the Sales Order System ensures that sales orders properly reflect these differences.
Pricing
Freedom Series/ec21 allows you to price customers differently using one or more of the pricing options. In particular, Freedom Series/ec21 supports contract pricing for a customer. Freedom Series/ec21 can ensure that each and every sales order is priced as agreed and avoid both the costs associated with correcting inaccurate invoices and the ill will caused by improperly priced orders.
Service Charges
Freedom Series/ec21 allows you to implement a two tiered Order Service Charge that is calculated as a percent of the order value. You can establish this policy at the company or location level, but Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the freedom to record exceptions to the general policy at the customer level, by division.
Product Authority
If you sell products that have restricted availability, such as private label merchandise, you will be able to indicate those customers eligible to purchase restricted products.
Small Order Charges
A threshold and charge for small orders can be set at the company or location level in Freedom Series/ec21. You may also record exceptions to that policy for a customer by exempting the customer from the charge entirely, changing the threshold, or changing the amount of the charge.
Backorders
If you have a general policy of backordering items that you are not able to immediately fill, you can indicate those customers who do not want their merchandise backordered. This is another example of Freedom Series/ec21 providing you with the tools to ensure excellent customer relations.
Margin Checks
The Sales Order System can be set to ensure that the gross margin of each line on an order falls within an acceptable range. This acceptable range is recorded at the company or location level, but you also have the flexibility to record an exception range at the customer level. This facility helps ensure that sales orders from those customers with unique pricing arrangements are priced correctly.
Licenses
If you sell products that your customers are required to be licensed to buy and sell, Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the tools to record the necessary license information such as the customer's license number and the expiration date of the license. The Sales Order System ensures that if an order includes products requiring licenses that the customer placing the order has the required licenses and that the licenses are current.
Item Characteristics and Sales Orders
When creating new sales orders, the simple entry of an item number and quantity causes a number of actions by the Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Order System. These actions include inventory allocation, pricing the item, checking the margin, checking product restrictions, checking license requirements, checking for automatic dropship, and many others. These various actions are the personality of your company and its divisions, locations, and customers. And these actions are influenced by the item's characteristics.
Multiple Entries Accepted for Item Number
One of the special features of the Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Order System is that it does not require you to enter your assigned item number for a product, but will accept other entries to identify the item.
Your Item Number
Like all systems built for distributors, Freedom Series/ec21 keeps track of items based on a unique item number assigned when the item is added to the system's database. Item numbers in Freedom Series/ec21 are alphanumeric and can be up to 20 characters long. The Sales Order System, of course, accepts this number on any order.
Customer's Item Number
Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the facility to record your customer's item numbers for the products you carry. Once recorded, these customer item numbers become available for printing on documents and reports. Also, these numbers can be used during order entry. This feature eliminates redundant searches of the item database when you are working from your customer's P.O. that only has his item numbers or taking an order over the phone.
UPC
Today, UPC codes appear on almost all consumer products. Freedom Series/ec21 accepts UPC codes, instead of your item number, during Sales Order Entry. In a counter sales environment, you can even scan the UPC using a device attached to the terminal.
Aliases - Common or Competitor Item Numbers
Many products have one or more common names or nomenclatures. For example, people in the military called that little can opener that came with "C Rations" a P38. In the Pentagon's vast purchasing bureaucracy that little can opener has an item number that has to be used when making purchases, but wouldn't it be nice just to use P38. That's the idea behind aliases. Freedom Series/ec21 allows you to record any number of aliases for each item in the item database. These aliases can then be used during sales order entry. If two or more products have the same alias, the system displays a window showing all the items that match the alias entered.
Item Search Capability
Although the Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Order System accepts four different types of entry to identify the item being ordered, there can still be occasions when it is necessary to search for the correct item. Therefore, Freedom Series/ec21 provides a quick and easy item search capability.
Description
You can search for items in Freedom Series/ec21 using the item's description, which is up to 110 characters long. Freedom Series/ec21 uses a word search method. A word to Freedom Series/ec21 is any string of letters, numbers or special characters that is followed by a space. In the description, '12oz Claw Hammer, Steel Handle, Forged Head', 12oz would be considered a word and could be used as part of the search key.
Vendor Name or Number
You can search for an item by the Vendor's Name or Number from whom you buy the product. Freedom Series/ec21 will present you with a list of the products you buy from the vendor from which to choose.
Vendor's Part Number or Description
The search for an item can be initiated by the entry of the Vendor's Part Number or the Vendor's Description for an item.
Merchandise Category
Because many distributors categorize their inventory, you can also start an item search by entering the category number that you want to search. For example, if you were trying to find a particular cordless drill, you could start the search with the category number for Electric Hand Tools.
