LOSS of all X line data in E-Cat ??

When the July 22 cut off date for Activant ( now called Epicor ) came and all CARQUEST stores lost that data - we also seemed to have lost all our X line data in the Gen-2 e-cat maintained by CARQUEST.

We had two in Primary pages

XRA for our 2nd line rotors

XRC for Raybestos struts ( covered our problems while we waited 18 months for CQ to add Garbiel econo struts (

In Secondary Pages -- all lost ????? why ????

XAP - IAP-Dura rotors

XIB - Ideal Brake ( part of ABS FRiction )

XRB - Raybestos Brake

XKF - SKF Hub Bearings

XLF - Luberfiner filters

XTP - ATF Tranny filter kits

Really curious why this loss happened around time of Activant e-cat drop off date.... more to come

EXPORT data from Exploris to accounting program ??

Someone asked ( thanks David ) if any are exporting data from EXPLORIS to accounting package --this has been a stated priority from the first Jobber Council meeting I attended many years ago -- I think it is far from ready for prime time

1) Call # 1757387 - effects all stores -- the sales to related stores and warehouse returns are correctly handled on end of day - byt incorrect in data dump -- going into general sales .... wrong

2) Call # 1750343 - effects only Cdn jobbers -- the HST and EHC are grouped together and reported as one lump --WRONG --the HST only has to be reported .... will cost you a bundle to make this mistake ... ( note to others - EHC is the enviro tax added to items like spray paint & oil - we pay and collect from the customer - end of transaction ...unless of course CQ forgets to add the EHC like they had done on many WPC items -- that took months and 'tense times' to get that fixed ...:-)

We stopped looking after these two problems spotted .... someone else make it right ...

Pricing Question - #1741846

Ran into a question on the extremely complex issue of understanding pricing options in Exploris - and wondering how we can get a simpler overview of the process. hen I talk with other jobbers it is amazing there is such a poor level of grasp on this subject.

Call # 1741846 has two parts == the image on the HELP BOOK in EXPLORIS is fuzzy and near impossible to read ( see CUSTOMERS>ACCOUNTS>PRICE PLAN on the help book ) the image is shown here ( click to enlarge )

Part # 2 is ... what does the box in CONTROLS>SYSTEM>GENERAL SETUP labeled 'BEST PRICE OVERRIDE' actually do and where is it represented in these fuzzy flowcharts? AND -- oh yes - there is more -- if you use CONTRACT PRICING --I am told that this option TRUMP

S ALL ... so if it does ...is it incorrectly shown in the flow process - should it be FIRST ?

UPDATE- Thur July21 - summary - if oyu are a jobber who wants to IGNORE the CQ billing schedules - click this box - otherwise leave blank and handle your exceptions some other way

Pricing is on huge complex system = and jobbers need to understand it .... help ???

Ever used Contract Pricing ... me neither ...

Had a unique need to add an exception to the standard billing schedule where our prices would be HIGHER than standard ....99.4% of all exceptions ( 100% until now ) are LOWER --so this was different.

Tried the BP ( Best Pricing ) column we had always been told to answer "E" to .... to a N ... of course we have to QUIT Exploris and bring back up - so the changes take effect ...after playing with options and even looking this up the HELP section of Exploris (been a while looking at that ...smile) and lookin

g at the rather complex ( and fuzzy to read ) flow chart ....still not figure out the problem.

Then told of setting ( who knew ? ) in CONTROLS>SYSTEM>GENERAL SETUP for 'BEST PRICE OVERRIDE ' ... but after listing to the pro's and con's decided it had too many negative effects ...

Finally JP mentions -- use CONTRACT PRICING .... my knowledge of Contract Pricing was extremely limited and wasn't it a pain in the ass in J-Con ... fear stops y

ou from learning. Anyways -- short answer -- contract pricing will work just fine in the situation -- it appears that is TRUMPS all options and if JUST effecting this line and sub-line as we set it up.

Still learning ...

Alternates are ONE WAY .... dumb just got dumber

If you search this blog for the work ALTERNATE you will see a bunch of comments on how we wish the system was easier to work -- but you don;t see any about the ONE WAY of Alternates ... by one way we mean if you link Item A with Item B .... item B only shows wen you type in Item A on the POS --- it should be TWO WAY --so if you type in Item B -- it will link to item A as well ... Alternates --a clunky system

Can anything FIX Alternates in Exploris ?

Alternates should be a wonderful tool in Exploris - but - they are NOT. In fact we would want to caution you from doing TOO many alternates .... primarily since there is no easy report ( well --NO report at all ) to list what is in the system.

With that being said -- we want to remind you ... since you see so few Alternates .... when there is MOPRE than one part linked --watch for the up and down arrows to indicate you can see MORE ... if you scroll.

