May 2015
Training Committee Update  &
Encounter 2015
by Rich Chadwick, Committee Chair, United Electric Supply

The first quarter of 2015 has been very busy for the Training Committee and staff, preparing the 2015 learning opportunities for you.


 

The usage for our Web Classes and Videos has never been higher; it is great to see member companies taking advantage of these training opportunities.  Several years ago, the Board of Directors decided to make both the Web Classes and Videos available at no charge to members and as a result, the usage has steadily increased.  If you are your company's representative to the Users Group, here are a couple of actions you can take to help increase your company's overall Eclipse knowledge:

  1. Circulate the training calendar to all departments.
  2. Make the New Hire class part of your new employee training program.
  3. Be the internal advocate for continuing training.

The Training Committee is always looking for individuals to share their Eclipse related experiences with other users.  Many distributors have resolved business issues with unique ideas by using the Eclipse system in creative ways.  Many of these solutions involved using a third party product such as Excel with Eclipse to get the problem solved. These are great things to exchange with other users on a Web Roundtable or a session at Encounter.  Give it some thought and if you would like to share your experience let a Training Committee member or Suzanne Saltmarsh know.

 

 

Back in September 2014, the Eclipse User's Group hosted the second annual Training and Networking Conference.  The conference, now called Encounter, is an Eclipse only event and it really expanded over its initial year.  During the opening address, Joe Cowan, CEO of Epicor, gave a brief talk about his philosophy and priorities on directing a huge software company.  Joe also did a question and answer session with the members.  Chris Bohn gave an update on the User's Group and Mark Artim from Eclipse Product Management laid out the Product Development Roadmap for Eclipse.  The users got an excellent idea of where the Eclipse product is going and what new features to expect in the next release.

The class sessions were very well received by the participants. Some of the best parts were users asking questions and sharing experiences between each other.  The Training Committee received many great suggestions for the next conference.  Well, 2014 is now in the past and it is time to look at Encounter 2015.

 

The Eclipse Users Group is planning to make Encounter 2015 even better so let's touch on some of the highlights:


 

Date: September 13-15, 2015

Location: San Antonio Texas, home of the famous Riverwalk and the Alamo.

Hotel: Wyndham San Antonio , which is downtown right on the Riverwalk.

Capacity: 300 attendees up from 230 in 2014. We sold out quickly last year so there is now more room available.

Classes: 8 individual tracks, not including vendor presentations. Up from 6 last year.

  1.  Purchasing and Inventory Control
  2.  Advance Sales
  3.  Accounting
  4.  Management
  5.  Pricing
  6.  Warehouse and Operations
  7.  Productivity Tools
  8.  Vendor Sponsor Presentations 

What's next: Detailed Encounter 2015 schedule will go out on May 6th and registration will open on May 20th.  So start planning now and be thinking about who in your company could benefit from some additional Eclipse training. Earlybird Registration will end 6/12/15. You MUST register for all classes you wish to attend at the time of registration.

 

What you should know about the new Google search algorithm!

by Joe Bennett, Unilog, CIMM2 

 

Most of you have already heard about the changes made to Google's search algorithm last month, but do you know what those changes mean for your business? The change is being referred to as "Mobile-geddon" and for good reason. Google now caters to responsive sites. A responsive website automatically adjusts the layout depending on the device used by the visitor, also known as mobile-friendly design (different than a mobile app). Responsive sites offer users a much better mobile experience.

 

You may have heard that this change only applies to searches that are being made on mobile devices. While this is true, searches made on mobile devices have already surpassed searches made from desktops! Making this change something every company should be taking very seriously. The good news is that the algorithm applies on a page by page basis, so Google only takes into account in its rankings the pages on your site that are mobile-friendly. The 'unfriendly' portions do not affect the ranking of the entire site. The algorithm works on a real time basis which means that improving the mobile friendliness of your website gives you immediate results.

  

If you're unsure of how responsive your website is, Google provides a tool that allows you to test each page individually. If most of the visits made to your site are done from a desktop computer due to the nature of the business, you may think this still does not apply to you. But, even if the majority of your business comes from desktops, it's not going to stay that way for long. The dominance of mobile devices is only going to continue growing.


Though the algorithm change is mostly focused on the idea of catering to mobile-ready sites, existing factors like relevance and popularity still play a major role. If your current site is already well established and not responsive, you may not have noticed an immediate drop in page rankings. Having a responsive website is just another way to have an advantage on your competitors.