Adding the Item to the Sales Order
After you enter one of the search arguments, Freedom Series/ec21 presents a list of all items matching your request. This display allows you to find the correct item(s) and even allows you to enter the quantity for the selected item or items. When you return to the sales order display, all the items you selected and any quantities you entered are automatically added to the sales order.
Using the Order Template
The list of items that match your request can be further refined by electing to view only those items previously purchased by the customer. This Order Template provides a powerful tool by focusing on the history for specific customers.
Item Inquiry During Sales Order Entry
Often during sales order entry, the customer will ask price and availability questions. Freedom Series/ec21 lets you get to the information you need by entering a one character code. Each piece of information listed below is readily available to your sales representatives and customer service representatives.
On-Hand & Availability Inquiry
The item stock status inquiry comes in two versions. The first version simply lists the quantity available at each stocking warehouse. The second version is more in depth and displays, for each warehouse, the quantity on-hand, allocated, backordered, available, pending transfer, and on order from suppliers.
Price Look-up Inquiry
All line items on an order are priced by the system and the price look-up inquiry displays how the item was priced--from a contract, a promotion, a particular price level/group, based on a quantity discount or simply base price. Additionally, all prices recorded in the system for the item are also presented on the price look-up display.
P.O. Status Including Due In Date Inquiry
This inquiry displays by warehouse the next expected receipt with its available quantity and expected due in date. The available quantity is usually the full amount on the P.O., however Freedom Series/ec21 allows you to pre-allocate on order quantities to booking orders, backorders or special orders, so the available quantity is the P.O. quantity net of these special conditions. There is also a second, more in depth P.O. inquiry which lists all open P.O.'s by warehouse, and displays the original quantity ordered, the quantity received to date, the allocated quantity, the remaining due quantity, and the expected due in date.
Substitutions Inquiry
This inquiry displays the substitutes for the ordered item that you have recorded in the item database. The item(s) that are valid substitutes are shown along with the quantity available. You can easily cause the ordered item to be replaced by a substitute with the entry of a one character code. A window listing substitutions will display on request or the Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Order System can cause this window to display whenever the quantity allocated to an ordered item is zero.
Customer Buying History Inquiry
This inquiry displays each sale of an item to the customer for as far back as you choose to allow detail sales history to remain in the production database. This sales history is presented in descending date order starting with the most recent sale.
Special Item Characteristics
There are a number of item characteristics that you can record in the item database, many of which will affect Sales Order Entry. These characteristics influence item processing throughout Freedom Series/ec21.
Unit of Measure
Freedom Series/ec21 supports a predefined sales and inventory unit of measure. Moreover, an unlimited number of pricing or purchasing units of measure may be recorded. For example, you may stock and sell dry chemicals by the drum. The industry practice is to price and quote by the pound. You may record prices by the pound in the pricing databases, and therefore quote prices and produce price lists by the pound. When the drum unit of measure is used in sales order entry, the per pound price is converted to per drum price. Both the per pound and per drum price would be available for invoices and other sales related documents.
Sales Tax
Some items may require special sales tax handling that is different from your general sales taxing routine. For example, you may never tax an item you sell to a customer/retailer for resale. However, you also sell him paper bags to use at the check-out counter, those paper bags in most states would be taxable because they are for your customer's use and not for resale. Once these special conditions are set up in the item database, Freedom Series/ec21 can handle these item exceptions without your intervention during sales order entry.
License Requirements
Local, State, and Federal authorities require sellers of certain products to obtain licenses to handle those products. Freedom Series/ec21 allows you to identify those products and record the license types that a buyer must have to purchase the products. Freedom Series/ec21 will ensure that your customers have the required licenses to purchase these items and that you remain in compliance with the law.
Restricted Availability
In Freedom Series/ec21 you can indicate that an item is available to only certain customers or to a particular customer and Freedom Series/ec21 will enforce this restriction. This feature is useful when a product is in very short supply and you want to reserve it for your best customers. This feature can also be very useful if you carry products that are private labeled for a specific customer.
Special Charges
Special additional charges can be associated with an item so that during sales order entry, these special charges are added to the order automatically when the item is ordered. The special charge can be a flat charge regardless of the quantity ordered or can be a per unit charge. The feature anticipates charges for special handling due to the item's characteristics: special packing or crating requirements, pre-assembly, etc.
Special Instructions
You can associate a special message of any length with an item. Then, at your option, you can cause this message to display during sales order entry whenever the item is ordered. This or other messages are available for printing on your sales documents. This message could be a reminder to the sales representative of complementary products, a change in supplier, a suggestion to upgrade the customer, special shipping or handling instructions or any number of other pieces of information concerning the item.
Hazardous Materials (DOT)
When shipping products that contain hazardous materials as defined by the Department of Transportation (DOT) you must be able to inform the carrier or track on your own driver's manifest any products containing hazardous materials. Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the facility to record DOT Hazard information about an item and to make this information available where needed for bills of lading, manifest, and truck placards.