Why they dropped the box from a very early edition - who knows -- but they did - and we have what we have ...

Try this to see ...CFP-11101 gloss black spray paint

Oh - do you want other problems - with alternates - remember if you have 3 stores - you do this work 3 times ....

Scramble to LEARN the new Gen-2 E-cat --- did you know ...

UPDATE - 6-28-2011 **** The image for INVOICE OPTIONS has circled the CATALOGUE DESC ON SCREEN --this is important for the ACTIVANT side of things ...and UNCHECK the third box - CATALOGUE DESC ON INVOICE seems to be hte best setting for the Gen-2 Catalogue ..... stay tuned -- more details may follow .....

A question from Bob at Walker Rd ( Windsor ) - questioning the generic descriptions we get with the new Gen-2 e-cat as used on the invoice ... his question caught me off guard ... both he & I wondered why our stores hadn't spotted the problem ....

DISCLAIMER TIME -- it is summer - we are busier than ...well you know

................................. -- we are getting older and forgetting more than we ever knew

I had sent a copy to Raleigh to find out how such a huge problem can exists .... right then I should have taken a minute and read my standard disclaimer above .... when I asked Ryan why NO other manager replied IF there was a solution ... well -I think he has the same disclaimer ( but he is so much younger )

Anyways --the solution is ..... if you are finally one of many Cdn jobbers scrambling to use and learn the gen-2 e-cat due to a 'threat' ... and your store has the GENERIC parts descriptions .... change the setting as shown in the images attached ... click to enlarge ....

SUMMARY --there are times we feel like RATS in a MAZE with this computer system --we are feed just enough info to identify the smart ones from the stupid ones ... there needs to be a much better way to REMIND us 'semi' smart rats ... of the issues to see if we are up to speed ... where is the constant and continual training? Somehow this system is more complex than we can handle ... how can we get help to smooth out the bumps in the road.... damm ... I just don't know -- but I sure know if I was doing it I would have lots of options....

Not Exactly Exploris - but important anyways

Reminder that Canada uses the REALLY REALLY OLD CQ-LINK ... and that there is a change to see the new moveups listed in Classograms ... you need to click the NEW BOX as shown in the image ( click to enlarge )

Exploris Wish # 1674972 Search for Parts

We must have a better way to be 'prompted' that the part number we are searching for -- ALSO has a match in the NON-SKU table--= the parts that we do not have as ACTIVE PARTS.

This problem causes trouble with staff ... and needs to be a priority fix. Wel - one can dream ...and bitch ....

Customer E-Mail Statements - #1672481 -make them better ??

We recently put a blitz on and have over 70% success rate in converting our customers from 'snail' mail to e-mail statements .... in looking at what the customer sees it is easy to spot a IMPROVEMENT to the experience .. Image #1 is the existing e-mail and image #2 is how it can look if we have access to ADD a paragraph of additional info - including a hyper-link to a web page of specials JUST for our customers who subscribe to e-amil statements ( as a thank you )

Belt measuring

Remember if you a trying to measure A and B series belts they are measured inside. So if you measure the outside of an A belt and it is 75 inches you need to drop 2 inches to get the proper length. A73 would be the belt you need. On B belts it is 3 inches. A 75 inch outside would be a B72 belt.

How to get data out of EXPLORIS ... option B

Well--as mentioned yesterday --we pushed and found a person in Business Intelligence unit that handles Data Warehousing -- and with some push --we now have the data for all out customers the following fields .....

accSendStatements

accSendInvCopy

accpbEmail

along with

accNumber

accCode

accPbBusName

accPbPhone1

This is important --as you can print and SORT in excel to see what customers were missed ...

BOY - it is hard to WAIT for the long awaited universal report writer .... something that should have been basic ....

Benefits of customers receiving statements by e-mail

Send Statements by e-mail -- The cost savings are HUGE when you factor in the costs of postage and labour to assemble a statement to mail .... then multiply that by 12 months a year then multiply that by ... 20 ? as a number for the number of years you can save $$ ....

We have requested from Data Warehousing ( part of Business Intelligence unit ) a special report to help us audit the existing customers we have set up to receive statements ( and do NOT forget the option to e-mail invoices - dropping the need in most cases for copies of invoices to be mailed with statements ) ---this report will let us look for customers we MISSED on our 9 month push to get customers to accept e-mail statements.

Oh --did I mention that Canada Post is due to go on strike June 2 2011 ?

Quick - name one thing sadly lacking in Exploris - yep - good sales stats

When Exploris was just a gleam in the eyes of many and the writer was asked to be on the advisory council --the better thinks were wildly imagining all the great things that a new system could or should do ... one of them is to have GREAT reporting on what our customers are buying.

