Managing your CASH Customers

It wasn't long after our 3 stores went live we found that each store had an idea of what they thought was 'normal' for their actions in dealing with CASH CUSTOMERS.  And within stores we had a wide diversity of expectations and actions ... to make a LONG STORY short(er) ... thru several months of action - threats - pushing and shoving ...one by one we got the store managers on line and then the counter staff --so we could TRACK cash sales ... by insisting that (almost) every cash customer be flagged in the system.

So --now what ... we have data in the system, ... gee .... this #$^&*()_ system doesn't allow us to get the data out (easily) and let us review and adjust cash customers for their proper discount level ( the assumption is the more they buy--the better the discount they should get - all other things being equal )

One way you can get the data --is to ASK .... ask Tier One staff to have then ask Tier Two staff to run you a report ... see image for the headers we used ....

If we had to do it again -- we might have asked for LAST YEARS SALES ( again - Exploris is confusing ... is every sales column always the past 12 months or is  some data by Calendar year ?? ) ... we are asking the store managers to go thru the CONSOLIDATED List  ( we use a logic line this ....cust #11 is store#1 billing schedule #1 ....works if you have 9 or fewer stores ..:-) ... and so on ....

The columns TAGGED TO -- is the master cash customer ( e.g.:  Cust#11 ) and the sales is their data divided by 100 to get a decimal point into the data.

PS --so after 2 years on the data -- cute to see which of the 3 stores might be 'dragging their feet' the most ... can you help me decide ... ---what store do you think ....   one that sells $2601  .. or $4419 ... or $20,557 ... gee ..... let me think on this .... I do have to smile that decisions made as a group of managers ( who are also partners ) ...there is always someone who resists .... love it when I get the data and can POINT FINGERS .... as the whole concept is to have data for the customer who count ... 'things that make you go hmmm'

UPC Code questions - this will get Ugly ....

Here is what we have posted on UPC codes so far.....

Aug 31 2010 - where is data ( newbie type question ) - click here

Nov 24 2011 - starting to get serious .... click here

    and a our sister blog of Nov 21 2011 .... click here 

Nov 29 2011 - 11 or 12 digits ... starting to ask REAL questions ... click here

OK - so we know where the UPC data is supposed to be ... talking with a  USA jobber - he had ZERO UPC codes in his system for PCH chassis ... I sent him a picture of our data ...  ask for a data refresh.

We have an outstanding question - when you ask for a complete refresh of your system UPC data from CQ - will they wipe out your X line data from other vendors - we are told it won't - but I would like that PROVEN.

QUESTION - in above links -- we mention that CQ uses 11 digits - and most other suppliers use 12 digits on the UPC data ... and when you scan that part the 12 digit code TRUMPS the 11 digit -- hmm ...  so we tried to add the 12 digit UPC t the CQ part --to see what happens when you scan ... guess what ... EXPLORIS won't let you have a duplicate UPC code ....

We have a hard time with this ... we think EXPLORIS should be smart enough to list the multiple options ... saying --which V ENDOR do you want to sell -- the CQ or the X line ....

Oh well .... more headaches with our EXPLORIS system ....

Making MOVEUPS Easier ....

It should be noted that a vast majority of CARQUEST jobbers do NOT do move ups - they ask their CQ rep to do them ... WTF ....   we need to make MOVEUPS to be easier to understand.

Call # 2035576 placed today is to have an OPTION box - check it if you want to see any Supercession for a parts involved inmoveup ... much like we see any available ALTERNATE ( where it shows underneath the part - see this image as example of an Alternate



Why is this important -- well have a look at this example - DOR 698-100 -- what looks funny ...  the sales movement code is 8.5 ( real dog-eh!) ... but I have stores that are selling it - one even sold 12 .... while the DC shows only sales of 3 ....    We find examples like this where CARQUEST is just so slow at adding parts ... or ....  the part has been superseded to another sku ... would be nice to know what case this is ??  In the first case -were CARQUEST is just SO SLOW to add --we have cases were we are sourcing from where ever but the warehouse doesn't stock (enough) based upon their sales and movement code ... a real catch 22.  In the 2nd case -- well--just tell us it is a supercession ... how can you do this on the moveup screen ????????  How is our suggestion on this ?

Ps - this item is the super popular Dodge tranny solenoid valve ...   and we won't get into the problem on the superseded part is much more money ( they have been told and are promising to fix (partially??) .... but we leave that part for the upcoming book with attached movie rights .... Michael Lewis .... eat your heart out ... Money Ball and Blind Side ... this one will be bigger that all of those...