MSDS Processing
OSHA requires every seller of products containing hazardous materials as defined by OSHA to make Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) available to buyers. Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the ability to identify items that require MSDS handling. The Sales Order System checks each time a customer orders a product that requires an MSDS sheet to determine if the customer was previously sent an MSDS sheet. If not, a message is appended to the order instructing that the MSDS sheet be sent to the customer. If the content of an MSDS sheet changes, because of reformulation for example, the system can be reset for the item so that new MSDS sheets are sent to each customer when the product is next ordered.
Serial Numbers and ATF Requirements
Proper handling and tracking of serial numbered products, whether for warranty reasons or because of government requirements, can be one of the toughest jobs for a distributor. Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the tools to handle and track serial numbered items--from receipt through warranty processing--with an accuracy and ease that you will appreciate. Customers using Freedom Series/ec21 serial number tracking and reporting of firearms and ammunition have received the approval of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for the tracking and reporting. Freedom Series/ec21 handles this toughest of all serial number requirements and will likely handle your needs also.
Lot Controlled Items
Freedom Series/ec21 fully supports lot controlled items. During Sales Order Entry, your sales representative or customer service representative is given the opportunity to choose the lots to be used to fill the order. Freedom Series/ec21 users of lot control include, among others, a distributor of reagents used in diagnostic testing and a floor covering distributor. Although in very different businesses, both have to be able to track their lot controlled items from receipt through shipment to customer and both need the ability to determine quickly which lot was used to fill a customer's order. Freedom Series/ec21 provides the support they require.
Non-Stock Items
All distributors must make tactical decisions about the merchandise to carry in inventory. Because of the high cost of carrying inventory, many items offered for sale are not kept on-hand. The odd size, color, or specialty item has to be handled some other way.
Traditionally, distributors would not add the odd item to their inventory records, but would handle it as a non-stock item either placing a dropship order with the vendor, or bringing it to their location for later shipment to the customer. As you have probably experienced, the problems and errors associated with non-stocks, as well as the lack of historical information about these transactions, can be one big headache.
Freedom Series/ec21 provides you with several creative solutions to the non-stock problem.
Special Order Items
If you routinely stock most of a vendor's line and it's just the slow movers that you don't stock, Freedom Series/ec21 Special Order Item logic may be the right choice. A Special Order Item is added and maintained in the item database, including pricing information and automatic dropship handling, just like the rest of the vendor's line. However, this kind of item carries a Special Order Item code.
When an item is coded as a Special Order Item, Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Order System allows you to enter the item on a sales order just like any other item. All the features associated with stock items are available to a Special Order Item.
There are two major differences in handling a Special Order Item. First, instead of placing the Special Order Item on the picking document for warehouse action, the information necessary to trigger the purchase of the item is automatically sent to the Purchasing System for buyer action or automatic drop ship as appropriate. Second, when you receive the Special Order Item, the Inventory System will alert the receiver to the pending customer order for the Special Order Item so that the sales order can be released and shipped.
This solution to the non-stock problem has many advantages in terms of more normal handling by most of your employees and the more complete sales history that results.
Non-stock Item Processing
Another alternative to the non-stock item problem is Freedom Series/ec21 Non-stock Item Processing. You can code an item as non-stock during Sales Order Entry and manually enter all the information normally retrieved from the item database: description, unit of measure, price, cost, etc. You may also manually indicate the item is to be drop-shipped.
The Purchasing System is informed of the need to purchase the non-stock item and the item will be associated with the correct vendor. This method avoids having excess records in the item database.
Kits
Freedom Series/ec21 includes full kiting logic. Kits are identified in the item database under a master item record and can include any number of components. For those with a manufacturing background, Freedom Series/ec21 Kits can be viewed as single level bill of materials. Kits may be priced based on master item pricing information or may be the sum of the components. Sales history information is kept for both the master item and the components, but at the component level a distinction is made between direct sales of the component item and sales of the item as part of a kit. When inquiring on the availability of the master item, Freedom Series/ec21 determines how many kits can be assembled based on the availability of the component items. Additional Item Charges for the master item can be used for kit assembly or other special handling charges. Orders for Kits that must be assembled triggers the opening of a Work Order through the Recommended Order Action Report.
Pricing Sales Orders
The way Freedom Series/ec21 prices an item on an order is one of the most flexible and powerful features of the system: it provides you with the tools to handle the most complex or simplest pricing policy and it allows you to make innovative offerings to your market while ensuring that each order is priced correctly.
Item Based Pricing
While a number of database entries can be made that will influence how an item price on an order will be calculated, Freedom Series/ec21 only needs you to enter those controls and prices you want to use in your pricing scheme.
At the heart of the Freedom Series/ec21 pricing methodology is the individual pricing record for each item.
