Our Goal is to continue to improve!
As we continue to make improvements for Counterman
Pro, we will inform you of these updates and
enhancements in this section. We strive to provide
the tools and features Counterman users have
requested. Listening to your comments and suggestions
provides us greater insight to your software
needs. We encourage you to contact us with these
comments and suggestions by email or phone call.
There are some great updates for this release:
New Drop Shipment Logic in Place!
As this industry relies more and more on the web for
purchases and on-line stores, Counterman has
made great strides in the area of “Drop Shipments”
to aid in this process. A “Drop Ship” is when you sell
an item to your customer without ever physically
touching that item. In other words, many vendors
allow for direct shipments from their facility direct to
your customer. So the item can be advertised and
ordered from you, but when the customer receives
the item, it appears (to the customer) to come from
your shop. However, it is actually “drop shipped”
direct from the supplier. In this scenario it is not
necessary to stock these items or handle them in
any way.
With this release (version 12/19/2008 or
later), items can be flagged for “drop ship” from the
POS screen. A separate ordering area is also available
for ordering drop shipment items and will include
the shipping address for the customer. We
have also added a method of reconciling these “drop
shipments” once you have verification from the supplier
that the item(s) have been shipped.
Receive Date to Order/Receiving Report
Several Counterman users have requested that we
add the actual “Receive Date” to the existing Order/
Receiving Report. As this can be valuable information,
the date each item was received is now included
in this report.
License Updates
Updated
Multi-user license (or lease) updates can be a challenge
when running this process from a workstation.
Counterman has addressed this challenge and made
the entire process much easier. It no longer matters
if you are on the main (server) computer, or at a
workstation (client) computer anymore. In addition, it
is no longer necessary to remember the map drive letter that represents the main (server) computer.
Counterman has taken all the guess-work out of this
process by coding it into the program itself. As long as
you can receive email from a computer station that
uses Counterman, this new process will be seamless.
Where before, the process would need you to enter
the drive letter associated with the main (server) computer,
will no longer be necessary. This is now all
handled internally.
Activity Report Spacing
On the Inventory Activity Report
Counterman has
always included Grand Totals for all “inventory valued”
items on the last page of this report. For shops out
there who are fortunate enough to be doing enough
business, these totals could crunch into each other
making it rather difficult to read.
Thanks go out to Jeff
at Empire Cycles in Amityville, NY for this observation
which resulted in the fix for it.
Service Dept Report, Mail Labels, Call List
Several users have requested a means in which to
access customers that have had Service work done on
their motorcycles. Not only a list, but a way to send
out mailers to these customers too. So Counterman
has added these features to the existing Service Department
Report.
You now have the opportunity to
select many options at the top of the Service Department
Report screen that includes: Summary Report,
Detail Report, Customer List, Mailing Labels, and 30
(labels) per page. When selecting “Customer List”,
you will get a report, by customer that includes the
customer’s name address and phone number. This
list can be used as a Call List to contact your customers
that have had service done within the date ranges
you entered at the beginning of the report.
Additionally,
if Mailing Labels is selected, you can have Counterman
print out address labels for all of the selected
customers too. The option to print on either 30-up
labels is also available.
Mail List Checkbox, Off if no Address! In an effort to keep a valid list of customers and insure
these customers are included on your mailing lists,
Counterman has always (by default) checked the Mail
List checkbox for you every time a new customer is
added to the system.
However, this “default” action
can cause some issues if address information is not correctly entered. Counterman addresses this issue by checking to see if
address information was entered when leaving the add/edit screen. If no address
information exists for this customer, then the Mail List Checkbox will
automatically be unchecked. The result should be fewer labels with no addresses.
Sorry, but this is not retroactive.
If you have existing customers with
no addresses and would like to uncheck the Mail List Checkbox for a boatload
of them, please let us know. We have available, a program that can take care
of this process for you all at once.
Cash Drawer Audit Totals
Corrected
In a recent update Counterman started totaling the columns on the Cash
Drawer Audit Report. This is a handy tool that allows you to double check the
totals on the Cash Drawer Summary page. It has been brought to our attention
by Susan at Alter Ego Cycles that the Taxed and Non-Taxed Subtotals
were not adding up correctly. With this new version, Counterman is adding
these columns correctly.
Safety Nets in Place for Setting Filters
Users who have used the Filtered Reports area of Counterman software, likely
already know what the available benefits are from the customization that this
type of reporting can do for them. Adding new filters is a great way to go even
further with these types of reports, by creating filters that can extract only the
information you want. Until now, there has really been no policing the creation
of custom filters to insure the filter is a valid one.
We have addressed this
issue by validating any new filters that are created. If you happen to put
something in one of the filter fields that is not allowed (like a letter in a numeric
-only field), Counterman will display information about the mistake and not
allow you to save the filter until a correction has been made. Because this
process is not retroactive and if you have existing filters that are invalid, Counterman
will display a similar message to let you know that the filter will not be
set. In these cases, the report will try to run anyway, but the output will not
use the set filter. This should help in filter creation and filter selection
when running any filtered report.
F&I Enhancements As we continue to enhance the Counterman F&I module we have added
two new features:
1. F&I Major Unit Reporting
This is a filtered report where custom filters may be selected to
view a list of Major Units. You can find units by color, model,
stock number, VIN, etcF Customize this report by creating your
own filter(s) too. This is a nice addition to be able to track and
confirm existing and sold vehicles. The same “Safety Net” is in
place for this newly added reporting that will validate any filters
you create.
2. F&I Major Unit Purge A method of purging (erasing) old vehicles from the Major Units
database has made the selection of vehicles much easier. This
“purge” process can provide a list of Major Units that will be
purged prior to actually purging them. Upon selecting the Major
Unit Purge process, Counterman will provide a checkbox (which
is checked by default) to provide a list of untis that will be
purged, once the box is unchecked. Options to select Purge
Units With Purchase Date Aged greater than XX-days, and/or by
Unsold Units With Date Aged greater than XX-days can also be
selected.
We listen to your suggestions and
make changes to the software to help make life
easier and more profitable in your shop. We
would urge you stay tuned for new enhancements
to the program, as we welcome (and need) your
suggestions!
—Ralph Weaver
