What’s New Since Elliott V7.2

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

CRM and beyond

The center of Elliott’s Customer Relationship Management is eContact.  eContact is an extension to the Customer database, as well as Vendor, Employee, Salesman, Sales Orders and Purchase Orders databases.  The nature of the eContact database is generic.  It can be used not only for CRM, but as well as for vendor management, employee relationship management, etc.  Although we identify eContact as a CRM feature to make it easy to understand, the ability of eContact is not limited to CRM.

Mass Email Is Now Called eContact Processor

In Elliott V7.3, we have greatly enhanced the ability of the Mass Email program and it is no longer used for Mass Email only.  To match its name to its capabilities, we are renaming it to “eContact Processor”.  It is intended to supplement “eContact Manager” and may possibly replace it. 

Even though “eContact Manager” is a powerful tool, we found it lacks the ability to filter and export data.  These two areas happen to be the strength of Mass Email (& Export Processor).  On the other hand, the capability in “eContact Manager” to secure customer data by salesman and drill down to eContact detail is not in “Mass Email”.  Therefore, we decided to incorporate the security features in “eContact Manager” with “eContact Processor” (Mass Email), as well as its twin, “Export Processor”.  eContact & Export Processors are now the center of Elliott’s CRM solution.

“eContact Processor” will now be used as a way to select contacts to follow up (where eContact Manager lacks this ability).  You may follow up selected contacts by either calling or emailing them (mass Email).  You can mass add attributes for the selected contacts as a way to create a marketing campaign and to collect campaign information.  You can also export the contact list to a spreadsheet for other processes (i.e. create a fax blast list).  To help you with the marketing campaign, the selection condition and export specification can be saved into a template for reuse in the future.

Salesman Security in eContact & Export Processors

The salesman security feature is also introduced to eContact and Export Processors so salesmen can only see their own customers’ data.  Export processor can also be used as a report writer and let salesmen write their own report without the concerns of a salesman seeing another salesman’s customer data.  You can now empower salesmen by letting them have crucial information at their finger tips without compromising security.

Support Fields Comparison in eContact & Export Processors Selection Tab

In V7.3, you can compare one Elliott field to another in the Export Processor Selection criteria.  For example, you can select customer records that have a credit limit less than the account balance.  You would specify the account balance in the comparing value field with the following:

            @@arcusfil.cus_balance@@

In the previous releases, you could only compare to a value and not to another field.

Batch Process in eContact & Export Processors

Batch processing capability is also introduced for eContact & Export Processors.  For the rep that does not know how to set up and use templates, the IT person can set up the template for them.  The rep only needs to click on a desktop icon (shortcut) to get their followup user list.

More Categories Are Supported in Export Processor

More categories are added to Export Processor to cover the important master table in each module:

• G/L Transactions
• I/M Available to Promise (ATP)
• I/M Inventory Trx Audits
• P/O Receiving Audit Trails
• BOMP Work Orders
• BOMP Product Structures

Since Export Processor is easier to use than a report writer and it supports Elliott user security, you should consider giving access to Export Processor to users as a supplement to or replacement for a report writer.

Customers and Contacts Import Utility

One of the missing features in the past for the Elliott CRM solution was the ability to import customers and contact information from other databases like ACT, Goldmine, or a list purchased from a leads database provider or contacts collected through a trade show.  In Elliott V7.3, we are offering this import capability with a great emphasis of preventing entry of duplicate customers and contacts.

Warehouse Management

One Step or Two Step Multi-Bin Process

The warehouse management capabilities have been significantly improved in V7.3.  This is especially true if you use the Elliott Multi-Bin add-on solution.  The Multi-Bin process can now be either a one-step or two-step process.  In the past, Elliott Multi-Bin was strictly a one-step process.  The issue with one-step processing is the person in the office needs to know which bin the item is going to be received to or shipped from, which in many cases only the warehouse knows.  The extra burden of communication between the warehouse and the office slows down the multi-bin process and makes it more difficult.

Inventory Transfer Is the Center of Multi-Bin Processing

The optional two-step multi-bin process now relieves office personnel from entering bin information and lets the person who has the bin information (i.e. the warehouse picker) enter that information through the “Inventory Transfer” process.  A new dispatch process is introduced in Inventory Transfer providing an easy-to-use user interface.  The Transfer Ticket now comes with a pre-designed laser form template that supports item and bin barcodes.  Data collection by the warehouse can be made much faster and more accurate by scanning barcodes.

A transfer between two warehouses can utilize the transit location.  While inventory is in the transit location, it will show up in ATP as to be received to the To-Location warehouse.  You may also utilize transit location for a transfer within the same warehouse which may be valuable in situations like “Outside Processing” for manufacturing.

Improved Bin Inquiry

With the Multi-Bin option, the Bin Inquiry has been significantly improved with a drill down option.  You can now specify a range of bins and find out whether the bin is empty, half full, or full by looking at the weight, volume and quantity of that bin.  When a user drills down to a bin, a list of items that are currently occupying that bin will show up.  This screen is useful to find out to which bins to put away received items.

Bin Inventory Report

With the Multi-Bin option, the Bin Inventory Report is a new report that prints from the bin point of view and lists the items in the bin.  You can also use this report to determine empty bins so users can decide which bins can be used to store received items.  An option to block out the quantity information can be used to give warehouse personnel something to count when they are not busy.

Physical Count Import & Export Utility

Physical Count now supports editing the count tag information by exporting to a spreadsheet and allows importing a spreadsheet to update the Physical Count Tag File.  Users can utilize the “Create Count Tag” utility to first create the count tag file and then export it to a spreadsheet to allow easier editing.  With the ability to edit count tags in a spreadsheet, it greatly improves the time required for physical count data entry.

PO Warehouse Receiving

This is an optional add-on feature to allow faster PO receiving than the traditional receiving method.  It is designed for the warehouse to perform receiving directly and the process is simplified by eliminating cost and accounting information.  The warehouse may enter an item number (or scan the barcode of the received item, like the UPC code) and the system can help determine the proper PO associated with the received item.

Shipping Data Update

Shipping Data Update is a function that evolved from Tracking Number Update for Orders in V7.2.  Now warehouse personnel can use this function to not only update the shipment tracking number for the order, but they can also update the Shipping Date, Freight, Misc. Charge, Freight Pay Code, Shipping Instructions, Comments, Weight, Bill of Lading Number, etc.  In the Global Setup, the administrator can turn off and on each one of these fields based on your security policy. 

Many organizations do not allow the warehouse to access the Order or Billing screens due to security concerns.  However, the extra step of having the warehouse write down the necessary information on picking tickets and the accounting department input them on the order is not efficient.  This new feature will streamline the data collection for the warehouse.  In addition, the warehouse can optionally print a packing list immediately after the order data is updated through this window.