NIFO Costs and Burdening
Freedom Series/ec21 uses NIFO Cost as another term for replacement cost. Although NIFO, Next In - First Out, is not a valid method to value inventory, it is a useful way to think when setting prices. By using NIFO Cost to set prices you can ensure that the margins generated are sufficient to cover the cost of replacing the merchandise sold. Freedom Series/ec21 NIFO Cost can even include the cost acquisition by allowing you to set a percentage that is added to NIFO to develop a Burdened NIFO.
Base Price
An item's Base Price can be calculated by Freedom Series/ec21 based on a mark-up percent from Burdened NIFO or a desired gross margin percent assuming Burdened NIFO as cost. Of course you can enter a Base Price rather than have the system calculate it. Base Price is set in terms of the inventory unit of measure which is the smallest unit of measure of an item you will sell.
Pricing Unit of Measure
Besides the inventory unit of measure, Freedom Series/ec21 lets you designate a Pricing Unit of Measure for an item and set prices based on it. The Pricing Unit of Measure can be smaller than the inventory unit of measure. It is useful to use this feature when, for example, you stock and sell an item by the pack but it is industry practice to price and quote the item by the each.
Price Levels
In addition to an item's Base Price, Freedom Series/ec21 allows you to create Price Levels for an item. Price Levels are used by those distributors who assign different customers to different price levels depending on the customer's activity or relationship with the distributor. The system will calculate a Price Level price as a mark-up to Base Price, a discount from Base Price, or based on a desired gross margin. Or, you may set a Price Level price directly.
Quantity Discounts
Discounts can be given based on the quantity of an item ordered. This is accomplished by recording in an item's price matrix, the qualifying quantity and the price for the quantity. You may enter as many quantity qualifiers as you desire.
By Location
Price Level prices, Quantity Discount prices, and combinations of these can be associated with a particular location. This gives you the ability to have different price structures for different company locations.
Contracts
Contracts are stored in another major pricing database. Contracts have all the pricing features discussed above at the item level. What distinguishes a contract from other pricing techniques is that it is for a specific customer for a specific period of time. Contracts can also limit the purchases against the contract by the number of orders or total dollar value. Contracts can be used to enforce your customer's policies concerning authorized buyers and purchase order dollar maximums. Copying and sharing of contracts among customers is also supported, reducing data entry requirements.
Promotions
Promotions are stored in another pricing database. Promotions have the same pricing features as Contracts, but instead of being associated with a customer, they can be made available to a group of customers or all customers. Like Contracts, Promotions are only used during a time period you set. You may elect to have Promotional pricing invoked automatically or force entry of a Promotion number during order entry. Items under Promotion can be displayed during order entry via a command key, increasing your telemarketing capabilities.
Pricing Controls
Once the pricing databases that you need are set up, Freedom Series/ec21 presents you with several options that affect how an item on an order will be priced.
Customer Price Level
The Price Level to use for pricing a customer's order can be recorded in the customer's master file record. The Sales Order System retrieves the Price Level from the customer master file and uses it when making pricing determinations.
Group Quantity Discounts
When this feature is turned on at the location level, quantity break decisions made by Freedom Series/ec21 pricing logic are based on the sum of the individual order quantities of items in the same category. The result is that your customers can qualify for a quantity discount by mixing like items on orders instead of having each item qualify on its own. For example, you could offer a discount for ordering two dozen cans of spray paint regardless of the mix of colors.
Search All Contracts
This feature allows you to have more than one contract in effect for a customer at a time. When activated, the second contract is considered an 'override' contract and is used to price from instead of the primary customer contract. Typically, 'override' contracts are used to give special pricing on selected items for a limited period that falls within the effective dates of the primary contract.
Search All Promotions
When this feature is active, all promotions will be searched to establish a price for an item. This feature does not override those restrictions you have placed on a promotion to limit its application to a particular group of customers.
If this feature is not active, only the promotion coded on the order header or overridden at the item level on a Sales Order will be searched. The typical application of this technique is for a distributor to send out flyers or catalogs that are identified by number. The customer is expected to give the flyer/catalog number when ordering to get the prices on the flyer/catalog.
Lowest Price Capability
If you choose this pricing option, Freedom Series/ec21 will price an item on an order at the lowest price for which the customer qualifies, regardless of source. If you do not use this feature, Freedom Series/ec21 uses a hierarchy in determining the price.
Price Like Feature
In the customer master record for each customer there is a field called "Price Like". This field can be coded with any valid customer number in the system and Freedom Series/ec21 will price a customer 'like' or the same way it prices another. The feature is used most often when dealing with a group of related customers with common ownership, the various stores in a chain for example. By using "Price Like" you can instantly establish an entire pricing structure for a customer with guaranteed accuracy.
