PHULmonty

If you have received a zip file, or self extracting zip, unzip the file in a temporary directory, and run the setup program – follow the directions on the screen. On some operating systems (such as win 98) you will sometimes get message “xxx failed to register a dll” (see MDAC and Jet 4.0 under requirements) chose the ignore option and continue with the setup. PHULmonty will be installed in the startup menu.

To remove PHULmonty from your computer, open the control panel and select “Add/Remove programs”, then select PHULmonty and follow the prompts.

1.2 Requirements

PHULmonty has been tested on Windows 98 and NT. It should work fine on 2000.The program uses an MSAccess 2000 database, to properly administer the system you should have MSAccess (2000) installed and be familiar with the operation of MSAccess for database compression, replication etc. For best performance, the database should be installed on a local disk, but it will work, but somewhat slower, when installed on a network file server. To install the database in a different directory than the original setup directory, simply copy the .mde file in the install directory to the desired directory, and when you run PHULmonty chose “open database” located in the upper right hand corner, and select the new database.

A 750 MHZ computer or better, with at least 256 Mbytes of memory, using a local hard disk (the faster the better) with at least 30 MB available. How much disk space you will need is dependent on how much data you add. Windows NT or 2000.

Your operating system should be using MDAC 2.6 and Jet 4.0 service pack 5. These are available as downloads from Microsoft. These are the data access components which are part of the operating system, and if you do not have the most current updates, it will cause PHULmonty behave in odd ways. If you do not know which level is on your system, you can download the “Component checker” from Microsoft.

1.3 Contact information

Contact the author at sales@phulmonty.com. We will be happy to provide licensing information, and support at a reasonable cost.

1.4 License

This license applies to the demonstration version of PHULmonty.

PHULmonty License demonstration Version C. Overton

By using, copying, transmitting, distributing or installing PHULmonty, you agree to all of the terms of this License. If you do not agree to any of the terms of this License, then do not use, copy, transmit, distribute, or install PHULmonty.

This is not free software. Subject to the terms below, you are hereby licensed by C. Overton (the author) to use this software for demonstration purposes without charge for a period of 90 days. If you use this software after the 90-day demonstration period a registration, and a registration fee required. You must contact the author at sales@phulmonty.com to obtain registration information and fee requirements.

Unregistered use of PHULmonty after the 90day demonstration period is in violation of U.S. and international copyright laws.

You may, without making any payment to the author:

a. Give exact copies of this demonstration version of PHULmonty personally to anyone, except for the purpose of extending their 90day demonstration period.

b. Distribute exact copies of this demonstration version of PHULmonty, if done exclusively through electronic channels,

c. Make as many exact copies of this demonstration version of PHULmonty as you wish, for purposes of distribution as described in (a) and (b) above.

You are specifically prohibited from charging, or requesting donations, for any copies, however made, and from distributing such copies with other products of any kind, commercial or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author. The author reserves the right to revoke the above distribution rights at any time, for any or no reason.

You may not alter or modify the PHULmonty Software, nor give anyone permission to do so. This software, and all accompanying files, data and materials, are distributed "AS IS" and with no warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. In particular, there is no warranty for fitness for any specific use or function. Good data processing procedures dictates that any program be thoroughly tested with non-critical data before relying on it and then with frequent backups. The user must assume the entire risk of using the program. This disclaimer of warranty constitutes an essential part of the agreement. In no event shall the author, principals, affiliates, contractors, subsidiaries, or parent organizations, be liable for any incidental, consequential, or punitive damages whatsoever relating to the use of PHULmonty, or your relationship with the author.

In addition, in no event does the author authorize you to use PHULmonty in applications or systems where any failure of the software (PHULmonty) to perform can reasonably be expected to result in a financial loss, equipment damage, software loss or damage, physical injury, in loss of life, bring harm to any individual, group or property. Any such use by you is entirely at your own risk, and you agree to hold harmless, and defend the author from any such claims or losses relating to such unauthorized use.

This Agreement is the complete statement of the Agreement between the parties on the subject matter, and merges and supersedes all other or prior understandings, purchase orders, agreements and arrangements. This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California, The United States, and International Law. Exclusive jurisdiction and venue for all matters relating to this Agreement shall be in courts located in the State of California and you consent to such jurisdiction and venue.

