Serving Retailers since 2000 Newsletter

January 2014

In This Issue

Physical Inventory

Physical Inventory Tools

Ecommerce Features

Windows XP End of Life

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It's everyone's favorite time of year again: Time for a physical inventory! Remember to run your list reports and save a copy.

Physical Inventory

Doing a physical inventory can be a very stressful time. A quick review of the basics of doing it can help, however. A more detailed explanation may be found in the manual; to access it from within the program on the main invoice screen go to the help menu and then ExtremePOS Help. For Praiz and Musicware users, this is Praiz Help or Musicware Help respectively.

1. Start eXtremePOS and select Tools -> Physical Inventory -> Desktop from the login screen to enter the Physical Inventory screen.

2. Select the department(s) you want to inventory. To inventory your entire store, select "All" from the Department list box. To select multiple departments, hold down the "Control" key and click each department you want to select.

Note: While taking Physical Inventory, ExtremePOS will only recognize and count items in the selected departments.
Click the OK button. This will create a Physical Inventory database

IMPORTANT: You will need to COMPLETE inventory in the selected departments before you update quantities to your store database. At that point, you will be able to go back and select other
department(s) to inventory.

3. You should select "Continue Counting" to bring up the Count screen and begin taking inventory. Select "View Depts" if you want to see a list of departments currently being inventoried.

4. Collect inventory from the Count Screen
    In order to count an item:
    1. Enter the quantity in the Quantity box
    2. Indicate whether this is a new or used item by selecting the appropriate option button.
   3. Scan the item OR type in the item number and hit OK Information about the item including expected and actual quantities for new and used will be shown in the "Last Item Scanned" box. When you have completed taking inventory, exit the Count screen by selecting "Done".

5. View Discrepancy Report
Select View or Print inventory discrepancy report to see all differences between expected and actual quantities, and value of any lost inventory.
Note: When quantities are updated, the final discrepancy report will be automatically saved to your store data directory under Backup\Reports. The filename will be based on the date and time the report was created. The program will inform you of the location and filename that the final report is saved to.

6. Update Quantities
Selecting "Update Inventory" will overwrite the quantities in your store database with the counted quantities in your physical inventory database. Update should not be performed until you have COMPLETELY inventoried the departments you have selected. Quantities will be updated ONLY for the departments which you have inventoried during this session. It is recommended that you view the discrepancy report one last time before updating quantities to verify that you are ready to perform the
update. When the update is performed, it CANNOT be undone. If you find you need to adjust the quantities after you have already performed the update, you will need to do this at the inventory
maintenance screen.

If you wish for any reason to discard the inventory taken thus far, select "Clear Physical Inventory Count". This will delete the quantities and allow you to restart inventory from scratch. This is
primarily helpful if you are experimenting with the software rather than actually taking inventory. Be aware that once you select "Clear Physical Inventory Count", it CANNOT be undone.

Physical Inventory Tools

The above process can be done with just your standard wired scanner at your point of sale station. However, we do offer tools to make the process easier, possibly allowing you to do it more frequently and therefore keep a tighter control on your inventory.

First, instead of a normal, wired scanner, you can use a bluetooth-based wireless scanner. This device can go up to 328 feet away within your store and act as a scanner for your desk; you can also use it as a normal scanner the rest of the time. However, you'll need someone watching the computer for any errors (such as the item you've scanned not being set up in inventory, or not in the department you're working with) and you won't be able to use both it and a normal scanner on the same station at the same time. We sell this device for $499.99

The other mobile option is a specialized batch scanner and mobile terminal that can be used to collect a large number of scans and then upload them all together to the inventorying station. You can use these at the same time as the station's own scanner, and at any distance or even in other buildings. In fact, while collecting the data the pos system doesn't even have to be on. You may also, for larger stores, have several in use at any time for an even quicker inventory process. These do not have the capability to work as normal scanners, however. They are about the size of a cell phone and run off of normal AAA batteries. This device is normally $599.99, but through the end of January it will be $499.99 if you mention this article.

Ecommerce Features

We would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the ecommerce features introduced in version 3.0.9. January and February can be the perfect time to make a major change like this, while the retail business is somewhat slower.

If you would like a demonstration of the feature, please contact support to arrange it.

Windows XP End of Life Reminder

As a reminder, Microsoft will be discontinuing security updates for Windows XP April 8th. (Further information is available from their site)

If you are running Windows XP, we strongly recommend that you upgrade, rather than remain vulnerable past this point. It may be possible to upgrade an existing XP machine to Vista or 7 with the purchase of an upgrade license; alternatively, if you are looking to upgrade the PC entirely, then you can move your existing licenses.

Until the end of January, mention this newsletter for $100 off the regular price of a new PC if purchased from us; PCs bought from us can come preconfigured with the software, and we will be happy to assist in setup.

Version 3.1.2 is out for supported users.

Not supported? Get supported here!

You may view an archive of our emails here!

Sincerely,

Jeremy Spencer
Support Manager
Extreme Point Of Sale Inc