If you're a CIMM2 customer, good news! Because your site was built on CIMM2, it's already mobile-friendly and responsive. The new Google search algorithm was a welcomed change for CIMM2 customers, thanks to the positive effects.

 

About Unilog and CIMM2

Unilog Content Solutions is a global technology and services company that specializes in e-commerce solutions and enriched product catalogs for the business-to-business marketplace. Unilog focuses on building content for distributors and large e-tailers. Their web-based software product, CIMM2, integrates distributors' ERP system with their e-commerce site. It also has the capability to manage millions of SKUs and the ability to be used on mobile devices and tablets. This gives distributors the same ecosystem that a large e-tailer would have at a fraction of the cost.

 

 

 

"The UFO Advice Column" 
  by 'Uncle' Frank Ousterhout


 

Dear Uncle Frank,

                It is easy to find open bids by customer but what if I want to find out WHO received bids from us for a specific item?


                 Daron from Cincinnati, OH

 

Dear Daron,

                Since Bids are just Orders in Bid Status, use the same inquiries and reports.


                 Go to the Future Ledger for the item and after selecting the Branch, then use the drop down menu in the box under Show Only to request Bids.  This is a single branch inquiry based on the Shipping Branch so in some cases you need to make multiple inquires using various potential shipping branches.

 

                The standard Open Sales Order Report can be used for a more targeted inquiry.  First, you can specify a branch, a territory, or all branches.  You can specify date ranges.  There are sorting options.  You can look at a single customer, or all customers. 

 

               If you are looking for your own Bid, just enter your name as the Writer.  Or you can leave the Writer blank and your report will be for any Writer.  You can also enter a 'message group' of writers (for example the people in a branch are often in a message group for communications.)

 

            Then you can select by a Price Line, multiple Price Lines, a Product or multiple Products.

 

             The next important check-off is to probably choose Order Date and not Ship Date but it depends on whether you are vigilant on Ship Dates.

 

             The Internal/External reference will show costs (or not.)


 

              Finally, be sure to check off Bids ONLY.

              

              The caveat to all of this is that the above Inquiry or Report will only work with open Bids.  If you change the Status of a Bid into an order then you cannot find it by searching for a Bid since it is no longer in Bid Status.  It is an established practice in some organizations to leave all original Bids as Bids and to copy them to an order if an order is placed.  This effectively maintains a generation zero for future reference (and for future inquiries or searches.)


                Regards,

                Uncle Frank

Tour de Force, More than CRM

by Ashley Heath, Tour de Force

 

As a member of the Eclipse Users Group (UFO), you most likely have heard of Tour de Force. Maybe you've attended a demo or webinar, or met with us at an industry event or conference. Maybe you know a colleague that uses Tour de Force, or maybe you are a Tour de Force client yourself! Chances are that you've heard of Tour de Force and that you think of us a CRM software solution. And while it's true that we do provide a CRM solution, we also provide, much, much more!

 

Tour de Force connects to all the systems that you use to do business; your email server, phone system, Epicor Eclipse ERP system, shipping systems, etc., and pulls all of that data into one central location to truly give you a 360° view of your customers, prospects, suppliers, and vendors. 

 

Tour de Force is not just a customer database management software application. Tour de Force provides analytics, reporting, sales planning, quote management, project management, marketing automation, and a wide range of tools designed to help you optimize your business processes throughout your organization.

 

Does your company bid on public or construction project jobs? Tour de Force  Job Management features allow you to streamline and simplify this process and increase your wins. 

 

Do you provide value added services to your customers? Our Support features can be configured to manage the process of providing support and services, and to help you quantify the value that you are providing to your customers.

 

Do you struggle with creating and distributing reports? Build Your Own Reports (BYOR) from Tour de Force eliminates the expense and wait time that is normally associated with the creation of custom reports and empowers your management and sales team by giving them direct access to business data in the format they need. Your sales team can receive custom reports into their inbox on a daily basis, reports that automatically respect your corporate permissions structure, only allowing them to see the information and sales data that they have rights to see.


 Tour de Force is much more than CRM! Call us at 877-285-4800 or click on the link below to schedule a one-on-one web demonstration to learn more about what Tour de Force has to offer.


 http://www.tourdeforceinc.com/schedule-a-demo

 

Did You Forget or Never Knew??