All rights of any kind in PHULmonty, which are not expressly granted in this License, are entirely and exclusively reserved to and by the author. You may not rent, lease, modify, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or create derivative works based on PHULmonty. You may not make access to PHULmonty available to others in connection with a service bureau, application service provider, or similar business, or use PHULmonty in a business to provide services to others. There are no third party beneficiaries of any promises, obligations or representations made by the author herein.

1.5 What is it

This PHULmonty integrates the following functions to aid in business operations, and CRM:

· Order Entry

· Account and payment on account management

· Order invoices and Account Statements

· A real time online Sales Monitor (see sales totals changes as they occur)

· Sales reports, by product, customer, and sales representatives

· Call Center with issue management and reporting

· Product Update Inventory management

· System Administration functions

These functions are implemented using an “open” RDBMS as a data repository giving the user direct access to the data and database “views” to aid in data analysis, business and customer relationship management. The intent of the system as implemented is to be used by smaller organizations, which have a small number of users. PHULmonty uses MSAccess for data storage, and view management. Most, if not all of the “business rules” are implemented as database views (queries), thus allowing a large amount of system flexibility without application level programming changes. This is an open and extensible system, with plans to implement purchasing, time and billing, and other functions. This approach provides the advantages of an open relational database system with CRM functionality, without the relatively high cost of an Enterprise level system. Although by up scaling to a more enterprise oriented ODBC compliant RDBMS, it can be used by larger organizations. Up scaling using other RDBMs can be accomplished with relatively little effort, and is currently planned, for other implementations.

The demonstration version allows all the implemented functions to be used, and is only limited to the time you may use the program, after the demonstration period you must obtain a full license.

1.6 Brief operating instructions

Run the PHULmonty.exe by selecting it from the start programs menu.

On the Logon TAB select one of the employees. You will be logged under this name. You cannot proceed until logged on – any name will do. After logging on, you may go to the employees tab and add your name to the list of employees, and your name will appear the next time you are ready to logon. Once logged on you are ready to take orders, if you do not want to setup products/accounts. The database has several fictitious products, customers, contacts, and employees already setup for demonstration purposes.

Select the More TAB and then click on products. Add products you are going to sell to this list. There is a lot of data here – you should take care to select and set up accounts data. Product specific accounts are available on the Product Accounts Information TAB. A complete list of accounts is also available from the More tab.

Once you are ready to take orders go directly to the order details tab. Assuming you have a new customer, click on the New Customer, setup new account for order, you will be transferred to the new customer screen. Select the type of customer Individual, or Company (the buttons are located on the left down toward the middle of the screen), Individual is the default. Yellow field are required, blue are optional and red are disabled.

When the required fields are filled in click on the “Accept button”, this process will take several seconds, a prompt will appear indicating the account and order were setup, click ok and you will be transferred back to the order screen, select the product and quantity (click on product, in the list of items in the order, when the button appears, click again to get a list of products), select payment method, and shipping method order totals and shipping information are displayed on the right of the window. Add items as desired to the order by clicking the add items button. When the order is ready to ship, click on “Ship this order”. This will lock the order and green fields (allowing data entry) will turn red prohibiting further entry, and the order will be “locked” indicating it has shipped.

You will need to explore other tabs, for example the more tab has buttons that will enable you to set up your accounts and products, and other functions. Most of the controls have a tool tip with a brief explanation of function performed.

2.0 Operating Details

2.1 General

Notice the right hand top of the screen, the open db button click on this will allow you to change which data base you are using. The full path name of database you are using is displayed immediately below. Also displayed below the database path is the name of the currently logged on user. If you have not logged on yet the message “Need to logon” is displayed. On the far left of the screen is the Logo for PHULmonty. You can change this by coping in a JPG file containing your Logo into the file “CompanyLogoCLR.jpg” in the directory you installed PHULmonty. You can also change the name displayed from PHULmonty to your company name by selecting the “My Company Data” tab and changing the company name to your company name.