Billing Selection Supports Immediate Packing Slip

Billing Selection can now print an immediate Packing Slip.  If your operation requires a copy of the Packing Slip to be included with the shipment, this can speed up your process of generating the Packing Slip.  We are also adding laser form support of the Packing Slip to make the Packing Slip look more professional.

Shipping Verification Improvements

Shipping Verification now supports collection of package level data, including: Packing Code, Weight, Volume, Freight, Tracking Number and User definable information.  This information may be used for Order Inquiry or sending an EDI Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN).  The Shipping Data Export can export an “S” record with this shipping information and a “B” record with the box information.

During the Shipping Verification process, the F7 key will bring up a window to allow the user to verify the remaining quantity of the line item or the entire order.

Shipping Verification can optionally bring up the “Shipping Data Update Window” to allow the warehouse to finish the order data collection process.  Upon order verification, the system can optionally perform billing selection to streamline the whole shipping process.  The Packing List can be optionally printed immediately after the order is confirmed.  A lot of effort has been put into allowing a user to un-verify (and un-select) an order.  When an order is un-selected, the order qty-to-ship will be restored back to its original value.

Some will use Shipping Verification with a barcode scanner where the barcode contains the item number and the serial number.  If serial numbers are used, there is a global flag to allow Elliott to scan the beginning and end of the item number entered for a serial number.  If a serial number is found, Elliott will allow the entered barcode to be edited so the correct item number can be entered.

There is now a global flag that can determine if a note entered during shipping verification will be attached to the order header or line item.

During Shipping Verification, you can have Elliott write data to an ASCII file, defined in Global Setup, which contains information about the order and shipment.  This is useful for interfacing with Bar Tender (barcode printing software) to create UCC-128 labels on a label printer.

We also support these additional fields when creating UCC-128 labels:

• UCC-9, UCC-12, UCC-13, GTIN
• Customer Item Number
• Customer Item Description 1 & 2
• Product Category
• Product Category Description
• User Defined Code
• User Defined Code Description
• Drawing Release No

Shipping Confirmation

Shipping Confirmation used to be called “Simple Billing.”  In V7.2, Simple Billing was an add-on option.  In V7.3, we are including Shipping Confirmation as part of the Elliott base package.

Even though Shipping Confirmation can be used by both office and warehouse personnel, it is designed primarily for the warehouse personnel due to the security restriction of not allowing the warehouse to change the order header screen. 

The line item confirmation screen in Shipping Confirmation is more user friendly than the current Billing Selection process, which will be welcomed by the office personnel to use if they don’t need to modify order header info.

Upon completion of Shipping Confirmation, the user can also choose to print an immediate Packing Slip to speed up the shipment process.

Multiple Location Operation

Through the support of “Terminal Server,” Elliott can now work very well for organizations with multiple locations.  In Elliott V7.3, many improvements are related to the handling of multiple locations.

ATP and Inventory Transfer

When you use Inventory Transfer between two locations with the “Transit Location” option enabled, a transfer from LA to NY while still in transit will show up in ATP as a future receiving transaction to NY (increase NY location’s qty in the future).

ATP for Receiving

When you use PO regular receiving (batch mode) or Warehouse receiving, before it is posted, it will show up in ATP as a “Receiving” transaction.  This feature is especially helpful if used together with the Vessel file.  For overseas shipments, you most likely will get confirmation of the contents of a container as it leaves the port.  You may pre-receive these goods in the Receiving transaction files by identifying their vessel ID without posting them.  Then, you can simply update the vessel file with the scheduled receiving date which will then update the ATP date for all items under that vessel.  The ATP inquiry and report will show the Vessel ID and Description and give users a more accurate status of when the goods are going to arrive.

Item Search with Multiple Locations Support

In the Item Search window, users have the option to scroll through any location’s quantity.  Users can also set up the default location for the item search window.  This feature is helpful with answering questions like “Do you have these type of items in stock? In which locations you have them in stock?”  You may drill down to each item’s location quantity breakdown window as well as the Wish List window.

Stock Status Inquiry Improvement

The Stock Status Inquiry screen is now designed to drill down by locations.  You may drill down to each location’s Location History, Serial Number, ATP, Substitute Items Available, Component Available and Multi-Bin Info.

Component Available Inquiry Improvement

The Component Available Inquiry screen allows drill down to the ATP inquiry screen.  This helps users to answer the question, “if a component is out of stock, when will the component become available?”

Location History

Location History is a new function introduced in Elliott V7.3.  You can drill down to Location History through the Stock Status Inquiry screen and view quantity, sales, cost and margin by month and year.  You can see the break down by location, as well as the total of all locations.  You can also see demand location sales instead of actual location sales.  For example, if a customer in California with a default location of LA tries to order an item that is out of stock in LA and ends up shipping from NY, the actual sales location is NY, but the demand sales location is LA.

You may also view certain Sales Desk statistical information like the number of times an item is out of stock when inquired in Sales Desk, the number of times this item is quoted in Sales Desk, the quantity quoted in Sales Desk and the quantity of this item on the wish list.  This is not sales information, but is extremely helpful to a planner to determine what items are on demand.

Print Picking Ticket by Location

The Elliott print feature will remember the printer you used the last time you printed a picking ticket.  This is fine if you have only one physical location or if you have multiple locations and each location prints their own picking ticket.  What if you are at the LA location and you need to print a picking ticket to both the LA and NY printers?  In Elliott V7.3, you can optionally let the system remember the last picking ticket printed by the order’s location.

System Wide New Features

Printing Improvements to Support Windows Service Pack Update

In Elliott V7.2, we introduced a new Print Options window that supports different printer configurations.  Elliott takes a snap shot of the printer driver information and saves it into the Elliott printer configuration database.  If the printer driver information changes, then the printer configuration will be grayed out.

The printer driver information can change due to a Windows Service Pack update.  Therefore, in Elliott V7.2, it is possible your printer configuration may become grayed out due to a service pack update.  In Elliott V7.3, the system will try to refresh the printer driver information as long as you are using “Default Configuration” and avoid the need to set up the printer configuration again.

Elliott Startup Parameters

Elliott now supports the start up option of /CO:01 which means starting Elliott and going directly to company 01.  This feature applies to other Elliott EXE programs like EL700TK, EL700ME, EL700GE, EL700DP, etc.  For example, if you start Elliott with the following command:

            EL700.EXE /CO:02

Elliott will bypass the multi-company selection window and go to company 02 automatically.  This may be convenient if you have a user that can only access a certain company.  You can set up the company selection right in the startup shortcut for that user.  You can also combine the company selection option with Elliott Internal Macro features.  For example:

            EL700.EXE /CO:02 02 0101 02

This will bring up Elliott and go directly to company 02.  It will then choose the “Accounts Receivable” module (02), and then choose customer file maintenance (0101) and end up in change mode (02).  You may consider using this capability to organize periodic routine tasks by setting up icons on a user’s desktop or in a desktop folder.

