The system parameters program defines how certain areas of the Point-of-Sale system operate. The parameters are responsible for setting the maximum number of parts and labour lines available on a single WIP record. Furthermore, some areas of Pricing and Discounting are defined here.
Warning: The system parameters are set up by an Autoline consultant when installing the system. The parameters should not be changed unless under guidance from a support consultant.
The SO System Parameters form is displayed when you click Point of Sale > System Maintenance > System parameters.
Tabs:
There are four tabs to complete:
Program overlay: This parameter is not used. It was required for libraries in a previous revision, and contained the name of a special program to be used in Point-of-Sale by all users and terminals in this POS company.
Parts pages: The maximum number of parts pages that can be used on a WIP in Point-of-Sale. The term pages relates to a previous revision, in which you could enter up to 15 part numbers per page. The maximum number of pages that you can have in this revision is 127, which means that you can assign a maximum of 1905 parts to a WIP (127x15).
Warning: Setting the max number of pages to a value higher than that which will be needed for normal operations can have a significant adverse impact on system performance.
Labour pages: The maximum number of labour pages that can be used on a WIP in Point-of-Sale. The term pages relates to a previous revision, in which you could enter up to two labour lines per page. The maximum number of pages that you can have in this revision is 127, which means that you can assign a maximum of 254 labour lines to a WIP (127x2).
Warning: Setting the max number of pages to a value higher than that which will be needed for normal operations can have a significant adverse impact on system performance.
Display date: This parameter is not used. It was used in a previous revision to change the Decarded field on the Movement page of the stock record to a different field name.
WIP retentions: The number of days that WIPs should be retained in Point-of-Sale data files from the date of the last update. There are four fields, one for each category of WIP, which are as follows:
Unused: A WIP raised and never used, with no parts or labour (a WIP with deleted lines)
Parts only: Only parts on the WIP
Labour: A WIP with parts and labour
Estimates or labour with no WIP/parts. Two types of WIP fall into this category: firstly WIPs for which estimates have been produced and secondly WIPs with labour lines that have no work-in-progress value and no parts.
Note: If a WIP has been set to retain type Parts, Labour or Estimate and subsequently WIP amended so every single part and labour line is deleted, then the retain type is changed to type Unused. Any line not deleted, for example M for memo, would prevent the retain type being moved to Unused.
WIP header discount type: These are the discount categories that may be entered in the Discount category field on the Codes tab of a Point-of-Sale WIP. The discount categories are also used for the identification of discount transaction codes in the header row of the discount map.
Customer types: Customer discount type codes. There are a maximum of 23 customer discount types in the range A to W. This is the letter as used on the Other Details tab of the Sales Ledger account and on the Account defaults tab of the customer details record. The field name on the Sales Ledger is DISCOUNT(1) for normal parts sales, DISCOUNT(2) for parts sold through the Service department, and LABORDIS (Labour discount code) for labour sales. This enables you to offer different selling discounts on parts sold to customers when their vehicle is in the Workshop or Bodyshop for repair. The customer discount types are also referenced in the discount map, where a discount table number can be allocated for each source type.
Price codes: The price codes (letters) that are entered in the discount tables to denote which price on the stock record is to be used when a part is sold.
The following price codes are normally used:
R: Retail - Price (1) on the stock record
W: Wholesale Dealer Net - Price (2) on the stock record
T: Trade - Price (3) on the stock record
A: Average price on the stock record
L: Latest price on the stock record
S: Standard price on the stock record
Price numbers to use: For each price code the price number to use on the parts stock card, as indicated in the list of price codes above.
Costs:
This group box contains the price numbers to use for the Latest cost (L), Average cost (A) and Standard cost (S) price codes.
Price VAT inclusive: For each price code, you must indicate here whether the value includes VAT or not. Enter one of the following in the corresponding field:
I: VAT inclusive
E: VAT exclusive
Round discount calc: A tick-box used to round the gross price of an invoice down to the nearest pence, or up to the nearest pence in favour of the customer. This box is normally ticked which rounds the price down. If it is unticked, the price is rounded up. For example, if the price is £50.184, and the box is ticked, it becomes £50.18. If the price is £50.186, and the box is unticked, it becomes £50.19 in favour of the customer.
Round to nearest: Rounds the price to the nearest 5 (in whatever currency is being used). This parameter is currently used in Switzerland.
Round A/C Categories: The account categories to which rounding is applied, as defined in the Sales Ledger account types.
Round VAT code: The VAT code to be used for point of sale rounding's, if blank the default VAT code of (I) will be used.
Record operators in WIP: Tick-box used to add the Operators tab in Point-of-Sale for service terminals only. It records the identity of the four members of staff involved in the key stages of the WIP.
Text lines: The number of lines available to enter descriptive text against labour lines in Point-of-Sale. Should be set to 6.
Bodyshop fields: This parameter is currently not used. It was used in a previous revision to make additional fields related to Bodyshops available in Point-of-Sale.
Text length: The maximum number of characters available per line of descriptive text for labour lines in Point-of-Sale. To use the maximum length, enter 0 (zero).
