The Micronet Distribution System (MDS) is a comprehensive on-line integrated system specifically designed for the wholesaler, retailer or importer. Features include Inventory Management system, Debtors Ledger, Invoicing system with integrated backorder management, Purchasing Management, Salesperson Commissioning, customer pricing matrix, and optional Import Costing system.
MDS comes complete with detailed on-line inquiry screens and reports which can be produced for up-to-the-minute analysis of debtors, current sales, profitability, sales history and inventory movements. MDS has a user definable screen and report generator built in.
For the company looking for a total accounting solution, MDS can integrate with the Micronet General Ledger (MGL), Micronet Creditors Ledger (MCL), Micronet Point of Sale System (POS), Micronet Kitting System (MKS), the Micronet Job Costing and Estimating Systems (MJC), and Third Party Payroll Systems.
GST
Throughout the Micronet Advantage software functions, reports and utilities are provided to enable the collecting/remitting and adjusting of your total GST and therefore Business Activity reporting requirements. MDS has the ability to display item cost/sell prices in either GST inclusive or exclusive format, and customised stationery layouts can be created and then assigned (optionally) to each of your particular customers to meet their requirements for their GST/price presentation.
Inventory Management
Each inventory item can be identified by a 32 character alphanumeric part number with up to 50 characters of standard description and specific text that can be tagged to appear on reports, invoices, picking slips, etc. or all documents as required.
MDS can store alternate parts and alternate suppliers, the supplier's part numbers and the supplier's cost prices for each item in your inventory file.
Additional fields can be established for estimating unit rate, the time taken to install an item, the item weight and volume. The weight and volume figures can be utilised during purchasing, import costing and for calculation of cartage costs that would relate to the weight or volume of a specific shipment.
Your inventory file can be broken up into multiple categories or types (i.e. electrical, whitegoods, bearings, shoes, pencils, wire, etc.) for easier handling and reporting purposes. Special categories can be setup for items that are non-inventory or not regular stock items, and for manufactured or assembled kit items where an item is sold as one unit but is actually made up of a number of other individual raw material items.
MDS can maintain the individual cost price of items as a fixed cost system, by full average costing where the cost price on file is adjusted each time the receipt of new stock is processed. This can be handled using either the last in first out method (LIFO) where MDS re-values the total on hand by the last landed receipt value, or by the first in first out method (FIFO) where each individual receipt is stored.
In addition, MDS has the facility for both serialised inventory tracking for companies that require the ability to store, retrieve and sell items with serial numbers normally for auditing or warranty purposes, and full batch inventory control where a batch number can be assigned to a receipt and nominated at invoice time. If the purchasing system is used, MDS keeps a history of purchases and receipts of inventory items.
Item selling prices can easily be maintained in a number of ways:
MDS supports unit recognition to aid the order processing of materials where calculations need to determine the invoice quantity. These units normally relate to sales of materials in units of length (lineal metres), surface area (square metres) and volume (cubic metres).
Debtors Ledger
The Debtors Ledger integrates with the Inventory, Sales and Backorder Management systems to provide accurate and up to date debtor control. The Debtors Ledger comes complete with invoicing, credit note creation and statement printing. It can produce detailed customer analysis reports to monitor sales history and margins along with aged trial balance reports to assist in prompt debt collection.
Each debtor can be assigned to a salesman, sales territory or customer sales type. They can have their own trading terms (COD, 7, 14, 30 days, etc.), unique sales discount matrix, sales tax details, and can be treated as a balance forward or open item type customer. Central billing is also supported and debtors' credit limits can be set and monitored as sales are made.
MDS supports multiple stationery layouts where a customer can be assigned a specific layout type applicable to their industry. This is useful where retail and trade sales are often made and the trade invoice needs to show list price, discount, tax and recommended retail prices but the retail customer's invoice should only show quantity and price.
MDS can be optionally setup to control multi-currency debtors’ invoicing, reporting and payments.
Debtors/Inventory Pricing Options
Each inventory item can have up to 16 selling prices with optional quantity buy breaks and may be assigned to a default product discount category. In addition, MDS provides for alternative selling units where items can be purchased and sold in different units of measure. For example:
Each debtor can be assigned to a discount matrix. A discount matrix can be created for each customer or a range of customers as required. The discount matrix file contains the discount % or net $ applicable for each discount category (1-299) for any customer assigned to the particular discount matrix.
A customer may be assigned a default wholesale or retail price from 1-8 and, depending on the product type being purchased, receives a discount for the sale. If the client is wholesale and taxable, then sales tax is calculated on the selling price of the item and the sales tax appears separately on the client's invoice. Where goods were purchased inclusive of sales tax and sold to a wholesale customer, MDS calculates the tax rebate/new wholesale amount and maintains your tax liability correctly.
If the client is retail, sales tax is calculated on a fixed base and is included in the individual invoice prices. It is not shown separately on the invoice. Individual pricing for each customer or customer type may be established where the selling price cannot be calculated by a discount. The Special Pricing option allows the user to enter an individual price for a customer that overrides any other settings previously setup.
