Service-based Business Sales & Customers Set Up Customers Set up one record for each of your customers using the Customer File Maintenance program. Here, you can add new customer records, make changes and corrections to existing customer records, and delete any unwanted, unused customer records. Not all fields are required in this program, but the more information you enter, the more the system will service you. To enter a new customer record, simply click on the New Customer button. The program will assign a unique key to the record and then lead you through the rest of the entry process. To call up an existing record, you may use the powerful, instant, and natural method of the Appgen Cross-Reference record identification feature. Otherwise, you can simply click on the Select Customers button to choose the customer you are looking for from a list. Set Up Products & Services Set up one record for each of the different services and products you provide to your customers using the Product & Services file maintenance program.. Here, you can add new product/service records, make changes and corrections to existing records, and delete any unwanted, unused records. Not all fields are required in this program, but the more information you enter, the more the system will service you. To enter a new record, enter a unique code to identify the product or service. The program will attempt to locate an existing record with that key and then inform that it doesn't exist. Simply click on 'Yes' when it then asks if you would like to create a new one. To call up an existing record, you may use the powerful, instant, and natural method of the Appgen Cross-Reference record identification feature. Otherwise, you can simply click on the Select Codes button to choose the product/service you are looking for from a list. Enter Invoices Creating invoices is a simple three step process. The three basic steps are: enter the invoice, print it, and post it. You can print each invoice upon completion of entry, or choose to print your invoices in batches after entering them all. Invoices are entered in a straightforward manner in which you fill in header information (or simply confirm default values) on the first screen of the invoice entry function, including: customer, ship-to address, sales rep, customer purchase order number, payment terms, and shipping method. Then, on the second screen you may enter as many line items as required, after which you confirm and/or enter information regarding commission, tax, freight, and miscellaneous amounts. This function also allows you to enter internal-purpose notes relevant to the invoice and comments that print on the bottom of the invoice. Each line item may be a product, service, or comment. Products and services may be entered quickly if they are in the 'Products & Services' file by simply entering their code. All the line item text then fills in automatically, but may still be edited for the particular invoice. Comments and products or services that are not on file may be entered by simply entering an asterisk (*) as the line code. You then must enter the line text manually. The lines items, regardless of their type, may each have as many lines of text as required. Quantities may be entered with three decimal places. All other amounts have two decimal places. You may add, change, and delete line items, as long as the invoice has not yet been printed as it must be assumed that the invoice has been sent to the customer by that point. Void Invoices Invoices may not be deleted. Instead, you may use the 'Void Invoices' function to nullify any invoice that should not have been entered. In this way, all invoice numbers appear on the Invoice Register and the sequential integrity of the invoice number is maintained. Print Edit List If you wish to review all the invoice data you have entered (prior to printing a batch of invoices) use this function to print it all in a compressed list format. Collect Your Money One golden rule in business is "you don't get your money unless you ask for it". There are at least three ways to ask for payments from customers. Print & Post Invoices - The first way is to send them an invoice for goods and services delivered. The first option here allows you to print your invoices by the batch. (If you print each invoice as you enter them, you can ignore this option.) The second selection here is Post Invoices. Until you use this option, none of your records have been updated. You should post the invoices you entered at least once a day. You may, however, post invoices anytime there are any that have not yet been posted—as many times a day as you like. Print Statements - The second way to ask for payment is to send your customers a monthly statement reminding them of the unpaid invoices you have sent them for goods and/or services you have provided to them. Collection Calls - If all else fails, there's dunning. That means asking outright for monies owed - persistently. Perhaps the best way to do this is on the telephone. It puts you in direct contact with the people who are most important to your business. The Collection Calls program facilitates an ongoing dunning process. This program feeds you the customers who owe you money showing you their aged balance, contact name, telephone number, notes from prior conversations, and all the other information you have ever entered about each of them. Enter Receipts Anytime you receive money for your company, use this three step batch entry process. Enter a record of the money received and select the invoices which are being paid. If you are not sure what invoices to select, you may enter the cash, or any part of it, as an open credit. To do so, simply enter 0 (zero) as the document number. You may also use this program to enter customer deposits on work to be done, or goods to be delivered. These deposits are entered as a liabilities rather than assets because until you deliver it's not really your money. When you invoice for work done later you can apply the invoices against the deposit. Deposits do not affect a customer's balance. To enter miscellaneous (non-A/R) cash receipts which have nothing to do with customers or sales, simply leave the customer field blank. Apply Open Credits If you have entered any cash receipts that you did not apply against any invoices, or, if you have entered any credit memos, use this screen to apply them to invoices at the appropriate time. This is a batch entry process. Enter Quotes Customer quotes are entered in virtually the identical manner as invoices. They are, however, kept in a separate 'Quote' file where they remain until you delete them. If a quote needs to be turned into