2.2 Logon Tab

This is where you “Logon”. This is not a secure logon but an identification of who is using the database. When you click on the logon tab a list of “Employees” will appear, select which one you are. By selecting the employee tab (after logging on) you can add, change delete employees that are displayed on the logon list. The program will not allow you to continue past the logon tab until you have logged on. For your initial log on chose any name on the list, then add your self to the list via employees tab.

Secure logon is intended for a future implementation.

Figure 2.1 – the Logon tab.

2.3 Customers/Orders Tab

This tab displays a list of customers and list of orders made by that customer. You may search for a customer by name, company name, or city. Enter the text you want to search for in the appropriate box and click the “GO” button.

The refresh button will refresh the display if for some reason it has become corrupted.

The customer list is in customer ID order, and contains customer contact information such as fax number email number etc.. You may not change the customer data on this tab, instead use the “Customer Detail Data” to make desired changes.

When you click on the row for a customer (selecting the customer), the grid on the bottom is updated with the order information from that customer. The order information grid contains order history information, such as transaction type, order date, date shipped, payment method and order amount.

Behind the scenes, when you click on a customer or order on this tab the “Order Details” tab is updated with the currently selected order details.

Figure 2.2 – the Customers/Orders TAB

2.4 Order Details Tab

This tab is the main working tab for a person whose main task is to take and record orders. A new order can be setup for a current customer (selected on the Customers/Orders Tab), update an existing order, lock the order indicating it has shipped, and printing of the invoice for the order etc. Also from this tab by using the “Add New Customer” button, a new account for a new customer can be quickly setup.

Color coding – green fields are generally updateable, red fields may not be updated. The order status text “Order Open for Update” will change to red along with the other green fields when the order is locked (marking it as shipped). The grid contains the list of items in this order.

Figure 2.2 – Order Details TAB

To select and change the product for an order item, click on the product name then click on the button that appears. A product list will be as shown below, double click on the product desired. Also displayed are a variety details describing the product that may be of interest at order time. The Totals for the order appear just above shipping information.

Figure 2.3 – Order Details TAB

Although the tax rate and discount rate can be set on this tab as can the freight charge, the default values initially loaded are set by “My Company Default values” in the “My Company data” TAB. A new item can be added to the order by clicking on “Add New Items to this Order”, a blank item will be added to the order. Select payment method and shipping method from the drop down list boxes. If you have additional shipping methods or payment methods or different freight charges you will need to add to or modify the tables to obtain the desired default values. The default shipping address information customer can be changed using the “Contacts” or the “Customer Detail Data” TABs billing address.

Shipping address information is located in the blue area on the bottom right hand of the screen. When the order is ready to ship, click on “Ship this Order”, the order will be “locked”. You can print the invoice for the order by clicking on “Print Shipping Invoice”. The order invoice looks as follows:

Figure 2.4 Order Invoice.

You can print the order invoice at any time.

To add a new order for a new customer click on “New Customer Setup new account and the following window will appear:

Figure 2.5 Enter New Customer Data.

The default selection on this window is an individual (Shown). Click on “New Company” to setup a new company or “Company on File” to set up a new account for a company already on file the color settings will change depending on your selection. Color coding – Yellow fields are required, blue fields are optional and red fields are not required for the type of account you have selected for setup. If you are setting up a new company or a company on file, the company address needs to be entered, once entered you can click on “Use Address for Customer above” this will copy the company address to the customer address above. This address is the default shipping address and billing address for the customer.

Short cut tip – if you enter the zip code first – the city and state for the zip code will be filled in from the zip code look up table. If the ZIP code is not in the table and it is a valid zip code, you may want take note of it and add the ZIP code information using the system administration functions (see the “More” TAB). The ZIP code table only uses the first 5 digits of the zip code.

The sales tax rate is a required value. A default is setup from the “My Company data” tab (default values). Change the displayed value as appropriate for this customer. The account number is set by the program to be the next available customer number. The program will set a default name for the account change it as appropriate for this customer. A series of customer specific options are displayed. The default values are set in the “My Company Data” and should be changed as appropriate for this customer. The options for periodic payments (BaseDueDate, Pay Period, Annual %, PlannedPayoff, Min Pay %, Min Pay Amt, Penalty %, Days Grace) are set up here for a future implementation of “periodic” payments on term credit accounts. The remainder of the options are used to determine valid payment methods, minimum purchase amount, whether to allow a prompt pay discount (Assuming Customer rules are enabled in “My Company Data”), whether or not the customer will be charged a restocking fee for returned merchandise.