Part of the problem - there is not much of a driving force to make EXPLORIS better ---'close enough'  seems to be good enough ,...  the  guys like Mike Allen ( USA ) and Brian Taylor ( Canada ) should be listening and driving the improvements .... well ...one can wish ...

Water water every where - but not a drop to drink

Exploris has a LOT of sales reports -- take for example the REPORTS>Inventory?PN Code Report

Or the REPORTS>Financial>Line Sales

Ever wonder why one can be WRONG and it is still wrong --even thought the flaw was reported  on call more than a year ago .... and I am wondering about the accuracy of the other .... having access to a special report on sales that gives me yet a 3 set of numbers .... OMG ....  just for one accurate report ... please ....

want to know more-- call the help desk and ask them on the ticket #104 6699 called in in Jan 2010 - and ask them why errors take so long to get fixed in EXPLORIS

============  update ===========
I was inferring that ONE was correct and the other was wrong .... update .... both are wrong ... but for different reasons .... what total bullshit ....

Does your Gross Profit Pricing Utiity work?

We have not had a need to use the
  Gross Profit Pricing Utility after we did the gargantuan task of converting BACK TO WHAT WE HAD in J-Co ---to go to pricing by Model ...

so when we tried it and it was BROKE --and called the help desk -- ( call # 2027643 to prove this - call and reference this number ) ... and they tell us that our AE ( sales rep ) must come by and re-install the program ... hmm ... smell a dead fish here somewhere

OK -- have a call in ....

Dumping you data to Excel ... part #3

Had written this in 2010 .... click here ....

Here is part # 2  .... click here .....

Since then we have a couple of things to add ...here is part#3

-we try to limit the total number of sku's being pulled to preview at less than 150,000 ...yep - Exploris can have a LOT of items ... for our stores we pull store #1 all CQ lines then sure#1 X lines .... and so on thru the stores ... go do other things file you await the preview to come up ... takes a while - 3-4 minutes is a guess.  If you try TOO many -- something pukes in your  computer or EXPLORIS - not quite sure.
-we have a fast way to get all the text to numbers ( I think newer versions of Excel might have a better way ? ) by type a number1 in a cell and paste special "multiply only' to the columns needing the change
-BEFORE we do the above paste special--we sort out the  line totals --- we get all data into ONE main sheet ( our limit on excel is 1 million rows  - we have approx 350,000 rows for 3 stores ) and sort for BLANK PN Codes ...  these are parts that someone has manually entered ... these are the most problematic ... and we mark them with the word BLANK and send copies to store managers for review.
-remember if you are multi-store - add a column and mark your stores ( for us it is as simple as a 1 ..2   or 3 and we colour to flag easier .... see image
-we have not found a report much better than Inventory Info ...  not great by any means - but better than nothing -- line - part - desc - pn code - qty on hand - order point -  cost ( but no core cost ) - date added - date last sold - qty sold 12 mths - qty sold 24 mths ... have lots of other fields we can use -- but --we wait

SO --once you have all the data
-send replaced by data (oh - forgot to mention - an unmarked column you get the  superseding part #  --so sort for this data and for what stock you have on hand...  ( the image uses is this report - well - part of it )
-parts with blank PN codes

Then --as you work on a line .. you can grab just that data  ... for example in hard parts we look at our stock depth and see impact if we expanded stock depth ( yep - we do all our move ups ).  Or on things like RETAIL: lines - handy to see what one store sells that a 2nd store doesn't --and why/why not for expanding stock depth here

We change the column order --from the original data ...  have fun and work your data ....

Images - the more we learn - the less we really knew

see this blog on our sister site ...

http://cqchange.blogspot.com/2011/11/rotor-specs-what-do-you-know.html

Any more help- drop us a line

UPC Update

If anyone can tell me the reason that CARQUEST only sends the UPC data with 11 of the 12 digits -- can you PLEASEZZE leave a comment or send us an e-mail ...

Go figure ....

They drop the last digit ... so when we scan a part that we have from BOTH CARQUEST and a 2nd warehouse .... BUT we buy from CQ ...the 12 digit data trumps the 11 digit and the other source data shows up ..

We have a lot to learn about UPC data ....

UPC codes - what we don't know

http://cqchange.blogspot.com/2011/11/options-for-problem-parts.html

The above link takes you to our staff blog .... and the start of the discussion on UPC codes .... we have had to ask for a complete refresh on UPC codes for all CARQUEST data

There are times that if STAFF KNOW how to manually enter a UPC code --they can sell a part faster ...eg some retail lines like Castrol

Click here for more UPC info

Updating X line data - gee ... who thought of this ?

In J-Con when you updated a line -- you got a list of the parts that DID NOT UPDATE .... so when we went to Exploris in Jan 2010 we were surprised to see that this was missing ....