an invoice, it is a simple matter of specifying the quote number during the first stage of invoice entry. At that point, the details of the quote are immediately copied into the current invoice, after which you may make as many changes to the header information, line items, etc., as necessary. The quote itself is left as it was in the quote file so that it may be used again (as often as needed) to create an actual invoice. All details of all quotes are available in the on-line inquiry screens, and a 'Quote Edit List'. Formal quotes may be printed to send to customers. In addition, detailed and summary Quote Analysis reports are available to show you how many quotes your salespeople are creating and how many are turned into actual sales. Recurring Invoices Invoices that are repeatedly issued to the same customers in virtually the same manner (e.g., service contracts, blanket orders, etc.) need not be entered each time they need to be issued. Instead, the 'Recurring Invoices' function allows you to enter them once, and then simply copy them into the invoice file whenever needed to print the invoices and complete the process. The recurring invoice entry is virtually identical to the normal invoice entry. Set Up Ship-to Addresses Each customer may have any number of addresses to which they require you to ship goods. Enter these alternate addresses to make invoice entry quicker and accurate, as each invoice requires both the customer's billing and ship-to address (they may be the same). Sales & Customers: Reports & Lists Aged Receivables The detailed version of this report shows you each customer along with all the currently open invoice amounts. These amounts are spread over four columns to separate the older balances from the newer ones. Prior to printing this report, you specify the aging periods. The default periods are: current, 30-60 days, 60-90 days, and over 90 days. The totals for each customer are also aged in the same manner. The summary version of the Aged Receivables report shows the customer with its aged open balance, along with the customer's telephone number and sales rep. Customer Buying Profile This report shows selected customers' monthly sales totals comparing one year's activity to that of the prior year. Daily Profit Margins This report shows total profits and profit margins for each day. For each date, in the range you select, you see the total sales amount, total commissions, total cost, and total profit in dollars and as a percentage of the sales amount. Sales Analyses These reports are provided to aid you in identifying the strong and weak areas of your sales efforts so that you can make adjustments accordingly. By Price Class This report shows the percentage of sales and profits for each price class against the total sales and profits of all price classes. By Products & Services This report shows the percentage of sales and profits for each product and service against the total sales and profits of all products and services. By Customer This report shows the percentage of sales and profits for each customer against the total sales and profits of all customers. By Customer Class This report shows the percentage of sales and profits for each customer class (type) against the total sales and profits of all customer classes. By Sales Rep This report shows the percentage of sales and profits for each sales rep against the total sales and profits of all sales reps. By State This report shows the percentage of sales and profits in each state against the total sales and profits in all states. MTD/YTD Sales & Costs This report shows two lines for each customer. The first line shows the month-to-date sales to the customer along with the total of its costs, and the second line shows the same types of totals for year-to-date. Customers By Sales Volume In this report you see a list of selected customers in order of total sales volume for a selected year (with the customer who purchased the most from you right at the top) along with the total sales dollars for that year. The sales dollars are compared to the total sales dollars of a second year you select, and the difference in dollars and as a percentage is shown. Quote Analyses This report shows, by sales rep, quotes that eventually were accepted and shipped. This is available in both a detailed and summary format. Invoice Register This is a simple numerically-ordered list of posted invoices. Each line is a summary of an invoice showing the sale amount, miscellaneous amount, freight amount, tax amount, and total. Open Item List The report is a simple list of currently open items for selected customers. Each open item is summarized on one line with its document number, document type, date, due date, reference, sales rep, original amount, balance still due, and age. Open Deposits This is a simple list of open customer deposits. History of Paid-Up Items This report shows each fully applied document in summary form along with all the document that were applied against it. Invoice History These reports show invoice information from the History file, which is updated every time you run the process Move Paid-Up Receivables to History (see the Maintenance ToolBox). By Customer & Product This report shows summary information from the History file, sorted by customer and then by product. The information shown includes customer name, product/service, invoice number, date, quantity, unit price, extension, and totals. By Product & Customer This report shows summary information from the History file, sorted by product and then by customer. The information shown includes customer name, product/service, invoice number, date, quantity, unit price, extension, and totals. Document Details This report shows invoices in their detailed format. The report may be restricted to a range of invoice numbers, customers, and invoice dates. Customer Lists These are simple lists of the information you entered into the customer records using the Set Up Customers program. Details This shows all the information you entered into the customer records using the Set Up Customers program. Names & Addresses In this list you see each customer's name and address, telephone number, and sales rep. Ship-to Addresses This is a list of the information you entered using the Set Up Ship-to Addresses program. Products & Services List This is a list of all the information you entered using the Set Up Products & Services program. Other Lists These are simple lists of the peripheral data files that make data entry easier and more accurate. These files are maintained with the programs in the Maintenance ToolBox. Price Classes Shipping Methods Payment Terms Sales Reps Sales Tax Authorities