Business Software & Enterprise Resource Management
Making the most of your business softwareArchive for April, 2009
Enhanced Stock Movements Audit Trail
One of the less noticeable but nonetheless important enhancements to be found in the upcoming CAPITAL V8 release, is a vastly expanded and more detailed stock movement audit trail system.
The existing Series 7 audit trail has a number of limitations:
- The stock movements audit trail report is transaction date driven. This can be misleading if users forward or backdate transactions, as stock on hand quantities and costs are always affected according to the current system date.
- Stock quantity movements are consolidated and presented as a total movement per day.
The new CAPITAL V8 stock movement audit trail now records changes to stock on hand and CIS (cost in store, which is normally equivalent to your average cost) on an event by event basis. This means that every action that can effect either of these values can now be individually traced and inspected. The audit trail also tracks all of the following additional information:
- The origin of the event. For example, CAPITAL Business Manager, CAPITAL Server Agent, CAPITAL Sales Force Manager, etc.
- A more detailed event code for each action that has an effect, i.e., direct adjustment/alteration by user, off-cut write-down, assembly build process, etc.
- The transaction number(s) involved in the event, if any.
- The transaction date and the system date and time of the event.
- The line reference of the transaction that effected stock.
- The account code of the transaction.
- The transaction quantity and physical stock quantity effected. (For example, it is possible to purchase in cartons of 100 but perhaps carry the item in stock in individual units or packs of 10. Both units are included in the audit trail.)
- The cost value of the units.
- A ‘snapshot’ of the resulting total stock on hand (‘Stock In’) quantity in stock control after the event has been processed.
- A ‘snapshot’ of the resulting total unit CIS/average cost after the event has been processed.
- The stock location of the stock item.
- Whether the item was a kit.
- The name of the user who initiated the event, of any.
With the introduction of this much more exhaustive and detailed audit trail tracking system we are hoping that users will find troubleshooting stock discrepancy issues considerably easier in the future.
Accessing User Sites Remotely
Remote communications technology for accessing your business software has become relatively commonplace these days. And the usual method of choice tends to be Remote Desktop connecting to Microsoft Terminal Services.
Although there are some justifiable gripes out there relating to printing functionality,Terminal Services is good fast software for accessing your business information off site. It’s so good in fact that users generally don’t notice if they are accessing data off site or locally. Terminal services can also provide superior performance, in many cases, when compared to traditional LAN access. This is because business software, which is essentially database software, doesn’t have to shuffle lots of data across a LAN connection.
And another benefit is the ability to provide on-line training and technical support when users run into difficulties and require troubleshooting and other forms of technical assistance.
However, in situations where remote access using Terminal Services has not been set-up–usually at smaller sites where there are cost issues or lack of access to local IT personal to do the work–locating and solving problems for users can become difficult, and on-site visits costly–especially if an interstate flight is involved!
So what is to be done in situations like these? Fortunately there are now a number of different web service based options to choose from that can get users connected to your technical staff without the expense or technical expertise involved in setting up a terminal server.
One good suite of products designed for different remote access functions are provided by LogMeIn. They have software for remote backup, on-the-fly access (users receive an email and click on a link that installs remote access for them automatically), IT Management, and for other purposes. The IT management tool for example, has great features for monitoring the health of a PC remotely or for transferring files from your desktop to the remote desktop. (Features, actually, that are not found in products such as Terminal Services). However, some of these products are costly. LogMeIn has a free version, but I’ve found the free version difficult to install. It is not a good solution for a non-technical user who needs immediate tech support.
Web conferencing software such as WebEx or GotoMeeting are also good at what they do; permitting you to view and operate a remote user’s desktop as well as communicate via various tools to assist with over-the-net training. Again a downside of these tools is that they have a corporate orientation so subscriptions to them can be be costly.
Which brings me to the product CrossLoop. This is a free product that’s easy to install. Send your client an email link or direct them to the website, and they should be up and running in around a minute. When CrossLoop starts, a unique identification number is generated and your client forwards this to you. Type this into your side of CrossLoop and within moments both of you are connected. You can operate the user’s computer remotely and both of you can see what is going on, making the software ideal for over the phone and net training. CrossLoop doesn’t have a lot of features, but it does what it was designed to do quickly and easily.