Price Effective Date
The prices found in a Contract, a Promotion or in the Item Matrix have an effective date associated with them. Freedom Series/ec21 will not use a price with an effective date that is in the future. This facility gives you the ability to load and edit new prices before they begin to be used by the system.
Price Updates
It is important to note all prices are set in terms of an item's base price and it, in turn, is set based on NIFO. Because prices relationships are set in this manner, Freedom Series/ec21 will automatically adjust sell prices when new vendor prices are recorded in the system, except those you have specifically instructed the system not to change. Price maintenance can be as simple as applying the price list received from a supplier.
Pricing a Sales Order Line
Freedom Series/ec21 goes through a step-by-step process to determine the correct price for each item on an order. This process is instantaneous and the correct price, along with the source of the price, is displayed to the person entering the order.
Pricing Hierarchy
The price determination made by Freedom Series/ec21 is performed in a hierarchical fashion. Retrieval of the correct price within the hierarchy is designed for maximum speed and accuracy. This is of paramount importance in any high volume order processing environment.
Lowest Price Capability
When this method of pricing is used, Freedom Series/ec21 temporarily stores the various prices for which the customer qualifies as they are found in the hierarchy. Then Freedom Series/ec21 compares each price and selects the lowest to price the item on the sales order.
Freight/Delivery and Other Charges
Freedom Series/ec21 provides the distributor with two distinct methods of handling freight charges. The two methods parallel the two freight handling methods in widespread use; (1) UPS, Other Delivery Services or Common Carriers; and (2) company owned vehicles.
UPS, Other Delivery Service, or Common Carrier
Freedom Series/ec21 contains a complete UPS manifesting system and includes all the features that you would expect. Freight Rating Tables can be built in Freedom Series/ec21 for each of the UPS services including Ground Saver, as well as rating tables for other delivery services or common carriers. Any necessary charges for insurance, C.O.D., or A.O.D can also be calculated by Freedom Series/ec21.
Actual Charges vs Your Own Method of Charging
Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the option to pass along the system calculated freight charges, to charge nothing for freight, or to use your own freight charging table that is based on order value. This gives you the flexibility to record the actual cost of freight very accurately, while charging your customer based on a different scheme.
Your Own Trucks / Percent of Order Value
If you use your own truck fleet Freedom Series/ec21 provides a percent of order value method for freight charging. This method also allows the addition of a stop charge and the discounting of the freight based on order value. This method, for example, would allow you to set a standard freight charge at 4% of order value with a stop charge of $25.00 for orders less than $200.00; plus, if the order value exceeds $500.00, the freight will be discounted 25%.
Credit Cards and Prepaid Sales Orders
Freedom Series/ec21 handles prepaid sales orders--whether by cash, check or credit card--with ease. The safeguards are there for cash handling, plus the necessary links for automatically writing refund checks for overpayments accompanying mail in orders or to cause C.O.D. amounts for underpayments are provided.
Card Approval
If you accept credit cards, the Sales Order System prompts for the card number and expiration date, and even allows for the entry of multiple cards if more than one is used to pay for the order. All orders paid by credit card are initially placed on hold pending card approval. Special reports and displays assist you in obtaining and recording the authorization numbers received. The system will then release the order.
Link to Accounts Receivable
Whether the prepayment is by cash or credit card, the payment record is posted to Accounts Receivable at the same time as the invoice record. The invoice and payment record offset each other automatically.
Counter Sales
For those distributors with a parts counter or other retail sales, Freedom Series/ec21 includes a counter sales function. This function is powerful enough to support a large catalog operation with several retail outlets and handles a parts counter with ease.
Look and Feel of On-line Sales Order Entry
The counter sales function looks and feels exactly like the on-line Sales Order System. There are no new functions, codes, or displays to learn. The Counter Sales function is intuitive and easy to use.
Handling Cash
Cash, on account, and credit card payment methods are accepted with an automatic link to Accounts Receivable. The Counter Sales system even calculates the change due on cash transactions, down to suggesting the mix of currency and coin to give as change.
Proactive Selling During Sales Order Entry
Some of Freedom Series/ec21's best features allow you to be pro-active in your sales effort, even during normally passive order taking. These features are designed to prevent lost sales or to gain add on sales.
Item Associated Scripting & Complementary Items
Freedom Series/ec21 can cause a scrollable window, containing the item specific text that you create, to display any time the item is entered on an order. This text could be simple, listing items that complement the item ordered, or could be a full script that gives your inside sales representatives the tools to sell and sell more.
Substitutions
The message of Freedom Series/ec21 substitution logic is, "Don't lose sales when out of stock on the item ordered!" You can set Freedom Series/ec21 so that whenever substitutes are available for an item that is ordered, but out of stock, a window displaying the substitutes appears for your sales representatives to sell from.