For Elliott eContact and Export Processor (EL700ME), it supports even more parameters to allow for batch processing.  For example, you can use the following command:

EL700ME –E /CO:01 –T:15 –OL –S

This command means:

-E              Use Export Processor (instead of eContact Processor).

/CO:01      Choose company 01 automatically.

-T:15         Use Template 15.

-OL           Output to file and launch spreadsheet.

-S               Stop at Selection Tab before processing it.

The batch processing capability for eContact and Export Processors allows users to automate a routine task to a simple click.  You can even use the Windows scheduler to run this routine task nightly, weekly or monthly (provided you keep an Elliott session open on your desktop, so the task does not have to log in).

For more details on how to use the eContact and Export Processors’ parameters, use the following command:

            EL700ME /?

This will give you a help screen on how to use the parameters.

IOErrors.TXT

If there is a file access error in Elliott, the error will now be saved in the IOErrors.TXT log file in the corresponding DATA directory.  This information may be helpful for system administrators to audit the stability of the database without being in front of the user’s terminal when file access errors happen.

Activities Log

Activities Log is a new feature introduced in Elliott V7.3.  Currently, you may access these activities either by users or contacts.  To access a user’s activities, go to password setup and enter a particular user.  Then at package field, click the “Special Function” button on the toolbar for “User Activities.”  The following activities are captured under “User Activities:”

• User log in
• User log out
• User log in and out from the web (eOrders)

To access a contact’s activities, simply bring up an eContact detail window and choose the “Activities” tab.  The following activities are captured under “Contact Activities:”

Contact log in and out from the web (eStores)

Mass Emails sent to this contact

Credit card charges, refunds and verifications for this contact

There are other activities that we currently capture in the SYACTLOG.BTR table like critical posting errors in COP and AP, but we do not have a user interface to access them other than using event.  You may consider using ODBC or a tool like Pervasive Control Center to access the data.

When an activity is written to the log, it also triggers a management event (which can be subscribed through the global setup screen).  For system administrators who wish to know when certain activities take place, an event subscription for certain activity events can be set up to monitor the Elliott system.

Events Improvement

Two new Event Reports are introduced in V7.3:

• Event Subscription Report: This report shows a list of events that are currently being subscribed to and gives the administrator an overall view of the Event utilization.
• Event Master List: This report shows a list of supported events and shows the last time an event was changed or added.  This helps the administrator to explore new events as Netcellent introduces them in each revision.

Additional detail events are supported now:

• Report Printing Start and End.  This is a management event and can be subscribed through Global Setup or Company file maintenance.  One of the benefits of this report is that it can be used to monitor deferred processes from home to determine if the first report in deferred processing has been started and the last report has finished.  If deferred processing has not started or finished by a certain time, it will alert the system administrator for investigation.
• Defer Report Interruption: When the defer report processing is interrupted due to a file access error or other type of error message, an event is triggered.  The system administrator can subscribe to this event in order to take the appropriate action to resume the deferred process.
• All Activities Log can be subscribed through management events.
• Credit Card Activities including view, add, change and delete credit card.  Charging, refunds and verification of a credit card are also included.

Automatic Program Links

The Elliott linking function now supports the @@REF-ID@@ variable in the program link template.  This feature automates the link setup process.  In the past (V7.2 and earlier versions), you could set up an Image Link that points to the M:\Elliott7\Image directory.  When you put an item image file into this directory, you still needed to go to the item and add the Image Link to point to that image file.  The system did not assume any automatic association between the file name and item number.

With Elliott V7.3, you can setup an automatic program link with the template like:

            M:\Elliott7\Image\@@REF-ID@@.JPG

and indicate that @@REF-ID@@ refers to IMITMFIL (Item Table).  This will set up the automatic program link between Item and the M:\Elliott7\Image directory.  As you place an image file like 123456.JPG into this directory, then the link between item number 123456 and image file 123456.JPG is established automatically and there is no need to manually add the link to the item.  On the other hand, the system is smart enough to know if you bring up an item 654321 and the 654321.JPG file does not exist in the M:\Elliott7\Image directory, then the link will not show.

The REF-ID also supports substring and condition parameters.  For example, you may define a link template for APOPNFIL with variables like @@REF-ID(8:6,1:1=’V’)@@.  This means take the reference key of APOPNFIL, starting from the 8^th byte for 6 bytes, if the first byte is equal to ‘V’.  In the APOPNFIL table, there are two types of records.  ‘X’ represents the Payment record and ‘V’ represents the Voucher record.  This syntax means if it is a voucher record, take the 6 bytes starting from the 8^th byte (which is the voucher number) and use it as the reference.

Even though this automatic program link works for web pages (URL address) as well, Elliott won’t be able to detect whether a URL address is valid or not and it will always show the automatic program link as available.

New Global Security Flags

The following are new Global Security flags introduced since the Elliott V7.2 general release.  Review them for proper default values when you upgrade to Elliott V7.3:

Disable Interaction w/eContact & Export Proc.  You can use this flag to give a user only the batch processing access to eContact & Export Processors (i.e. to let this user use existing queries designed by someone else) and disable the user from designing their own query.

Change Others’ Template in Export Processor.  Only system administrator level users should be given power to override other user’s templates.

Disable User Others’ Template in Export Processor.  Use this flag to determine if this user can use templates owned by other users.  Most likely you would answer “N” to this flag and make the templates shareable for other users to use.

Allow Change to Other’s Attribute.  By default, only the user who creates the attribute should have the right to change or delete it.  For the system administrator, you can set this flag to “Y” so they can update other users’ attributes.

Allow User Enter Negative Qty in Order Entry.  Since entering a negative quantity in order entry is equivalent to issuing a credit memo, you might want to control the users who can perform this function.

Allow to Edit/Print Other User Transfer Batch.  This flag is for the Inventory Transfer function, which is the center of the two-step multi-bin process.  For the warehouse supervisor or dispatcher, you want to answer “Y” to this flag.  For the warehouse picker, you might want to answer “N.”

Allow to Select Diff Job in Inventory Transfer.  If you enabled the Job Number feature for Multi-Bin, then you probably do not want to allow the user to override the Job Number during Inventory Transfer, unless this is a system administrator.

Improved Lock Messages

In the past, there are many areas the system produced an un-friendly record lock message like “A Locked Record Is in the Way of the Next Operation …. Please Wait”.  Messages like this do not tell you which table or record is locked and is not very useful other than telling you that you have to wait.

Therefore, a new global message is introduced in the Elliott System Manager layer which displays in the status bar of Elliott’s bottom left corner.  For example, “ARCUSIL 000100 locked in way” may display as a record lock.  The ARCUSFIL is the table name which stands for A/R Customer File.  000100 is the record’s primary key.  In this case, it is the customer number.  When you encounter a message like this, you are more likely to find out which user locked the record and resolve the conflict quickly.