Special prices can also include a discount and have a given starting and ending date range. Any special (nett) prices entered using this program can be displayed in the Invoice/Inquiry program or printed from the reports section of MDS. Additional text can be entered per special price which can appear on invoices, credit notes, etc. as required.
On-Line Invoicing/Order Entry
There are three basic ways to produce an invoice with MDS. The first two are achieved via the Invoicing program either by an order being entered and printed straight away (on-line) or where the order is entered, held and a picking slip optionally produced and recalled for processing later, individually or in a batch. The third method is via the Order Entry and Backorder Management system, where orders are entered, collated and processed when stock becomes available, i.e. either received from suppliers or manufactured.
As a result of the debtor/inventory pricing matrix facilities built into MDS, the entry and pricing of the line items to an invoice becomes a very simple procedure. MDS processes each line of the invoice as it is being printed so that sales, stock and summary figures are up to date the instant the invoice finishes printing.
Salesperson Commissioning
The Salesperson Commissioning system collects information for all sales and credit notes to customers for each salesperson. Salesperson commissions can be calculated using commission tables and can relate to the cost price, the gross selling price or the profit on individual sales. The commission table rates can also calculate salesperson commissions based on a rate/budget exceeded or on a rate/budget sales break.
Budgets can be maintained for each salesperson for a full 12 months and salesperson performance can be displayed or printed against these budgets. The current sales and full sales history are also maintained for each salesperson.
Backorder Management
The Backorder Management system integrates automatically with the Sales/Invoicing and Debtors system where there is insufficient stock to satisfy a customer's order. Backorders can also be entered directly into the Order Entry/Backorder system where required. This would be the normal procedure where stock is not usually carried or when no items on the customer's order are available.
Items placed on backorder directly using the second method above, can be assigned to a committed customer delivery date, supplier, a quoted supplier delivery date and supplier cost. There is an automatic purchase order creation option in the purchase order management section that can collect all of the customer backorders and print purchase orders automatically.
As goods are received into the Purchasing system, MDS can display customer backorders for the item being entered so that the operator has the option to pre-allocate those deliveries to customer backorders on file, the balance of the delivery going to stock. Alternatively, you can receive all of your deliveries into stock and then automatically allocate items from there.
MDS is equipped with detailed backorder reports and inquiries so that the status of any backorder can be determined instantly. All reports and inquiries can be produced by item or by customer.
Purchasing System
The Inventory Purchasing System provides purchase order creation and amendment where necessary, tracking until the goods arrive, and optional reconciling of the delivery dockets against supplier invoices before updating the Micronet Creditors Ledger (MCL). Once an order has been raised, you have the option to display or print reports detailing expected delivery dates and current delivery status until the order is received.
MDS can produce understock reports for all items recommended for purchasing and MDS calculates the most efficient re-order quantities based on monthly sales averages, minimum levels and delivery lead time for a given stock turnaround. MDS can also produce a critical safety stock report for those items with a balance on hand below the minimum set in the item file. Additionally, MDS can automatically produce purchase orders for items placed on backorder (or order entry) directly for particular debtors.
Purchase orders can be created manually as required or automatically from the details entered in the Order Entry module. Each line of a purchase order can have free text assigned to it for future reference. Purchase orders raised by MDS can be displayed instantly on your screen or on a printed report showing the order number, date ordered, due date, prices, quantities and references.
Whether items have been ordered using purchase orders from MDS or manually, those items can be received through the Inventory Purchasing system. MDS stores all of the relevant details in the purchase history file for future reference, such as the price, supplier, quantity, etc.
MDS is also equipped with a comprehensive Import Costing system to allow for the receiving of a complete overseas shipment where duty, freight and landing costs have to be appropriated across all items from the same shipment.
Reporting System
The Reporting system within MDS allows you to generate a variety of inquiries and reports at any time. When printing reports, the selection criteria can be entered for the report. Most inquiry screen layouts and reports can be user defined to print alternative information.
Although the Micronet Software Series contains over 200 reports, it may be necessary for the operator to make up a specific report. To achieve this, MDS comes complete with a built-in ad-hoc Report Generator which contains many features. This manual describes some of these thus allowing the operator to become familiar with how the Report Generator functions.
Field Service
The Micronet Mobile Field Service module is an optional module which is used to manage a fleet of mobile technicians or installers who travel to customer sites and perform machinery servicing or other work. It allows staff at the base station to create jobs in the Micronet Distribution System (MDS) and assign them to particular field employees. They can enter all the information needed – such as instructions, required safety checks, and materials required for the job. Field staff use their PDAs to view their jobs on a calendar and edit this information as needed. They can reschedule jobs, add additional charges, advise the customer of the labour cost and capture the customer’s signature at the end of the job. They can also enter detailed job notes and capture photographs of equipment. Any information that field staff enter on their PDAs is transferred back to the base station and the original job in MDS.