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Serving Retailers since 2000                       Newsletter
December 2010
In This Issue
Security!
Purchase Orders/Vendor Returns
Small Business Jobs Act
Physical Inventory
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Greetings!

We have a few new features for you this month, and a reminder about how to do your end of year inventory.
Update Your Web Browser


For those of you who need to visit websites, or who have employees who do so, one of the most basic security steps you should take is keeping your web browser up to date.  Many people do not do so - many people, for instance, are still using Internet Explorer 6.  Old web browsers frequently have security holes that are not being fixed, and can easily cause you problems down the road.


Additionally, unless you have a very specific reason to need to use it, you should not have Adobe Flash enabled.  Flash is one of the most frequent targets for attacks, and most business users do not require it for business needs.


Finally, as of October Microsoft's free antivirus program, Microsoft Security Essentials, is now available to small businesses with up to 10 computers.  Many of you fall under this category, and if you're not using an antivirus we recommend that you install this or purchase another program of your choice.

Purchase Order and Vendor Returns


Coming in an update during the month of December, we're adding the support for using the Cipherlab 8000 in purchase orders and vendor returns that was discussed in last month's letter.

 

In order to use it, you'll go through the purchase order or the vendor return to the point where you would normally begin adding items.  Then you'll be able to hit the upload from device item to pull in data that you had scanned in to the cipherlab, selecting either to default to new or to used.

Small Business Jobs Act

This is the last month of 2010, and it's the last month where you can take advantage of the bonus depreciation on capitol investments under the Small Business Jobs Act.  If you're thinking about making major infrastructure investment, from a new POS system all the way up to an entire new store, look over this article for more information.  Of course, you should also discuss anything like this with your accountant.
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.


For customers on an update plan, the most recent version of the software is 2.09.0004.

Support has ended for versions 2.05.0048 and older of ExtremePOS, Musicware, and Praiz as of December 1st, 2010.  Get more information 


Not supported?  Get supported here!

You may view an archive of our emails here!

Sincerely,
 

Jeremy Spencer
Support Manager
Extreme Point Of Sale Inc
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