Elliott V7.3 also improves the handling of status 84 (record or page lock, which can be caused by TTS).  Efforts have been made to eliminate user interface messages in a TTS loop to ensure TTS operation will finish quickly.  In addition, when a status code 84 is encountered, the system will display the proper status code without re-trying over and over (which may appear to be locked up in V7.2 and prior versions).

Improved PSQL 8.5/8.6 and PSQL 9.x Support

With the introduction of PSQL 8.5, there are two issues to be dealt with in Elliott: (1) The Local Cache Engine; (2) The security feature.

The Local Cache Engine in PSQL 8.5 significantly increases the database performance.  This can be seen especially with report printing.  However, the Local Cache Engine also introduces the possibility of getting a file access error Code 80.  The new Elliott file handler engine has been changed to better handle and eliminate most of these errors.

The security feature in PSQL 8.5 allows a system administrator to turn off a user’s O/S level file access privilege for the Elliott data files.  Before PSQL 8.5, a system administrator had to grant users O/S level file access privilege in order for Elliott to function.  This often caused concern for system administrators since users could accidentally, or intentionally, delete Elliott data files through Windows Explorer.  The latest Elliott version has been changed to work with the new PSQL 8.5 security feature.  This includes a change to the GLJNLT99.BTR file where the new version does not delete the file, so the user does not have to have delete privileges for the data directory.

Our prior experience with the Pervasive Transaction capability proved this feature is very valuable for allowing users to perform real time posting without requiring other users to exit the system.  With Elliott V7.3, we will always utilize Pervasive Transaction during posting and we are removing the TTS (Transaction Tracking System) flag from Company Setup.

Audit Master Support

Pervasive Audit Master can monitor most every transaction that takes place within Elliott.  This includes every time Elliott rewrites the record back to the database, regardless if the record had changed or not.  In some areas of the Elliott application, it may attempt to rewrite to the Pervasive database even if there is no change.  In order to reduce the size of the log file within Audit Master, the Elliott V7.3 system manager will now compare the record in the database with the data it intends to write.  If they are the same, then the Elliott system manager will not write back to the database to avoid cluttering Audit Master.  This is also somewhat of a performance improvement because it avoids the unnecessary rewrite operation.

DYO Forms Improvements

With the latest Elliott V7.3, you can now designate a default form for each supported Saturn Design your Own Form (DYO) in Global Setup.  When a default form is designated, the normal Saturn Forms Selection Window will not display and the default form is selected automatically to make the printing process automated and user friendly.

DDF Improvement

New tables and columns have been defined to reflect the latest updated features.  Many new views have been added as well:

• APVENADT_VIEW
• ARCUSFIL_ZIPCD_VIEW
• ARCUSEXT_VIEW
• CPBOXFIL_VIEW
• CPBOXFHS_VIEW
• CPCUSWLF_VIEW
• CPHODHDR_VIEW
• CPPRCFIL1_CUSITM_VW
• CPPRCFIL2_CUSCAT_VW
• CPPRCFIL3_TYPITM_VW
• CPPRCFIL4_TYPCAT_VW
• CPPRCFIL5_CUS_VW
• CPPRCFIL6_ITM_VW
• CPPRCFIL7_TYP_VW
• CPPRCFIL8_CAT_VW
• CPORDPMT_ORD_VIEW
• CPORDPMT_INV_VIEW
• CPRECHDR_VIEW
• CPRECLIN_VIEW
• CPSHPFIL_ZIPCD_VIEW
• IMDSTPAC_VIEW
• IMGTINFI_VIEW
• IMITMADT_VIEW
• IMLOCHST_VIEW
• IMLSHST_INV_HDR_VIEW
• SYATTRIB_EMP_VIEW
• SYATTRIB_EMPHIS_VIEW
• SYATTRIB_DEDHIS_VIEW
• SYATTRIB_INV_VIEW
• SYATTRIB_ORD_VIEW
• SYATTRIB_WRKORD_VIEW
• WSORDLIN_VIEW

The following tables have been added:

• POPURECI: PO Pending Update Receiving Item File
• POPURECS: PO Pending Update Receiving Serial File
• IMTSFBAT: IM Transfer Batch File
• ARECIBAT: AR eContact Customer Import Batch File
• IMTSFBAH: IM Transfer Batch History File
• IMTSFTRH: IM Transfer Transaction History File
• SYACTLOG: System Activities Log File
• IMLOCHST: IM Location History File
• CPBOXFIL: COP Box File
• CPBOXFHS: COP Box History File
• SYPACKCD: System Package Code File
• IMDISTYP: IM Distribution Type File
• IMDSTPAC: IM Distribution Type Account File

The table POREQTRX has been changed to support Blanket Orders and IMLOCFIL has been changed to support Receiving, Shipping and Production bins.  The tables POWHRECI and POWHRECS have been changed to support multiple receivings per PO Line Item before posting.  As a result, if you were using PO Warehouse Receiving in V7.2, a special data conversion is required when upgrading to V7.3.

Password File Maintenance

Editing a user in Password File Maintenance will now allow for the up-arrow key to change the Name, Position, Email, etc.  Also, the 5 Amigos are supported which means you can now attach an Elliott Note, Link, Attribute, Event or eContact to the user ID.  We have added the F3 key to Copy User Company in addition to the F2, Copy User.

Customer and Vendor Search

When you perform a Customer or Vendor search, the highlighted customer or vendor detail information like address, customer type, phone, etc., will be displayed at the bottom of the search window to make it easier to identify if this is the right customer or vendor that the user is searching for.

Deferred Processing

Deferred Processing has been significantly improved in Elliott V7.3.  Deferred Processing can run in minimized mode by default now (like Services running in the background).  Deferred Processing can be started automatically with an assumed user identity (setup under Elliott toolbar button Setup Preference, Print etc. tab) so as soon as a user logs on the server console, the Elliott Deferred Processing can be loaded and minimized in the task pane on the right side of the task bar.  In the past, Deferred Processing needed to run in the full screen mode and could not be minimized, which may have interfered with the server console operation.

The V7.3 Deferred Processing also generates events when it runs into an error.  The system administrator can subscribe to Deferred Processing Error events and be notified by email when a deferred process stops due to an error.

General Ledger New Features

Inactive Account Support

In General Ledger G/L Account File Maintenance, you can now designate an account as “Inactive.”  When an account becomes inactive, you will not be able to enter that account throughout Elliott where it prompts you for an account number.  The exceptions are G/L Account File Maintenance, G/L Account Inquiry, each sub module’s account file maintenance and printing selection screen programs where it prompts for an account number.  Also, the F7 or F8 Account Search will not display the inactive account (if you choose to validate G/L accounts in the sub module setup).