Why care ...well-- if you are updating a line and say 10 parts do NOT update --what do you do with them ... are they obsolete or superseded or ??

Couple this with the fact that EXPLORIS still can't quite figure out how to delete parts ..and we have the making of a mess in 5 years from now.

One solution -- CHANGE descriptions ( and ask DFIU to update descriptions on all price changes ) -then you can run a report and sort by description in excel - and figure out what you have to do ...

We have started to make a PN Code ( sub line ) of 999 where we are moving crap --and waiting while Exploris comes to grips with how to delete parts ....  you have to do this 999 with EVERY LINE you have crap in..that is quite a few when you start looking at excel dumps.

DFIU -the Import utility written ... badly ?

I was talking with some jobbers a while back and they had yet to try importing data for X Lines into Exploris - they said they were waiting for DFIU ( Data File Import Utility ) .... well ... if they thought DFIU would make learning excel any easier -- they sure were wrong.

I like to think I am pretty good in excel .. but DFIU taxes your ability.

Here is a summary - this has been areal pain to get a grip on.
1) make a template - the one CQ  gave us is poorly ordered ... we start with part # ( ignoring the line code in excel -as you have to define that in DFIU ...and go in the same order as the field questions
2) format all prices with TWO DECIMAL PLACES as standard in your template - be aware that DFIU ignores decimal point and takes the two right hand digits as pennies .... for $30 becomes 30 cents ... selling at a loss ( are we ? )
3) one might have thought they would have formatted DFIU for excel -- but you are better off ( who knows why - but the smart guys on the help desk that I trust - say so ) using CSV ( you have two different types of CSV if you dig deep enough ... the DOS CSV will error right away - like on huge run-on sentence - so use Windows CSV)
4) open in MS Word - change preferences to show invisible characters ( like carriage returns ) and look for BLANK LINES ...they will look like this ....  in MS Word you can save and it will save like the format it opened up - in this case CSV

Another Great Tip ( thanks Dick from Lansing ) is if you have multi store -- you can use the mass import from store #1 to other stores ... however as of yesterday this way seems to be broken ...so you have to REPEAT the process to add for additional stores ... until tier two figures out the problem (call #1975227)

Give DFIU a grade --- hmm ... at this point .... C-

***********  update ********  the Multi-Location Mass Update ... is indeed broken -- gone from Tier 2 to WHI programmers ....  I have asked if the Creator/Editor is also broken .... awaiting that reply *****

How to write about something you swore not to disclose ?

Read the title --ok - here goes .... walking a tight rope of ethics - want to remind you about something that we can't tell you how we know ....

Background .... a good buddy and local CARQUEST Jobber - Bob from Walker Rd - constantly impresses me with the points he finds and solves ... we rag on him ( a term of endearment ? ) to post some info on THIS BLOG ..well guess what ..he reminded me of a few posts from 2008 .... remember we didn't get our Exploris machine in operation until 2010.

Click Here
 and Click Here

Some day you will get a way to list the parts on hand with a stocking qty and that you have (for whatever reason ) in system with a DNR ( do not re-order ) flag checked ....

Bob reminds me that once you master theMass Update screen -- use the CLEAR BUTTON -- check the DNR box --then click YES for the STOCKED - the REAL and the ACTIVE -- and then UPDATE.   A caution - as I remind my partners -- if you are too quick and you clear your ON HAND stock qty -- that will result in hundreds of hours in panic while you correct ...so think and be careful.

Bob does this action a couple times a year - and can stop once we all can get the report of parts effected .... some day ....

Hey Bob - more posts please ....

DFIU -- what a MESS for importing data into EXPLORIS

The DFIU utility was written by some brain dead programmer - there are numerous issues that 'could have been better" -- here is just ONE example ....

Instead of common sense -- the utility demands you have TWO DECIMAL PLACES for every price ... so if you are not careful your excel may trim a price like $1731.1 into $171.31 -- and you sell it for a HUGE LOSS .... see the image .....   what DFIU  does is to ignore any decimal and assumes the two RIGHT HAND numbers are pennies .... regardless .... one way to cull out the stupid --I guess .... I would never  accept this as a company ... but then ....

Missing Exploris help data ? #1901123

In getting the data for the previous post ( how to update customer type #1901016 ) the help desk mentioned to see the Exploris HELP DATA - that was on the LINK --so when we go to the link --we saw a BLANK PAGE ... and the help desk guys ..look it is right there ...so we had  him use our log-in and he say ...gee -- you are right --it is a blank page .... so hopefully we will get this fixed for ALL CANADIANS ...the lower image is what USA Jobbers see ( from their NON_BLANK page.... )

Dumb Idea - #1901016 -- update customers on TYPE

Click on the image to enlarge .... we have access to a report ( doing beta testing on something I can;t write about ... until Dane tells me otherwise ) ... for sales by Customer type ... for example sales to Farmers .... in this report we have UNASSIGNED ... damm ... ok ...how to we get the data updated ...