Hot Item List
By pressing a single key Freedom Series/ec21 will display to your sales representative the Hot Item List during Sales Order Entry. After selling from this list, all your sales representative needs to do is enter the quantities and the items are automatically added to the sales order.
Fast Customer Set-up
Freedom Series/ec21 allows you to set up a new customer from within Sales Order Entry. This feature prompts the person entering the order for a minimal amount of information because it mainly relies on the company and location defaults that you set for new customer set-up. After entering the required information, the Sales Order System displays the order header so that you can see the results of your new customer addition and make any changes manually for this first order as required. The whole process is smooth, fast, and efficient.
Handling Quotes
Many distributors must quote their goods and services to gain the business from their customers. Building and tracking quotes can be a cumbersome task, especially if quotes have to be handled on paper and off the system. Freedom Series/ec21 integrates quoting right in Sales Order Entry. No more lost sales or extra work because of lost quotes.
Uses the Sales Order Entry Function
In Freedom Series/ec21, quotes are built and recorded in the Sales Order Entry function, so all the Sales Order features are available to the sales representative building the quote. Building a quote is just like building a sales order. The only difference is a one-position code that tells Freedom Series/ec21 that the information is a quote and not an order, yet. Once the code is set, Freedom Series/ec21 will prompt the sales representative for an optional expiration date for the quote.
Order Creation from Quotes
The quote can be called up at any time. Item and order header information can be added, changed or deleted if necessary. But most importantly, just a one-position code will change the quote into an order.
Order Creation from Model Orders
Another way to quickly produce a new order is to copy an existing order. Model orders can be set up and your sales staff can use the Copy Order function, inputting only the Customer Account Number. Items can then be added to or deleted to create the desired order.
Answering Price and Availability Questions
The two questions most asked of inside sales representatives and customer service personnel are, "Do you have it?" and "How much is it?" Freedom Series/ec21 constantly tracks inventory availability, second by second, using proven techniques to allocate inventory to sales orders and process inventory transactions on-line as they occur. The Freedom Series/ec21 pricing routines are executed on-line, so your people can see how an item will be priced for a specific customer anytime they want.
Price & Availability During Sales Order Entry
Many of our inside sales and customer service users start the Sales Order Entry function first thing in the morning and stay in that function all day. Because of the powerful inquiry capabilities of the Sales Order Entry function, all price and availability questions can be answered without ever leaving the Sales Order Entry function.
Price & Availability Stand Alone
There is a special function within Freedom Series/ec21 designed just to answer price and availability questions--whether the questions are your own or your customers?. This feature uses the customer and item search capabilities of the Sales Order System and provides the ability to display customer specific prices. Inventory at all company locations is displayed making distinctions of: on-hand, allocated, available, in-transit, and on order from vendor. Detailed display of open purchase orders from your suppliers, with due in dates, is also available. Freedom Series/ec21 puts the information you and your customers need within easy reach.
Customer Remote Price & Availability Access
Allowing your customers direct access to your computer and Freedom Series/ec21 gives them access to a controlled price and availability display: a customer will be shown only the inventory available at the primary location that serves the customer and only those prices available to the customer.
Answering Questions about Order Status
Freedom Series/ec21 places sales orders in a number of different statuses based on the processing options you choose. Sales orders can be placed in a Hold status because they have failed credit checking, are pending credit card approval, because they fail to meet gross margin requirements, because there is a problem with licenses, or because they were placed on manual hold. Backorders or Pre-booked orders may be waiting arrival of merchandise. Orders ready for shipment can be in different statuses, from in the Pool, waiting to be picked, to Invoiced.
Order Inquiry Functions
Freedom Series/ec21 order inquiry lets you search for a particular sales order by customer, customer's purchase order number, your sales order number, or by an item number. You can also view all sales orders for a customer, for a particular status or the customer/status combination, and then zero in on a particular sales order. In short, Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the tools to answer yours or your customer's questions about sales orders.
Customer Backorder Report
If it is your policy to backorder merchandise that you can't ship immediately and your customer accepts backorders, Freedom Series/ec21 can produce a report of all items on backorder to a customer. So besides being able to view this information on-line, you can place a report of backordered and pre-booked items in your customer's hands as often as needed.
Customer Remote Order Inquiry
Customers with remote access to your computer and Freedom Series/ec21 can view the status of all their orders and order detail. Within certain limits set by you, the customer can change sales orders or cancel a backorder.
Handling Problems
Unfortunately, we all commit errors in business transactions. Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the ability to correct your errors quickly and maintain high levels of customer satisfaction.
Quick Invoice Look-up
Most error correction begins with identifying the invoice that contains the error. In Freedom Series/ec21 you can find the invoice that needs correction by customer, by invoice number, or by item number.
Return Authorization
Some distributors will not accept returned merchandise from a customer unless prior authorization for the return was granted by the distributor. If you choose to process returns only after prior authorization, Freedom Series/ec21 provides the tools to enforce your policy.