Accounts Receivable New Features

Customer Account Inquiry with Reference

You may now view Reference Information of the A/R Open Item record as the 2^nd line in the A/R Account Inquiry screen (the traditional inquiry screen only, not applicable to summary account inquiry).  This feature can be turned off and on in Global Setup.

Customer File Maintenance Enhancement

The following are new features added to the customer file maintenance screen:

• Customer Screen Re-Arrange: The Customer Screen has been changed from two screens to three screens.  The first screen pretty much stays the same with the addition of the Salesman fields.  The 2^nd screen contains mostly miscellaneous fields, Customer_Note_1 – 5 and User Amount and Date fields.  The 3^rd screen is for statistical or accumulated fields.
• ABC Class: Similar to item inventory class, customers can be broken down into A, B or C class for analysis.  A new Customer ABC report is provided under the A/R report section to help you categorize your customers into these three classes.  By default, it uses the 80-15-5 rule.  The ABC code can either be updated through the Customer ABC Analysis Report or manually entered into the customer’s file maintenance record.
• Freight Col/Prepaid: This field allows you to set up the default freight pay code for the customer as C = “Collect”, P = “Prepaid” or blank.  When it is blank, it means “Prepaid.”  This field will serve as the default value for COP Order Header.  Another new feature introduced allows you to determine in Global Setup if “P” means “Prepaid and Free”.  If you choose to turn on this flag in Global setup, then when the Freight Pay Code = “P” it will be printed as “Prepaid” on shipping documents and the invoice.  But, you will not be able to enter the freight amount in the billing screen since it is “Free.”
• Shipping Time: This field was added to the COP Ship-To File maintenance screen.  It is currently used only in COP Order Ship Data Export in support of the EDI 856 (Advance Shipping Notice) to determine the estimated arrival date.
• Days Deliver Early OK: This field is used by the Customer Delivery Performance report to allow the setup of a window period time frame by customer that is allowed for delivery early.
• Sales Year before Last Year: This field allows users have at least two years worth of history for a customer.  When Customer Sales Year To Date is cleared, Customer Sales Last Year is moved to this field.
• Open Orders Pick or Invoice Amount: This field is the accumulation of the total amount on all orders that currently have the picking ticket printed or are invoiced, but not posted.  This field can be important to determine customer credit balance since the amount on these orders will soon become part of customer account balance.  To include this amount for credit checking, you may change the flag to “Y” in Global Setup -> Cop-Ctl -> Credit Check & Release -> 9. Include Pick/Inv Amount in Credit Checking.  This field can be recalculated through A/R Age Customer Account processing.
• Customer Create/Last Modify Date & Time: When a customer is added or changed, these two fields will be updated and display in the 2^nd screen of customer maintenance and inquiry.
• Enter Attribute When Adding Customer: If you wish to define an attribute at the time of adding a customer, you may turn on this flag in Global setup.  If this flag is on, then when you add a customer the attribute window will pop up automatically so you don’t have to go to the “Change” mode to bring up the customer in order to enter an attribute for the newly added customer.

UPS Fuel Surcharge Support

Elliott Freight Calculation now supports Fuel Surcharge by allowing the user to enter the surcharge percent in Freight Mode table.

Accounts Payable New Features

Assign Vendor Sequentially

You may now enable this feature in Global Setup and automatically assign the next vendor number. 

Summary Account Inquiry

This is a new feature in addition to the original Account Inquiry which is now called “Detail Account Inquiry.”  Contrary to the name “Summary,” you can actually see more detail in “Summary Account Inquiry” than in “Detail Account Inquiry.”  Initially, the system will display a list of vouchers with one line per invoice.  You may highlight each voucher and the detail of that voucher will display at the bottom of the window. 

In some situations, a voucher may be paid through multiple checks or distributed to multiple accounts.  The system will offer you the option to drill down for more information.  In addition, if a voucher is linked to a PO, the system will offer you the option to drill down to the PO detail.

You may also select a date range of vouchers to view and zoom in on the detail easier than inquiring the information in “Detail Account Inquiry.”  You can access Notes, Attributes and Links that were created during the voucher entry.  This give you an extensive ability to document the voucher if there are any irregularities.  The Links function also provides a foundation for the Document Imaging System.

Although “Detail Account Inquiry” can be fully replaced by “Summary Account Inquiry,” we are keeping it for backward compatibility.

New A/P Transactions Import Utility

Similar to COP Sales Order Import Utility, this add-on feature will let you import and create New A/P Transactions from a pre-defined fixed length ASCII file.  This function is provided mainly for Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) where you may receive invoices from vendor on a mass basis.  Instead of entering them into the Elliott A/P module manually, you may go through a mapping process to map your vendor invoice data into the Elliott A/P Import ASCII file format and automate this process.

Like COP Sales Order, the A/P Import Utility requires very little information in the ASCII file and can assume most of the information if they are not present.  This makes it easy for the data mapping process.

Payment Preparation

The Vendor Type has been added to the Generalized Payment Selection.  You can leave this blank to select all. 

Payroll New Features

2004 Payroll W-2 Alignment Changes

The 2004 W-2 form layout has been slightly changed with more margins on all four sides of the form to make it laser printer friendly.  It is recommended you use the laser form to print 2004 W-2s, however the multi-copy dot-matrix form (same layout as laser form) will continue to work.  Also, the magnetic media file has been updated to match the current SSA specifications.

Tax Deferred Field in Deduction Code

This field is introduced to differentiate between Section 125 (Cafeteria Plan) and 401K.  Both of these deduction codes are exempt from Federal Withholding Tax (FWT) and were considered as the retirement plan by Elliott in the previous release.  While the 401K plan is tax deferred (retirement plan), Section 125 is not.  This newly introduced flag will allow the Elliott W-2 print program to correctly differentiate between them.

Print Payroll Check on Standard #9 Windows Envelope

A global setup flag is introduced to allow you to print Payroll checks so the employee’s address will appear in the window of a standard #9 window envelope with this release.

Inventory Management New Features

Available to Promise (ATP) Improvements

One significant improvement in this release is Elliott now supports BOMP Production Order components to show up in ATP.  ATP has been used by many users as the distributors’ MRP and manufacturer’s customer service tool.  It couldn’t serve as the manufacturer’s MRP tool before because it did not support component ATP for the production work order.  With Elliott V7.3, manufacturers can use the ATP to control the material purchasing, as well as sub-assembly manufacturing.

Also, in the new ATP inquiry window, the system now supports drill down so users can see the Sales Order, Purchase Order and Production Order detail easily.  Certain drill down functions can be disabled by the user if there are security concerns (i.e. if the “See ATP Vendor And PO Info” security flag is turned off for a user, then user can’t drill down to the PO).