Once the proper data has been entered for the new customer, click on “Accept this data and open order”. The program will check to ensure that all the required data has been entered, a new account will be set up with an empty order and transfer will go back to orders detail tab with this customer and an empty order displayed.

2.5 Payments Tab

The “Payments” tab allows the receipt of money to be applied to a customers account. The tab is shown as follows:

Figure 2-6 Payments Tab.

Color coding – red fields cannot be changed, data entry fields are in green, and yellow is “caution”. You may search for the customer by entering the data to search on in the appropriate box and click on go. A payment history for the selected customer is displayed in the Payment History grid. Other customer account information is displayed below the history grid. If you wish to enter a new payment click on new payment, enter the payment data then click on update. If you want to update a previous payment click on that payment in the payment grid update the data as appropriate then click on update. To delete a payment click on the payment in the payment grid then click on Delete payment (yellow in this case means CAUTION).

2.6 Return Merchandise Authorization

This tab as shown below is used to issue an approval for merchandise to be returned. Select the customer from the customer selection list. The order list grid will be updated with the list of order from the selected customers. Click on the order, which has the merchandise to be returned. The Original Order Information will be updated with the list of items in the original order. Select the item to be returned and enter into the “ApvRtnQty” (Apv means approved) the quantity to be returned. The Restocking fee % to be charged (enabled by customer but the percent is dependent on the product) is displayed, along with the “Approved” refund. “ACT” (actual returns – for example they wanted to return and you approved 10, but the customer only returned 5) fields should be filled out on the “Return Receiving” tab. The credit is not given to the customer account until the merchandise is “actually” returned. The order ID, Item # an RMA number (system assigned) are displayed in bottom grid on the far left. If a partial order was previously returned, a new RMA for the specific item may be entered (Approved) entering the quantity to be returned in row with the *.

Figure 2-7 Return Merchandise Authorization

2.7 Return Merchandise Receiving Tab

The Return Merchandise Receiving tab is used to log returned merchandise in when it has actually been received. Only after the merchandise has been received, will the customer’s account be credited. To find the RMA number, enter the number into the text box and click on go – the RMA can then be updated with the quantity of received merchandise. Enter the number of items actually received. Also enter any freight charges your company is responsible for.

Figure 2-8 Return Merchandise Receiving

2.8 Contacts Tab

The contacts tab contains a list of all the contacts, in the database whether they are customers, suppliers, employees, or personal contacts. You can search on name, company, and by city by entering the search text in the appropriate box and clicking on go. Personal data, demographic data are kept here and may be modified. Scrolling is provided for additional data not displayed on the screen. Add new contacts by entering data in the last empty row (has * in left hand column), delete by selecting a contact and pressing the delete key.

Figure 2-9 Contacts Tab

2.9 Customer Detail Data Tab

The customer detail tab contains all the data relative to the customer contact and the customer account parameters. This includes the customer account number, whether the account is closed. It also contains the prompt (timely) payment options for this customer. The prompt payment options will be valid if the customer method of timely payment discount is selected in the “My Company” tab. Included on this tab are the various “Notes” associated with an account, as shown below. You cannot add a customer from this tab. Use the “Order Details” tab to add new customers.

Figure 2-10 Customer detail data

2.10 My Company Tab

The My Company tab contains the company information, default account setup defaults, and prompt payment discount selection options. The first grid contains generic information concerning your company. The Payment Methods grid lists the payment methods accepted by your company, and the related parameters for each payment method. Whether the payment method is to be treated as cash, credit card, purchase order (credit), and the related account numbers. For timely payment values entered on the payment method grid see discount below as to how they apply. The Shipping Methods grid contains the shipping methods used by your company, and the related default charges for each shipping method, and the account numbers. The transactions type grid contains the account number ranges for each transaction type accepted by the system, these should be updated to suite your needs and as you change account numbers. You should not add to or delete from the transaction types. There are other system parameters available in the system administration screen – see the “PHULparameters” table.