System Assisted Credits
Freedom Series/ec21 will write the credit memo for you based on the invoice you have identified. You can accept the Freedom Series/ec21 credit memo or make any necessary changes before releasing the credit.
Warranty Returns
For those distributors that handle merchandise that is returned for warranty repair, Freedom Series/ec21 handles all the transactions to move the product from the customer to the distributor to the vendor for repair then back to the customer through the distributor or directly. Freedom Series/ec21 handles all the paper work and tracks the products through the warranty repair cycle. You even have the ability to charge for non-covered costs associated with the repair.
Sales Representative Commissions
With Freedom Series/ec21 you get an excellent sales commission system. The system allows for varying rates by customer, sales representative, product, location, or division. In addition, the Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Commission system can handle temporary commission rates and spiffs by dollar volume or units sold.
Sales or Gross Margin
Freedom Series/ec21 lets you choose to pay commissions based on sales volume or gross margin dollars generated. If you choose, a sliding scale of rates can be set up by gross margin range but that are applied to the sales dollars. For example, you may pay 5% on the sale if the margin is greater than 25%, but only 3% if the margin is less than 25%.
Up to 3 Sales Representatives Per Order
Up to three sales representatives can be paid for a single sale and the commission rate can vary by sales representative. For example, for the same sales order the primary sales representative may get 4% of the order value while the secondary only gets 1.5%.
Base Rate and Exceptions
Freedom Series/ec21 sales commissions are designed so that you can control commissions on an exception basis. Normally you would choose a method (sales or gross margin) and a base rate at the company or location level. Once you define your normal commission method, you can describe exceptions. You might be paying a new sales representative less because of a guarantee, or you might be paying more on some slow moving items, or you might be passing along a vendor's spiff--Freedom Series/ec21 can handle all of these and many more exceptions.
Returns and Credits Net Out
When calculating commissions, Freedom Series/ec21 automatically calculates a negative commission on returns and credits issued. These negative commission dollars reduce the total commission due the sales representative.
Customer Services
To remain competitive, distributors are required to offer many services beyond the traditional. Customers demand and get more today than they ever have. Freedom Series/ec21 will give you the ability to achieve a competitive edge in your market.
Retail Services
Freedom Series/ec21 includes many services that the wholesale distributor can offer retailer customers. These services can sometimes make the difference in gaining new business. Through Remote Customer Access you can even offer the following services while having the customer maintain the database.
Price Stickers & Bin Labels
Freedom Series/ec21 can produce price stickers and bin labels for the products on the sales order. These can be produced while the products are being picked in the warehouse and can be delivered with the merchandise.
The retail price can be the suggested price set by the distributor or manufacturer, or Freedom Series/ec21 can store your customer's retail prices, either as discrete prices for items or as mark-ups for general categories of merchandise.
Price Encryption
The price sticker or bin label can include the wholesale price, but because you don't want the consumer to know that price, Freedom Series/ec21 includes a price encryption routine to disguise the wholesale price. Besides a standard encryption routine, Freedom Series/ec21 can handle most custom routines that your customers may desire.
Protected Retail Prices
Since most customers who choose to have you maintain their retail prices for price stickers use the mark-up method, Freedom Series/ec21 provides the ability to protect a retail price from changing as a result of a wholesale price increase or decrease. This feature keeps the retail price constant even though there are fluctuations in the wholesale price due to volume discounts, promotions, or special buys. Prices can also be set to automatically round using Retail Rounding (5,9) rules.
Customer's Item Number
Freedom Series/ec21 gives you the facility to store your customer's item number and display that number on all documents you send him, including price stickers, bin labels and invoices. You can also use these customer item numbers in Sales Order Entry.
Customer's Item Location
You can also store in your Freedom Series/ec21 databases the customer's location of the item in his facility. By including this information on your packing slips, invoices and the bin labels you provide, you can speed the customer's put away function.
Customer's A/P Account Number
If your customer desires, you can store his accounts payable and inventory account numbers. By printing this information on your invoice, you can speed his accounting tasks and improve your cash flow due to speedier payment.
Protected Stock
Freedom Series/ec21 allows you to 'protect' stock for a particular customer. This is very useful when you promise to hold certain quantities for a customer, when handling private labeled merchandise, or when handling lot controlled merchandise and the customer wants the same lot available (and you agree).
Purchase History Reports
The Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Analysis System includes the ability to provide your customers with purchase history reports, sorted and summarized in several useful ways. While useful to your customers, they can be even more useful to you in understanding what a customer is buying, and, maybe even more importantly, what he isn't buying.