Two additional ATP transaction types are introduced in V7.3: Transfer ATP and Receiving ATP.  Transfer ATP refers to the inventory in transit from one warehouse to another.  Receiving ATP refers to the PO receiving transactions that are entered into the system, but not posted yet (due to QA inspection, or maybe still at sea).  This gives users better visibility of available inventory in the near future with a high degree of certainty.

Inventory Transaction Audit Trail Report Improvements

A new selection criteria is introduced to prompt for “Select by Customer or Vendor Number?”.  The possible answers are “N” = No (default), “C” = Customer, “V” = Vendor.  This option allows users to narrow down transactions that were issued or received from a particular customer or vendor.  In addition, comment and reference document number from the original transaction can be printed on the inventory transaction audit trail report.  The following is a table illustrating where the Reference-Doc-No and Comment in inventory transaction audit trail originally come from.

Distribution Code

In the previous version, when warehouse personnel tried to enter an inventory transaction (batch mode) they were prompted for the distribution G/L account number.  This usually caused operation difficulty since most warehouse personnel do not have sufficient knowledge to know what account to use under what condition.  In Elliott V7.3, we are introducing “Distribution Code” which users can set up in advance.  For example, you may set up a distribution code for “SAMPLE” that distributes to the following two G/L expense accounts:

50%     5720-040         Marketing Expense – Sales Department

            50%     5720-050         Marketing Expense – Marketing Department

This means the Sales and Marketing Department will share the sample merchandise expense 50-50.  Once the user enters the distribution code “SAMPLE” in I/M transaction processing, the user does not need to be concerned with which G/L Account to distribute.  The Distribution Code will be printed on the Inventory Transaction Audit Trail Report to aid auditing.

Item Search to Exclude Obsolete Items

You may turn on this flag in Global Setup to exclude obsolete items in the Item Search Window to reduce the number of items that show up and thus making locating the item easier.

Additional Criteria Support in I/M Reports

• Obsolete Flag: Obsolete flags are added to Stock Status and Frozen Stock Status Reports’ selection screens so users can reduce the size of the report by excluding the obsolete items.
• Buyer/Analyst Code: This field is added to Stock Status, Frozen Stock Status, Re-Order Advice and ATP Reports’ selection screens so each buyer only needs to print their relevant items for managing.
• ATP Report: The following new criteria are added for this report selection: Buyer Code, Manufacture or Purchase, Re-Order Level and Product Category.  It will allow the buyer or planner to more accurately print out the items they need on the ATP report for MRP purposes.

Short Cut Item Support

A Short Cut Item is similar to a kit item except the components of a short cut item will be managed as individual line items in a sales order or purchase order.  To set up a short cut item, you must first designate the parent item with an “S” (Short Cut) in the End Item Code field of the item master.  Then, you need to set up all the components in the kit item file maintenance.  You are allowed to set the price of each component in the kit item maintenance.  As you enter a short cut parent item, the components will be copied over to the Sales Order or Purchase Order as individual line items.  Since each component is an individual line item in a Sales Order or Purchase Order, you may individually backorder or receive them.

Copy Item to Create All Locations

The Copy Item function now prompts if you wish to create all inventory locations as the new item is created.

Customer Order Processing New Features

Order Entry Improvements

• Line Item Picking Sequence and Unit Weight Synchronization: Line Item Picking Sequence and Unit Weight are copied from item master when the order line item is entered.  If Unit Weight or Picking Sequence is changed later in the item master, they are not reflected in the Order Line item and can cause confusion.  In Elliott V7.3, when the user changes the item weight or picking sequence (bin number), the corresponding COP line items will be changed accordingly.
• Better Contract Pricing Support: In the prior release, even though contract pricing was supported when users try to bring up the price code window in Order Entry, Sales Desk or Stock Status Inquiry, the contract price information was not displayed.  With this release, the contract pricing information is well supported in these areas.
• Features/Options Allocation: In prior Elliott versions, when entering a feature option item in COP Sales Order, allocation of the components took place at different times, depending on whether you use BOMP Production Work Order or Shop Floor Control Shop Order.  If you used Shop Order, then allocation took place during Shop Order release.  If you used BOMP Work Order, then allocation took place during Sales Order Entry time.  This logic is inconsistent and confusing.  Therefore, in Elliott V7.3, if you use BOMP Work Order, the Features/Options components allocation will take place on the BOMP side and this will make it consistent with SFC.  When you copy a sales order features/options line item to the BOMP side, you can now specify whether or not to allocate the components.  If you choose to allocate, then the components will be allocated at the copy time.  If you do not choose to allocate, then the components will be allocated when you choose to change allocation flag on the work order to “Y” or when you print the work order.  This change is part of the new support for adding an “Allocation” flag to BOMP Work Orders so you can leave long term work orders in the system without allocating inventory.
• Change Customer in Order Entry: The customer number can now be changed in Order Entry by turning on a flag in Global Setup.  You can specify this to be allowed for Orders, Quotes or Blanket Orders.  If the customer is changed, you can have Elliott automatically update the Ship Via, Terms, Salesman, Tax Code and Location on the order to reflect the default from the new customer.
• Close One Line Item: A global flag has been added that will allow you to close one line item on an order and leave the rest of the line items open.
• Payment Source: AR Payment Source in Global Setup will allow you to define a default source for credit card transactions, cash, gift certificates and checks.  If the source is blank, then that payment type will not be available when prompted for payment information in the Billing screen of Order Entry.
• Billing Unselect: The Billing Unselect function will restore the Quantity to Ship for each line item.  Location has been added to the Billing Edit List selection criteria.  This feature applies to Shipping Verification and Confirmation as well.

Sales Desk Improvements

• Sales Desk Quote: Sales Desk now supports eContacts and users can send a Sales Desk Quote through Email as well laser Sales Desk Quote.  The eContact added in the Sales Desk screen will become the order eContact when the order is created. 
• Negative Quantity: The user is allowed to enter a negative quantity in Sales Desk for returns or exchanges. 
• Prompt for Serial Number for Creating “I” type of Order: You may enter a serialized item and create an “I” type order.  The system will then prompt you for the serial number when the order is created.  These changes make Sales Desk friendlier as a point of sale tool.
• Ship-To Wish List: In addition to supporting customer wish list, we are now supporting wish list items at the ship-to level.

Sales Order Import/Export Improvements

• Quantity Divide and Multiply: The Sales Order Import and Export functions now support dividing or multiplying the import quantity by the Item User Amount.  This is most helpful if your EDI trading partner stocks the item ordered in a different quantity than you.  The flag can be set in the EDI profile in Customer Maintenance.
• Replacement Order Import: In prior releases, Elliott supported the import of new sales orders.  With V7.3, we added support to import replacement sales orders.  The replacement sales order import was invented primarily for EDI 830 forecast orders (PO Release) to make long term planning orders visible on the ATP.
• Optional Separate Order Range: The Sales Order Import and Replacement Order Import each optionally support their own order number range.  You can still use the next order number in the COP Control File as well.

