Description tab
The Description tab of "New Sku" contains the primary information on the serialized or accessory item. You will use "Receive Inventory" to specify the serial numbers you have in stock for serialized inventory and quantities for accessories (if you have multiple store locations); however, the primary sku record must be established in "New Sku" first.
The information on the "Description" tab that is required is: Type, Category, Sub Category, Manufacturer, Model and Sku. The Sku will default to Model but may be changed.
Description tab data fields
Type
The two types of SA Inventory are 1) Accessories and 2) Serialized. Click the down arrow next to the Type box and select the type of inventory you are entering.
Category
The inventory category of the item. Click the down arrow to the right of the Category box and select the applicable category. The categories appearing in the drop down list are those categories with type ‘Serialized/Accessories’. If a new category needs to be established for the item, click Maintenance > Inventory Maintenance > Maintain Inventory Categories. For information pertaining to adding a new category, refer to ‘Maintain Inventory Categories’.
Sub Cat
The inventory sub category of the item. Click the down arrow to the right of the Sub Category box and select the applicable sub category. If a new sub category needs to be established for the item, click Maintenance > Inventory Maintenance > Maintain Sub Categories. For information pertaining to adding a new sub category, refer to ‘Maintain Sub Categories’.
Mfg
The manufacturer of the item. Click the down arrow to the right of the Mfg box and select the applicable manufacturer. If a new manufacturer needs to be established for the item, click Maintenance > Inventory Maintenance > Manufacturer/Publisher Table. For information pertaining to adding a new manufacturer, refer to ‘Manufacturer/Publisher Table’.
Model
The Model of the item. You may not use spaces in the Model field.
Note: We recommend leaving out all non-alpha/numeric characters such as dashes, slashes, asterisks, etc. We have found that if you make it a rule to only use the alpha/numeric characters in the model number, sku number and serial number fields you will decrease the amount of user input errors and therefore the problems that arise from such errors. For example, one employee who receives inventory may interpret a model PW-300 as PW-300, another may interpret it as PW300, another may interpret it as PW 300 and still another may interpret it as PW/300. If you tell all employees to only type the alpha and numeric characters with no spaces, they all should interpret PW-300 as PW300.
Once the Model has been entered, you will notice that the MPN and Sku will default to the model. These may be changed if necessary.
Loc
If you have multiple store locations, the location will default to ‘All Locations’. This will create an inventory record for each location. If this inventory item is not stocked at all locations, select the appropriate location from the down down list.
If you have just one store location, the location will automatically appear in the Location box.
Sku
The sku of the inventory record being added. This will automatically default to the model previously entered.
You must have at least one sku assigned to the item and the sku may be the same as the model.
If the model entered has multiple items under it that differ in characteristics, such as color or size, you must have a different sku that represents each specific item. These skus would be assigned on the Matrix tab. The sku on the Description tab should then remain the model number.
Note: We recommend leaving out all non-alpha/numeric characters such as dashes, slashes, asterisks, etc. We have found that if you make it a rule to only use the alpha/numeric characters in the model number, sku number and serial number fields you will decrease the amount of user input errors and therefore the problems that arise from the errors. For example, one employee who receives inventory may interpret a sku P123-RS as P123-RS, another may interpret it as P123RS, another may interpret it as P123 RS and still another may interpret it as P123/RS. If you tell all employees to only type the alpha and numeric characters with no spaces, they all should interpret P123-RS as P123RS.
Color
If the item has a color associated with it, type the color in the Color box.
Size
If the item has a size associated with it, type the size in the Size box.
Note: The Color and Size on the Description tab will not be a part of a color/size matrix and should only be used if the model being entered does not have multiple items under it that vary in color and/or size. If the model represents multiple items with varying characteristics (i.e. clothing), the color and size on the Description tab should be left blank. The Matrix tab should then be used to assign different skus representing each item.
Qty
The Qty box will only be available if the inventory type is ‘Accessories’ and you have just one store location. Enter the quantity on hand of the inventory item in the Qty box.
If you have multiple store locations, you must specify the quantity on hand of the item at each location in "Receive Inventory".
Desc
The description of the item. This will default to the description associated with the sub category selected, but may be changed if necessary.
Unit
A term describing the quantity of the item when sold. If a unit description is entered, when the item is sold the unit description will print on sales receipts next to the quantity sold.
Example: If the item is sold individually or in a box, you might want to create two different skus – one for EACH and one for BOX.
Weight
The weight of the item. Weight is for your reference only and may be useful to know when shipping. This weight value will also be used if the item is pushed up to your e-commerce website (applicable to those using the Active-e e-Commerce package).
Locator
A user-defined alphanumeric code with a maximum length of five characters. The Locator specifies where in your store the item can be found. If you have a stock room or warehouse, the Locator code can be very useful when determining where in the stock room or warehouse the item can be found.
Example: A Locator code might be ‘SRS3’ which means the item can be found on the third shelf of the stock room.
Lease Pool
The Lease Pool box will only be available if the inventory type is ‘Serialized’.
If the item is to be considered part of your lease pool inventory, click the Lease Pool box.
Note: If the Lease Pool box is checked, any time a serialized item is received with the model number entered it will default to being part of your lease pool. This may be changed when receiving the serialized inventory; however, if you do not want the status to default to ‘Lease Pool’ you should leave the Lease Pool box unchecked. You may assign the lease status on individual serial numbers when received.
Reusable Sku
The 'Reusable Sku' box will only be available if the inventory type is 'Serialized'.