Analyzing Sales & Profitability
BAM/DASHBOARD
Profitable sales and marketing decisions begin with knowledge. Knowledge of your customers, your market, your product mix, and your sales productivity. Freedom Series/ec21 provides this crucial sales information in a clear, concise and timely manner utilizing the BAM/DASHBOARD program. Freedom Series/ec21 BAM is a sales analysis system that is designed to provide information, not just data, to help you make the right sales and marketing decisions.
Online Sales Analysis
The sales information available on-line has been pre-summarized for quick access. Sales and margin are available by customer, sales representative, location, product category, and type of sale. This information is presented by month for as many years as you have stored in the databases. You can do comparative analysis or display the data in color graphs.
Sales Analysis by Sales Type or Category
Sales Types are values you set for sales analysis purposes in Freedom Series/ec21. Most distributors make sales type distinctions for dropships and promotional sales plus many others. Once you have set the Sales Types you want tracked in Freedom Series/ec21, the Sales Analysis System summarizes sales for each month by location and sales type. This information is available on-line and can be displayed for any month, including the current month, for a specific location or company-wide. The information displayed includes the Sales Type, Sales and Gross Margin for the current month, year to date, and the previous year.
The very same display is available by merchandise category. Merchandise categories are set by you in Freedom Series/ec21 and are used to view segments of inventory.
Sales Analysis & Graphs-Location/Category/Sales Representative/Sales Type
This on-line sales analysis tool is very versatile. It provides you with the ability to display sales and margin by month for any year for a sales type, a sales representative, or a category. This information can also be for a particular location or company-wide. There is also the facility to compare one year's data to another and the Sales Analysis System calculates the ratio between the years. All the data can be displayed in units or dollars, or as color graphs.
Customer Sales by Sales Type
Customer sales by sales type for a year is instantly available on-line. By just entering the customer number and indicating the one or two years you want to see, the system displays sales and margin percent by type plus the total for each year.
Customer Sales History by Item, Category or Vendor
As one of Freedom Series/ec21 most popular on-line sales analysis selections, you will use Customer Sales History by Item, Category or Vendor often. The information is displayed in units or dollars sold with margin percent for each month plus the total for the current and prior year. You enter the customer and then select a particular item, category or vendor for which you want the information displayed. You can also limit the display to sales from a particular location, by a particular sales representative, or for a particular sales type.
Pre-programmed Sales Analysis Reports
Freedom Series/ec21 provides many useful pre-programmed sales analysis reports, from high level summaries to a very detailed look at sales information.
Gross Margin Report
This report presents sales, cost and margin information for a range of merchandise categories or items. It can be run for any period of time you choose: a day, a week, a month, or any range of days. At your option, it may include each individual sale or summary information for an item or category.
Daily Sales "Flash" Report
The Daily Sales "Flash" Report displays service level (fill rate), sales and margin information for a single day plus the sales month to date. It summarizes the data by Sales Type and totals it by location. Run after the close of business each day or first thing in the morning, the "Flash" report is the first thing many distributors look for each day.
Sales, Inventory and Cost of Goods Sold Report
This report provides you with a snap shot of your sales and inventory position at the end of a month. The report is by item and is requested either for a specific category or a range of categories. It may be requested for a single location or for all locations with company totals. The information presented includes on hand, on order and current inventory value. The sales, cost and margin information is presented in both dollars and units for the current month and year to date.
Vendor Point of Sale Report
This report presents the item and total sales by vendor for any month you choose. Our customers use this information when negotiating with their vendors. Many distributors share this information with their suppliers, some have even negotiated discounts from the vendor in payment for the information.
Sales Analysis Report Writers
The most versatile sales analysis tools in Freedom Series/ec21 are a series of Sales Analysis Report Writers. These reporting tools allow you to view the information in the sales database in thousands of different ways. You can key on specific locations, customers, sales representatives, items, categories, vendors, sales types, promotions, and periods of time. You can see this data in detail or in summary. This information can be ranked by sales, margin or quantity sold. You can compare sales year to year, by month, quarter, year-to-date or in total. But most importantly, you can build the reports you need, without a programmer. The Freedom Series/ec21 Sales Analysis Report Writers will answer your most pressing questions.
Provides Answers Fast When You Need Them
What is that customer buying and not buying? How is that vendor's line performing? Is that new category of merchandise performing as planned? What was the profitability of the promotion? How much is that customer buying off contract? What is that sales representative's weakest merchandise category, does he need more training? I want to put the top selling items in a fast pick area; what are the top sellers by quantity?
These questions, and literally hundreds more, can be answered using the Sales Analysis Report Writers. With Freedom Series/ec21 in your corner, you will be able to get the information you need. These easy to use report writers give you the ability to look at sales in the ways most useful to you. Using the sales report writer, anyone can create reports to look at a certain problem or opportunity, or can create reports to be executed every week or month. The sales report writer frees you from the delays sometimes encountered in getting the data processing department to write a new report. You have the freedom to get the information you need, when you need it, to make the right calls.
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