Credit Card Processing

The credit card receipt will now print the reference number (Order Number from COP or maintenance window reference from AR).  The reference text in the AR Credit Card Trx Process will also print as well as the customer name.

Security is improved in the payment window so if a user does not have privileges to access credit card information the F7 lookup window will not display the information.

The system now supports a force transaction in A/R Credit Card Transaction Processing by entering the Approval Number in advance before Interfacing with Credit Card Gateway.

Email Improvements

• Interactive Mode Support: With this new release, you may now send Order Acknowledgements and Order Quotes in Interactive mode by turning on this flag in Global Setup.  Interactive mode means when the Order Acknowledgement or Order Quote Email is sent, instead of sending it in the background, your default email client will pop up so you can review the email content before sending it out.
• Shipping Confirmation Email: Also, as of this release, you may optionally show backordered line items in the Shipping Confirmation Email.  In addition, you can send Shipping Confirmation Email from the Invoice History database.  This means you can post the invoice first and send the Shipping Confirmation Email later.  With prior versions, you had to send your Shipping Confirmation Email before the invoice was posted.
• Order Acknowledgement Email: The Miscellaneous Charges, Freight, Sales Tax and Amount Paid will now print on the bottom if they are not zero.

Shipping Improvement

• Laser Packing List and Immediate Packing List:  The system now supports Packing List with the Laser Form option.  You will need to turn this option on in Global setup.  You also need to import the Packing List Laser Form Template (CP02P2.F01 - 03) from the \Elliott7\Forms directory.  Also, there are several defaults that have been added to the Global Setup for Packing Lists including Location, print zero quantity items and include billed items on the Packing List. You may now print a Packing List immediately after the billing selection, shipping verification and shipping confirmation by turning on the option in Global setup.  This function is useful for companies who let the shipping department perform the billing selection, simplifying their process.
• Manifest Orders Status Report: This is a new report to supplement “Shipping Manifest Tracking Report.”  “Shipping Manifest Tracking Report” is from the Orders point of view to find out if there is a tracking number associated with the order.  This is useful for finding out if an order has been shipped and why it has not been shipped yet.  On the other hand, “Manifest Orders Status Report” is from the shipping point of view to find out if the orders have been shipped already and why they have not been selected for billing or invoiced.
• Picking Ticket Alignment: You can eliminate the print alignment message for Picking Tickets by setting a flag in the Global Setup.
• Picking Ticket Cutoff Date Improvement: A new global setup flag, Use Request Date For Shipping Control, determines if the Picking Ticket Cutoff Date is by Request Date or Promise Date.  This flag also determines if backorders are filled using a cutoff by Request Date or Promise Date.
• Staging Slip Data Entry Improvement: Staging Slip is also called Wave Pick.  A new user interface is introduced to allow users to add order numbers and edit them.  In previous versions, users could only add an order, but could not change it if a mistake was made.
• Assume Different Identity Support: Certain companies may wish to assume various different names for sales and marketing purposes.  For example, while selling retail items to a consumer on the Internet, the company may assume the name of company A, and then selling to a wholeseller may assume the name of company B.  You can now set up different identities in each customer type.  The different names set up in customer type will then show up on the Orders, Quotes and RMA Acknowledgements (regular or laser), as well as Emails, Invoices and Shipping Acknowledgements.  By default, the system retrieves the company name from the company file if no special identity is set up in the customer type.  Be aware the printing of company name for most Picking Tickets and Invoices are controlled by either laser template form or pre-printed on the form and may not be subjected to this control mechanism.

Return Merchandise Acknowledgement (RMA)

The option to print an Immediate RMA Acknowledgement is now available.  The email option and laser forms have been added for RMA as well.  These can be configured in the Global Setup.

Invoice Posting Improvements

• Additional Invoice Posting Message: Additional Invoice Posting Messages are added to alert users of potential problems.  Also, certain error condition messages will be written to the System Activity Log file.  These messages include “Order Invoiced but Not OK” and “Invoice is not posted due to waiting for EDI interface.”
• Purge Tracking Note: You can configure global setup to delete the shipment tracking note when the invoice is posted to AR.  This can be set to “Y” for always, “N” for never or “P” for only when the invoice is partially posted.
• Pre-Post Improvement: The Pre-Post Sales Journal has been modified to perform the same error/warning check like the logic in Posting Sales Journal for things like line item amount mismatch, duplicate invoice number, serial number or bin number, incomplete order, etc.

Order History

When a posted order is now purged in V7.3, its data is being moved to Order History.  The same principle applies to a deleted order.  Users can inquire Order History by Customer and Order Number.  In the past, some users were reluctant to purge posted orders and this caused the Order files to grow quite large over time and caused performance issues in the COP module.  Since order details are now kept in Order History (as well as invoice history), there will be no reason not to purge the posted orders more often.  Smaller order files (open orders only) means various operations in Customer Order Processing module will go a lot faster.

Customer Delivery Performance Report

This is a new report in V7.3 that provides the ability to analyze each customer’s delivery performance by comparing the following category:

Request Date vs. Promise Date

Deliver Date vs. Request Date or Promise Date (Based on Global Setup)

Quantity Deliver Early

Quantity Deliver On-Time

Quantity Deliver Late

You may define the time frame window for early in customer file maintenance.  Without setting up the time frame window, then shipping it one day early will be considered early.  There is no option to define a late delivery window because one day late is considered late. 

Sometimes, a shipment is not delivered on time due to reasons other than our fault.  You may exempt this shipment in Sales History Transaction file maintenance from calculating to negatively affect our delivery performance for the customer. 

Order Integrity Check

This utility, located under the Utilities in Global Setup, will delete orphaned line items in the CP Order Line Item file (CPORDLIN), CP Order Lot/Serial file (CPORDLS), CP Order Option file (CPORDOPT) and Item Inventory Bin file (IMBININV).  These are line item records that do not have an Order Header record.

Weight and Volume Support In Future Price

In addition to the price and cost information, the weight and volume of the item can be configured through the Future Price function.  The global flags for each must be turned on first.

Order Status Report

The Order Status Report has been improved to include options for Selected Orders and Not Posted Invoices.  A Status column has been added to the report to show the order status; X = Not Posted Invoice, S = Selected, I = Incomplete, P = Picked, (Blank) = Open Order.  The report has been redesigned to make it more readable, especially if printing by customer.