The first thing we notice is the REPORT GRP (group) is NOT a pull down box ... WTF . .... you have to EXACTLY enter the data ... so that '1-RETAIL' is NOT the same as '1 RETAIL' where the dash is missing ... gee ...that's dumb ... of course perhaps the lack of the report in the normal Exploris has lead us to be complacent ... but this NEW REPORT will certainly hi-light the need ....

So -- how accurate is your customer report group data ????  Call # 1901016 to request the data field be changed to a pull down box -and you select from pre-defined settings ... lets see what year this gets  updated ??'

====================   update 3:30 pm  Wed =========================
if you notice the Documentation that came DIRECTLY from CARQUEST --it is wrong on the #8 Industrial & Non-traditional ... since Exploris can ONLY have 8 digits .... our data ( that 100% came from J-Con )  shows as 8-Indust  ( dropping the space & the '&'

Close only counts in horseshoes & hand grenades ..... there is a wasted 30 minutes of staff time ....

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

SLOW IMAGES?

I have noticed that if you are trying to retrieve an image from within the Gen2 catalog it seems VERY SLOW! It is MUCH quicker to add the part to your invoice and then click on the "smartlink". Why is that? Wouldn't you think that it should be just as fast to get the image from inside the catalog. It is just as fast with Weblink. ???

Exploris Hoop Jumping Exercise

In JCON we had a toggle P.O. Yes or No. In Exploris we have to jump through 6 hoops in order to set up the customer for Purchase Orders. WHY???

Why would WHI or CARQUEST not make it easier to help our customers?

This is known bug that NEEDS to be squished.

DFIU - adding X line data to Exploris - update

For a while ( do a search on X lines or similar to see posts that go back to 2008 ) we have been working on X line data in our Exploris.

Here is an interesting problem - thank we have the answer ... in Excel - make sure your prices are always set to TWO DECIMAL PLACES .... the DFIU seems to count digits and ignores any decimal point .... here are example .....

-

The above image shows the part with cost filed as 3.9 ... would have thought that was OK ... but WRONG -- see how the price comes into the system as .39 cents .....

Short answer ( after an hours of calling and looking ) ...make sure your price fields are TWO DECIMAL PLACES

Call # 1838963

How to CRASH your EXPLORIS Terminal 101

Shawn at Auto Barn has been outspoken on why he dislikes being stuck with the 'MASTER TERMINAL' on his PC ....

He has this tip -- source an order in your Invoice Screen at the same time a Web-Link order is coming thru --and you CRASH your MASTER Terminal.

Sure hope someone reads this from Raleigh and finally gets this fixed .... and click here for more on MASTER TERMINAL BS

Note - Master terminal is the one hat handles WEB-LINK orders and holds data when internet is off line.

This is call # 1834323

#1833217 - Smart Sourcing by Time of Day

Here is our formal request on call # 1833217 called in today ... we need SMART SOURCING -- based upon the time of day ....

Example - at present our store #8315 will do the following on parts required on a web-link order:

- #1 look at sister store #8316

- #2 then look at Windsor super store #1780

- #3 then look at Toronto DC

This works fine for any order placed PRIOR to noon -- we have a daily shuttle from the super store -- but sucks on any order in the afternoon -- no shuttle - so parts would not be here for first thing in the next day .... as a result of this the store MUST do the following:

- #1 call super store and have them cancel the order ( estimate time for all concerned 10 minutes )

-#2 manually adjust quantity on hand to offset automatic posting for parts ( estimate time 5 minutes )

-#3 Re-Order from Toronto DC ( estimate time 3 minutes

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

TOTAL wasted Time -- 18 minutes of manpower on EVERY order thru Web-link received in the afternoon

SOLUTION -- have an option for ANY sourced location to select the times to be valid ( or in-valid - as the case may be -- and skip to the next option )

If stores don't need - they keep default setting - but for stores with a shuttle - they now have a common sense option ....

Note --IF we didn't cancel the superstore order - the part would not show up until early afternoon the next day - by ordering from the DC we get it for first thing the next day ....

Exploris needs this kind of flexibility to match what Jobber stores actually do ..... we had asked for this - a year ago - but this never got on the blog -- now it is official -- let the clock begin .... lets see how many years it takes to get this request .... any side bets ??

Image from Herman Cartoons