By Elizabeth Richardt - CappUSA

 

Change Selling Price or Cost on an Order

  

Seven ways to Make Changes 
  •  Manually change an item
    • To manually change an item, go to the Sell Price field and enter the new sell price.
    • To manually change an item cost, in the Cost field enter the desired cost
  •    Create a formula from a basis
    • Change view to one that includes a formula.
      • Click on magnifying glass icon on far right.
      • Select Formula / Unit Price view
      • In the Basis field, select the appropriate basis.
      • In the Formula field, enter the desired formula. 
    • Change the Price Class
      • For 1 item
        • Change the view to one that includes the Price Class.
        • Click on magnifying glass icon on far right.
        • Select Formula / Unit Price view.
        • Go to the Class field, enter in the new appropriate price class.
      • For complete order
      • On the menu bar - click on Edit Order -> Pricing
        • In the Price Class field, enter in new class.
        • Ensure the "Reprice All Items" check box is selected. This will only reprice items not already changed.
        • Check the "Reprice Overrides" box to change items that HAVE been manually changed already.
        • Press F12, answer yes to the verification question.
  • Change the GP% (Gross Profit)
    • Select a view that contains a GP% field.
    • Enter the desired gross profit percent. This will use cost to adjust the selling price. (This is a true gross profit, not a markup.)
  • Subtotal
    • You must be on a blank line.
    • You may have multiple subtotals on an order.
    • On the Menu bar select Line Item -> Subtotal (Add/Edit) this shows the Subtotal Window.
    • Subtotal Field:
      • If you want to change the price for this group of items, then enter the desired value in the Subtotal field. Ex: if the order was originally $461, and you wanted those items to total $400, then enter $400 in this field. All items will be pro-rated accordingly.
      • If you want to use a formula, in the subtotal field enter the value with the formula to achieve the selling price. Example:  If cost = $186.96, then enter 186.96 * 1.20, press enter to achieve a 20% markup. (This adding 17% gross profit)  The selling price would be $224.35.
    • GP% Flat field/GP% Weighted
      • Enter in the desired Gross Profit
    • Show Item Price field
      • The default is No - this means that individual prices will not print on the Bid/Order, only Subtotals will print. 
      • Change this to Yes to print the individual and extended prices 
    • Cost Field
      • Enter a new total cost for the items in this subtotal.
      • Enter in a new cost using a formula. The formula can be based off the Sell price.
    • Back To field
      • This field controls which items, above this line, will be included in this new subtotal calculation.
      • Select appropriate option.
      • F12
    • Comment field
      • Where it says "Subtotal ---", you may change this to say whatever you want, to identify this group of items.
    • Notes:
      • You can delete the subtotal line from the order, and still maintain the adjusted prices and costs. 
  • Use your number keypad like a calculator
    • All numeric fields are a calculator.
    • Formula you can use:
      • Plus %      +###
      • Minus %   -###
      • Multiply   *###
      • Divide      /#
      • Chain Discount  -##/##/##
      • Gross Profit  GP##
    • Example: type 100 do not press enter, type * do not press enter, type .80 press enter.  The result will be 80.
  • Profit Wheel - I find this is one option so many do not know about
    • Press F10 in the Price Column
      • The Profit Wheel window will open
      • You can now see a range of prices with the G/P%
        • Select the price you want from the Wheel - it will write back to your order.

       


 


 


 


 


  

 

FYI - If there are areas of Eclipse that you would like me to cover, please feel free to send me an Email and I will gladly add it as an option in one of our Newsletters.  sis@cappusa.com

 

In This Issue
Training Committee Update - Encounter 2015
What you should know about the new Google search algorithm - Unilog - CIMM2 - Vendor Article
UFO Advice Column - Uncle Frank
Tour de Force More Than CRM - Vendor Article
Change Selling Price or Cost on an Order
MayTraining Schedule
May Training

DateClassLoc/Presenter
May 4thNew Hire #1 Solar Basic System Navigation Web - Zerion

May 5th		New Hire #2 Solar Basic System Navigation SalesWeb - Zerion
May 6thNew Hire #3 Solar Basic System Navigation PurchasingWeb- Zerion
May 7thNew Hire #4 May Basic System Navigation WarehousingWeb - Zerion
May 18th - 21st

Epicor Insights 2015
Epicor Insights Conference
May 26th
Sales Management Plus CRM & BI
SMP - Vendor Product Presentation
May 
26th

Strategic Pricing Overview & Customer Interview
SPA - Vendor Product Presentation
May
26th

Sales Order Automation Using Auto Order
Phocas - Vendor Product Presentation
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