Purchase Order New Features

Purchase Order Entry Improvement

• Mass Update PO Promise Date:  In previous releases, when a user wished to change all line items’ promise date of a PO, the user would have to bring up and change each line item individually.  Now a user can simply change the promise date on the PO header screen and system will ask if you wish to change all line items’ promise date.  After the change, the ATP will reflect the new PO promise date immediately without ATP re-generation.
• PO Arrival Date & Shipping Date Support: A user may now define in Global setup whether the PO Line Item Request/Promise Date is either the “Arrival Date” or “Shipping Date” (The date the vendor needs to ship the goods to us).  The delivery lead time can be defined in the vendor file maintenance.  Both Arrival and Shipping Date will be displayed in the PO Line Item and PO Inquiry Screen.  The Request Date and Promise Date can be printed on the PO Form for both Arrival and Shipping information.
• Support Using Item Standard Cost as PO Line Item Cost: By default, the item last cost is used as the PO line item cost if the pricing table is not set up in the vendor item table.  You may choose to use the item standard cost as the default if you are using standard cost method in inventory setup.  With this release, you may choose to use item standard cost as the default even if you are not using the standard cost method.
• Easy Add PO Line in Change Mode: If you have tried to add a PO Line in change mode, you will need to first find out the last line number, then enter the next sequential line number to add.  If you have a lot of PO line items, then this can be somewhat tedious.  In this release, we are adding the “F2=Add New Line” function in the PO Line Item Change.

Purchase Order Printing Improvement

Elliott V7.3 now supports printing of Item_Note_1 – 5 on Purchase Order Line Item level.  The UPC code is often stored in one of the Item_Note_1 – 5 fields and this improvement essentially enables you to print UPC codes on the PO.  In addition, you may print the PO Revision Number on the PO.

PO Revision Control

A PO Revision database is introduced in Elliott V7.3 to track when a PO is added, changed, canceled or purged.  Each time a PO is printed and posted, the PO revision database is updated.  The revision number zero is for the new PO.  Each POchanged or canceled will increment the revision number by 1.

The current PO revision number is displayed on the PO header and Inquiry screens.  In addition, the PO revision number can be printed on the PO form.  In regular PO inquiry, you may press F4 to bring up revision history.  The full revision details are kept in the revision database.

When the PO is purged now, the final version of the PO is saved in the PO revision database.  Therefore, the user can now perform inquiry on purged POs through the PO revision database.

Support Purchase Variance and Standard Variance

Let’s start with an example for illustration.  Let’s say you are using standard cost method.  Standard cost for item A is $10.00.  Due to currency fluctuation, the current cost is $11.00 on the PO.  When we received the invoice, the vendor charged us $11.50.  In this case, there is a $1.00 standard cost variance and a $0.50 purchase variance.

In previous Elliott releases, there was only one purchase cost variance account and the entire $1.50 went to that account.  In V7.3, you can setup both a purchase price variance account and a standard cost variance account in Material Cost Location Account File setup.  You do not have to enable this feature.  If you do not set up a valid standard cost variance account, then all cost variances will continue to be posted to the purchase price variance account.

Vendor Delivery Performance Reports

This is a new report in V7.3 that provides the ability to analyze each vendor’s delivery performance by comparing the following category:

Request Date vs. Promise Date

Deliver Date vs. Request Date or Promise Date (Based on Global Setup)

Quantity Deliver Early

Quantity Deliver On-Time

Quantity Deliver Late

You may define the time frame window for early or late in Vendor file maintenance.  Without setting up the time frame window, then it is only considered on time if the vendor delivered on the same date as the request or promise date on the PO. 

Sometimes, a shipment is not delivered on time due to reasons other than vendor’s fault.  You may exempt this shipment in PO Receiving Accrual file maintenance from calculating to negatively affect vendor’s delivery performance. 

The report shows the actual variance and a percentage of the variance.  Compared with the Vendor History Report, you do not need to close or purge a purchase order in order to use this report, which is a great relief to many users (since they do not want to lose the ability to inquire past purchase orders).

Purchase Requisition to Consume Blanket Order

A global flag has been added to determine if the PO Requisition Process should consume a blanket Purchase Order.  In the past, Purchase Requisition always assumed creating a new purchase order.  In V7.3, it can optionally create a Blanket Release if a Blanket Order is found.

Warehouse Receiving Improvement

In Elliott V7.2, users were restricted to making one receiving transaction per PO line item before it was posted.  This restriction is lifted in V7.3.  Because of this change, we are changing the database structure for PO Warehouse Receiving Files, which you need to convert if you were using this feature in V7.2. 

In Elliott V7.3, you can optionally implement the batch receiving process by using Vessel Number.  Not only you can print and post by Vessel number now, you can also update the vessel’s expected or actual arrival date in one central place and update all associated ATP records for the new date.  This makes it practical for you to track the shipment as soon as it leaves your vendor’s port and provide more accurate ATP information for customer service and planning.

In addition, the system now optionally supports “Pending Update” for updating the invoice number to Serial History.  Pending Update takes place when you receive the serial number, but the warehouse has not received the invoice yet and therefore there is no invoice number to enter.  However, once the invoice is received, the user would like to update the serial history with the invoice number for warranty purposes.  Pending Update will store all posted, received serial numbers that do not have an invoice number.  Once the invoice number is received, the user can update the Pending file and post the pending file to update Serial History with the proper Invoice Number.

Bill of Material Processor New Features

Production Work Order Improvement

• Option Not to Allocate Work Order: A new flag is added to BOMP Work Order for “Allocate.”  With previous releases, when a work order was entered the material of the work order was always allocated immediately.  Now users have the option to enter a long range work order without allocating component inventory.
• Check Components’ Availability: With a global setup flag, users can now optionally ask the system to check components’ availability when adding a new production work order.  Details of components can be displayed to easily identify the shortage components.
• Work Order Laser Form: A new laser form template has been developed in Elliott V7.3 to support production work orders.  Users can now print Production Work Orders on a laser form with barcode support for parent and component item numbers.

Scanner Support for Creating Production Structure

In Product Structure Maintenance, we have introduced a new feature where pressing F3 will import the structure from a handheld scanner.  This feature allows users to build a parent item’s product structure with a scanner.

Shop Floor Control New Features

Support Barcode Printing on Dispatch Report

A new template had been added for the SFC Dispatch Report to allow the printing of barcodes for Shop Order Number, Operation Number and Quantity.  This feature can speed up the data collection process in SFC Activities Transaction Processing.  By connecting a keyboard wedge scanner to a PC, the user can now scan shop order numbers, operation numbers and quantity information directly into Elliott.

With Dispatch Report, we also support the option to print a separator line between two operations to make the report more readable.

Close Shop Order Batch Function

In previous Elliott releases, users could close a shop order through the “Close Order Processing.”  It was designed as an interactive process for users to close one shop order at a time.  In Elliott V7.3, we introduce an additional function to allow users to close shop orders on a batch basis.  Based on parameters the user supplies, the system can determine the shop orders that are qualified for closing and close those shop orders automatically.  It is designed as a report to list the shop orders in range and show the status of whether it has been closed or not.  If not, it will show the reason for not closing it.