Sadly this has not happened and may never happen .... and with recent rumoured changes in TECH-NET rebates -- it is all the more required.

LOOK-- a jobber should be able to DRILL DOWN and look at sales numbers .... what are my stores sales in total ... then he should have the option of looking at a couple of options"

-what do I do by customer type ( all farmers - all body shop .. etc )

-what do I do by product groups or buckets - ( all tool lines - all brake related lines .. etc )

and importantly --what do I do by banner programs - what are my tech net sales .... as a group ... or what do my e-sales do by the group .... and get data LIVE --NOW -- now 45 to 60 days afterwards ....in the case of e-sales

And if we are reviewing sales and comparing to 'INDUSTRY AVERAGES' - we need to have timely LIVE data ... and have the ability to review with our customers over a period of months to see if there are mis-understandings or issues that need to be resolved thru gentle and consistent suasion ...

Exploris needs to be a management tool - not just a typewriter and an adding machine. We need better functionality in Exploris ... and we need it now ... 90% of all updated are BUG fixes --lets go to IMPROVEMENTS that we can use to be smarter and better ....

This link ( click here ) was done in May 2010 - asking for similar ....

EXPLORIS Wish # 1640421 ( our call number )

A while back ( a long time ago ) we started to number requests ... the oldest one we have on record is Dec 09 2004 !! ... and from there we stayed with the 5000 series of request. Then in 2009 as we were getting ready to go to Exploris ...yep --we took our sweet time ...we went to the 6000 series ... well --got this idea ...use the call # when we register a problems/BUG/enhancement...

so here is the start of a new trend ....

#1630421 .... Alternates ....... how do we copy an alternate from master store to all stores ( vs - doing it the LONG DUMB way now )

#1630421 ...same call # -- how can we get a list of ALTERNATES in our system .... time marches on and what was a good alternate will someday be a junk link --how do we get a list of alternates so we can FLUSH the bad out of date ones ?? Remember that in e-cat these alternates show - and you will want to clean up the junk in e-cat for sure....

Ok -- we star the clock -- and wait for things that should have been in Exploris from day 1 ... click here to see previous posting for Alternates ......

Politics and Stupidity get in the way of Customer Service

We are pushing at the highest levels in CARQUEST to have WorldPac (WPC ) show on the front page on the gen-2 e-cat .... but CARQUEST is stubbornly refusing to discuss this issue ... why ?

Well- in Canada anyway = price a fuel filter or a Delphi fuel pump .... Come on CARQUEST -- earn our business the old fashion way - with service and honour.

These higher prices in CARQUEST -- are killing our reputation with our customers -- a recent Delphi example .... $289 from CQ ..... $215 from WPC ... which is in line with another DC at similar prices ....

wrong links in INTERCHANGE - for Canada

There is a lot happening in Gen 2 e-cat during the past few days -- and you will see more INTERCHANGE data be added ... now we have to find the the lines that need to be corrected for CANADA ... see image --remember you can click to make the image bigger

bad lines awaiting updating

BAT - use the Cdn part # ( not the easier to understand USA part # - bit I digress )

CLP - not our line of Calipers - we use CAL and set CLP for something else

Some interesting problems in lines like GSK and SLS ... not sure what is going on --

Problems are easy to spot --look for parts that say NIF ( not in file ) and therefore do not price- these mistakes have been sent in for correction - should be fixed in a few days ... one of the nice things for Gen-2 -fast fixes...

Common Sense fix to EXPLORIS - from Sourcing BACK To E-Cat

Here is a common sense request aired at last nights staff meeting ( from Ken N ) ...how can you add the missing functionality in Exploris to go from E-Cat to Sourcing and ....drum roll please ......... BACK to E-cat to continue selling more parts for that customer.

Ken tells us that is is especially annoying when dealing with a CASH Customer.

Please - try it yourself - and see what 'limiting' software does to a busy counterman ...

Can you tell me if this is on ant radar to get fixed ... and if so - an ETA --or are we the first to mention it ?? ( note to readers - Ken has mentioned this over the past year - but I have not posted it until today )

Can you think of another COMMON SENSE feature that Exploris is missing ????

Save me from my bad memory ... X lines in E-Cat

It is harder to remember facts .... here is one worth repeating -- I need you to remember this so I can ask you - in case I forget again.

ADDING X lines to Web-Link and Web-Link2

===========================================================

v2 is immediate, upon editing your store filters. We should get that done this morning. ( tip - this is done by asking Raleigh )

v1 is updated monthly to match your stores' legacy MCL.
You also may request a "Weblink v1 MCL update" for your stores through the HelpLine, which will route it to e-Services. ( tip - you can have access to your MCL file or call and ask ... but from a training standpoint you learn a lot by having direct access to your MCL file )

Adding X-Lines to Exploris - part #2