Route label: This determines the name of the last drop-down menu selection of the Codes tab in a service WIP. If left blank the name defaults to Location . Enter up to an 8-character alpha-numeric value here to make the title more meaningful, for example the title could be renamed to Hat No.
Special document numbering: The printed document contains a government-produced invoice sequence, which means no document produced from Autoline can be out of sequence within the government range. Only one printer can be used to produce these government documents. The printer is locked at the point of invoice, and can only be released by the user accepting that the print has been produced successfully. This procedure will be considerably slow to produce an invoice, due to locking the invoice numbers table within the nominal ledger.
Record customer arrival: Tick-box used to indicate that customer arrival times can be recorded.
Note: Setting this parameter activates the display of the Arrival function within the Workshop loading Jobs function.
Log VHC Actions: Tick-box used to indicate whenever VHC / IDC processes are actioned that a log of the VHC / IDC actions is to be automatically recorded.
From this tab, you can enter the ID codes of the format stationeries used by all Point-of-Sale users in this company. These are used by the POS format library option to build background library POS printing routines.
The Format stationeries tab defines the formats used to print documents from the Point-of-Sale or Purchase control options. User-defined reports that are available to all POS users are also set up here via the SO/DISP buttons tab.
Note: Format stationeries set up via the Program overlays fields within Terminal Details override these parameters.
Format stationeries
Requisition: Format ID to be used for a requisition. Autoline formats are prefixed K. User-defined formats are prefixed U. User-defined formats take precedence.
Job card: Format ID to be used for a job card. Autoline formats are prefixed K. User-defined formats are prefixed U. User-defined formats take precedence.
Parts invoice: Format ID to be used for a parts invoice. Autoline formats are prefixed K. User-defined formats are prefixed U. User-defined formats take precedence.
Service invoice: Format ID to be used for a service invoice. Autoline formats are prefixed K. User-defined formats are prefixed U. User-defined formats take precedence.
Purchase order: Format ID to be used for a purchase order. Autoline formats are prefixed K. User-defined formats are prefixed U. User-defined formats take precedence. If you are using multi-language purchase orders, enter a full stop (.) instead of a format ID.
Note: If you change the format ID to a full stop, regenerate the POS format library and run the Make Module Option. Ensure that this is done under guidance from a support consultant.
Sublet order: Format ID to be used for a sublet order. Autoline formats are prefixed K. User-defined formats are prefixed U. User-defined formats take precedence. If you are using multi-language purchase orders, enter a full stop (.) instead of a format ID.
Note: If you change the format ID to a full stop, regenerate the POS format library and run the Make Module Option. Ensure this is done under guidance from a support consultant.
Delivery note: Format ID to be used for a delivery note. Autoline formats are prefixed K. User-defined formats are prefixed U. User-defined formats take precedence.
Note: The ability to produce a delivery note is determined by the Decarding option on the Options tab of a WIP.
Cons batch invoices: Format ID to be used for a consolidated batch of invoices. Autoline formats are prefixed K. User-defined formats are prefixed U. User-defined formats take precedence.
Technician clocking's: Format ID to be used for printing the Technician clocking's in Point-of-Sale. Autoline formats are prefixed K. User-defined formats are prefixed U. User-defined formats take precedence.
SEMS Format stationeries
Seasonal Equipment receipt: Format ID to be used for the issue of a Seasonal Equipment receipt in the Seasonal Equipment Manager within Point-of-Sale.
Seasonal Equipment labels: Format ID to be used for the issue of a Seasonal Equipment labels in the Seasonal Equipment Manager within Point-of-Sale.
This tab enables you to make up to five print indicators available to the customer details record. These field values are available to format stationery-derived fields, and can be used to modify or suppress the printing of certain values on POS documents, for example to suppress printing of the mileage for certain customers. No other program logic is applied to these settings.
Flexible parameters:
Print indicator description [1-5]: Indicators that you want to make available to the customer details record. You can enter up to five print indicators to be used by the stationery formats.
Note: The Print Indicators tab is only displayed on the customer details record if at least one of the fields on this tab is completed.
This tab enables you to create up to five options on the Reports menu in the main Point-of-Sale form. These are used to run standard Autoline or user-defined reports written in Report Generator. To create an option on the Reports menu, complete the fields as follows:
Button/report ID: In the first column, enter the three-character report ID. For example, K83 (Detailed parts report).
Button text: In the second column, enter the title of the report (up to 30 characters approximately) to be used for the option name on the Reports menu. For example, Parts.
Note: It is also possible to set up user-defined buttons in the terminal details, which should be used in preference to the SO system parameters for full terminal control. The user-defined buttons in the terminal details override the user-defined buttons in the SO system parameters. In order for the buttons or options to be displayed for a terminal, ensure that any report IDs set up in SO System parameters are in a different field position to the terminal details. For example, if report ID K83 is entered in the first field position of the SO system parameters and report ID K82 is entered in the first field position of the Point-of-Sale group box in terminal details, only report K82 is displayed on the Reports menu in Point-of-Sale because the terminal details take precedence. In order for report K83 to be displayed for the terminal, you must enter the report ID in the second field position of the SO system parameters (assuming that the second field in the terminal details record is empty).