Figure 2-11 My Company Tab

Timely (Prompt) payment discount discussion.

1. You must decide whether or not you will offer a prompt payment discount

(Does company allow prompt pay yes/no) , if you decide yes there are three basic options from which you must choose one and only one and whether to use company wide discount days and company wide discount % (“Use Co. Values” yes/no if yes these values will override the rules for these specific values all the rest of the specific rules will apply)

a. Customer specific prompt pay discount “Follow Rules based on customer” (YES/NO).

b. Payment method specific rules “Follow Rule Based on Pay Method” (Yes/No)

c. Product specific discount rules “ Follow Rule Based on Product” (Yes/No)

If customer rules are selected, the discount will be applied if the payment falls in the “TimelyPaymentDiscountDays” (set in the “Customer Detail Data” Tab) after date of shipment (days may be overridden by company days as indicated above). The discount percentage to be applied (to the before tax amount) is as indicated in the “TimelyPaymentDiscount” (set in the “Customers Detail Data” tab). Additionally the discount will not be applied if the “AllowTimelyDiscountOnCreditCard” (set in the “Customers Detail Data” Tab) is set to “NO” and the payment method for an order is a credit card. The customer eligibility for the timely discount is determined by the “AllowTimelyDiscount” (yes/no), which is set on the “Customer Detail Data” tab. A “no” in the “AllowTimelyDiscount” will disallow the discount for the specific customer.

If payment method rules will apply, then the Discount value and discount days for the method will be used (provided they are not overridden by the company values above), if the “PayMethodAllowTimelyDiscount” in the “Payment Methods” screen is set to “yes”, if set to “no” then no discount will be applied when the select payment method is used for an order.

If product specific rules apply then and if “Allow prompt pay discount” is set to yes (in the “Product Update Tab” of the product window) for the specific product, the discount values will be applied (unless overridden by the company level values) for that product in an order, if payment is received in the discount period.

2.11 More Tab

The More tab enables access to additional functions such as printing of statements, the entering of the “broadcast” message intended for all customers, access the product information window, the accounts window, the system administration function. Added functions and reports are intended to go on this tab in a future implementation(s).

Figure 2-11 More Tab

The Accounts button will open the Accounts window as shown below to allow access to and modification of the entire account set.

Figure 2-12 Accounts window

The product data command will open the product window, which gives access too, and allow updates product related data, including suppliers, product receiving, product accounts information and other data.

Figure 1-12a Products Update Window

The view valuation button will open the valuation popup window. The valuation popup provides a facility to enter various sale values for a product, obtain their averages, and set the selling price for all the product items for the selected product.

Figure 1-12b Products Update (Valuation)

The Product Items tab provides access to each product item in the database. Each item may be individually priced, with a history and refurbishment status, for each item. The refurbish status is available via a pop up window.

Figure 1-12c Product Items Update

The Misc. Updates tab provides access to selected lookup tables related to products. To access to all the tables in the system see systems administration.

Figure 1-12d Product Items Update

The Receiving tab provides logging in of products from a vendor. Yellow fields are the minimum required data, blue are optional and red cannot be edited.

Figure 1-12e Receiving Tab

The System administration button opens the system administration window, which provides raw, unformatted access to all the tables in the system, and other system administration function(s) intended for future implementation(s).

Figure 2-13 System Administration window

2.12 Sales Reports

The program produces several sales related reports, which can be used to assist in sales/product/customer needs management. The Sales By Customer can aid in determining specific customer preferences basis, sales by product can indicate the most popular products across the customer base, and the sales by sales representative can aid in determining commissions as well who is the stronger sales person for specific products.

For each of these reports, except for the products list, you will be prompted for a start date and an end date. The report will be presented in a preview mode, and may be saved in a file or printed.

Figure 2-14 Customer statement of Account

Figure 2-15 Products List

Figure 2-16 Sales By Customer and Product

Figure 2-17 Sales by Sales Representative and Product

Figure 2-18 Sales By Product

Figure 2-19 Orders on Back Order