ARCTIC DATA CORPORATION Suite 201, 1974 Moss Court, Kelowna, BC CANADA V1Y 9L3 Tel: (250) 860-DATA (3282) Fax: (250) 763-2964 Last updated on April 29th, 1999

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Inventory Management System

The Arctic Data Inventory Management System, designed for the UNIX environment, can be integrated with Arctic Data's Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, General Ledger, and Arctic File III programs. The system allows up to 99 clients (companies, departments, profit centers, etc) to be active, with a complete accounts receivable for each. It provides full record locking, which prohibits two users from changing or updating the same file at the same time; error handling, which assists the user with "error messages", and print spooling.

The Inventory Management System's menu driven design provides users with a simple and easy to learn means of managing all aspects of inventory--from initial purchasing and complete job costing to final billing.

The number of inventory items per client which can be supported by the Inventory Master File is limited only by available disk space. Each inventory file consists of several fields for data entry. The system allows for some of the field names, in particular those pertaining to the four selling prices, to be customized by the user. Standard fields in the inventory file include: unit of sale, customer order number, and G/L account coding. Inventory items can be divided into user-defined product types. You can have as many product types as you would like.

The inventory master file is updated from both receivings and sales. In addition, the system tracks both month to date and year to date sales figures.

Purchase orders are created and entered into the system to maintain control of ordered inventory. When issuing a purchase order, you may specify new or existing items. For new items, product information defaults from the product style sheets; for existing items it defaults from the inventory file. When ordering new items, the system provides vendor cross reference files to assist in selecting a supplier. In addition, a work order number can be assigned to each item recorded on a purchase order.

The receiving module of the system allows for various conversion factors to be set up. These conversion factors can be utilized in both purchasing and receiving applications. The system enables users to place orders in either imperial or metric measurements, or as an area figure. The system also permits you to display more than one type of measurement for an item on a purchase order. When material is received, the system can automatically convert the measurements to best suit your requirements.

Receiving Input

The system's receiving module is directly linked to the purchase order module. The system is capable of receiving items from purchase orders to packing slips and from packing slips to invoices, or directly from purchase orders to invoices. The system can accommodate multiple packing slips against one purchase order. Packing slip quantities and invoice costs can be adjusted "on the fly". When entering receivings from a purchase order only exceptional or unique information needs to be entered into the system. Once the inventory items have been received, a purchase and requisition report can be printed. If there are any discrepancies between actual goods received and those ordered they will be displayed on this report. If items are received in different currencies, the system can automatically calculate the exchange and any applicable duties. If Arctic File III is being used, a transaction file can be kept that will store all data pertaining to receivings input.

The point of sale option is a front end or counter sales invoicing application. It can only be accessed by valid sales staff. Once a salesperson has entered their sales identification, invoices can be entered, deposits applied, and payments processed for any given customer. The system provides a standard name search feature which facilitates customer entry. If permissions have been granted in a salesperson's file, new customers can be added to the Arctic Data Accounts Receivable records from within point of sale.

Items can be added to, changed, or deleted from an invoice using the point of sale's edit mode. This eliminates the need to reenter the entire invoice if a mistake has been made. Provincial sales tax and goods and service tax can be automatically calculated and applied to invoices if this has been specified in the tax status of the Accounts Receivable customer files. A variety of different payment categories such as cash, cheque, Visa, and Mastercard can be defined to suit your requirements. At the end of each day, a cash report can be printed which displays the subtotals within each payment category, and a grand total of all payment categories.

A user-defined markup and discount structure can be set up for each Accounts Receivable customer. A specified percentage can be deducted from any of the five available retail price levels or added to the cost price. Discounts and markups can be applied to specific items or product groups.

The inventory management system supports two types of work orders: cost work orders which are used when creating a finished product, and retail work orders. Cost codes enable the system to track all G/L distributions associated with the assignment of materials, labour, and overhead. In turn, this ensures that all financial records are kept in order. An unlimited number of items can be applied to work orders. If a work order is converted to an invoice, a complete listing of the work order items will appear on the invoice, and you can edit the invoice if any corrections need to be made. Work order profiles can also be stored in the system to allow for use at a later date.

Once a cost work order has been completed and closed, the quantity and cost fields in the finished goods inventory will be updated. This is a powerful tool for those operations which involve internal manufacturing.

Sales Orders

Sales order can be created to assist in keeping track of customer orders. The sales order module allows you to reserve available items and back order and track unavailable items until they arrive. Once an order has been filled, a detailed invoice can be generated for the customer. Depending upon customer requirements, orders which involve available and back ordered items may also be invoiced to expedite the order, and improve cash flow.

The stock transfer feature can track the physical movement of inventory from one location to another and record any financial entries for such transfers to the G/L. The stock transfer feature thus helps to ensure that stock records match the stock amounts at each location.

Despite all efforts to ensure that stock records match the actual stock on hand, this is not always the case. Discrepancies can and do appear when a physical inventory or stock count is taken. The stock count feature allows the quantities in the inventory file to be adjusted to the actual figures as necessary. Any related financial adjustments will then be made through this program.

The inventory management system provides users with both standard and custom inventory file reports. Available reports include:

If the inventory management system is used in conjunction with Arctic File III, all data can be manipulated to create a variety of custom defined reports.

Every transaction makes an entry to the G/L posting file. The system allows for user-defined posting to the G/L. For example, you can post on a daily, weekly, or date range basis.

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