Reusable Sku can be used for any product that you do not want to maintain a sku for because you may not carry it again. This is especially beneficial if you accept trade-ins, sell items on consignment or buy products from customers. The idea is you could create x number of skus (say 10) at one time in "New Sku". It doesn't matter at all what you use for category, sub category, description, model, price, etc. because every time you receive a a unique item you can change all of these fields to match the product you are receiving. The other important thing to note is that a reusable SKU can have one, and only one, serial number associated with it. Once you sell that serial number that particular one-reusable SKU is now available to be re-used.
Example: Let's say you created 10 reusable SKUs. None of them have a serial number associated yet. When you are ready to receive a product, whether by purchase, consignment or trade-in, you would press F6 in the Sku field and then select the option "Only Reusable Skus with a 0 Qty". All 10 of the skus would show. You would choose one of them and select Edit to change the appropriate fields on the sku to match this item. The next time we go to look at reusable SKUs with 0 qty, only 9 would show (unless of course you sold the first reusable SKU and then 10 would show again).
The Reusable SKU feature is extremely helpful for pushing this one item to the web. Since it has it's own "reusable" sku, you can associate specific pictures for this one item as well.
Note: If you are creating a reusable SKU, none of the information will be known on the item so simply select anything in the fields that are required (category, sub category, manufacturer and location) and leave the remaining information blank (such as cost, price, etc). When an item is received and this SKU is used you will then have the ability to assign the correct information to it.
Requires Serial
The 'Requires Serial' box will only be available if the inventory type is 'Accessories'; however, this feature pertains to serialized inventory.
For serialized inventory, if you would prefer to track the serial numbers as they sell, as opposed to as they are received into inventory, you have the ability to do so by creating the model record using type Accessories instead of Serialized. If the 'Requires Serial' box is checked, when this particular model is sold the sales person will be asked to enter the serial number at that time. This enables you to track the serial numbers for warranty information and sales history.
Note: If you print barcode labels, the serial number will not appear on the label as it would be unknown to AIMsi. Also, since you are not inputting the serial numbers as they are received, you do not have the ability to scan the barcode for those items that come pre-barcoded. For this reason, the sales person will need to find the serial number on the product and manually enter it at POS. This not only slows down the POS process, but also increases the chance of user input errors.
Tri-Tech recommends you track serialized inventory as it is received.
Tax Depr
The Tax Depr box will only be available if the inventory type is ‘Serialized’ and the 'Lease Pool' box is checked.
If the item is to be depreciated using a tax depreciation schedule, click in the Tax Depr box and select the applicable schedule from the drop down list. Refer to "Depreciation Schedules" for information on setting up tax depreciation schedules.
Book Depr
The Book Depr box will only be available if the inventory type is ‘Serialized’ and the 'Lease Pool' box is checked.
If the item is to be depreciated using a book depreciation schedule, click in the Book Depr box and select the applicable schedule from the drop down list. Refer to "Depreciation Schedules" for information on setting up book depreciation schedules.
Cost
The cost of the item. For accessories, the cost will be averaged as new quantities are received at different costs.
Freight
The amount of freight that should be added to the cost for determining weighted cost. The freight entered here is for informational purposes only and does not affect accounting. The amount of freight charged on your invoice from the vendor is expensed through Accounts Payable.
WCost
The weighted cost of the inventory item.
The weighted cost will automatically be calculated if the 'ReceiveWCost' system variable is set to Yes. The weighted cost will be the Cost plus Freight. Additional amounts may be added to weighted cost automatically if a percentage to add on to the weighted cost was entered on the "WCost" tab of "Maintain Sub Categories" for the sub category selected.
Note: The weighted cost is used for informational and reporting purposes only and does not affect accounting.
Retail
The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for the item.
Ourprice
The store’s selling price of the inventory item.
Hint: To calculate the Our Price according to a desired margin or percentage of retail, press the F6 key on your keyboard. Refer to "Calculating Price based on Desired Margin or Percentage of Retail" for more information.
The Our Price will appear as the selling price in POS unless one of the following scenarios applies to the POS workstation:
- The workstation is set to use the suggested retail price as the selling price and the our price as the discounted price. The difference between the suggested retail price and our price will appear as the discount amount. To set the pricing to use Suggested Retail as the selling price and Our Price as the discounted price, click Maintenance on the menu bar, click General Maintenance and click Workstations. ‘Use Retail Price at POS’ should be selected on the "POS" tab for each of the POS workstations.
Example: An inventory item has a suggested retail price of $250.00 and an our price of $229.95. If the suggested retail price is to be used as the selling price and the our price as the discounted price, when this item is sold the price on the invoice will be $250.00, the discount will be $20.05 and the final selling price will be $229.95.
- The POS workstation is set to use Price A, Price B, Price C or Minimum Price. Refer to the "POS tab" for more information.
- The customer account selected in POS is set to use Price A, Price B, Price C, Minimum Price or Retail Price. Refer to "Billing tab" for more information.
- Sale parameters are established for specific dates and the sale price to use or price to base the discount calculation on in POS is either Retail Price, Price A, Price B or Price C. Refer to "Maintain Sale Parameters" for more information.
Min Price
The minimum price the sales people can sell this item for. In POS, if the sale price falls below the minimum retail price a warning will appear. In order to allow the price to fall below the Min Price, a password must be entered of a user who has the security to override this secured item.
Hint: To calculate the Minimum Price according to a desired margin or percentage of retail, press the F6 key on your keyboard. Refer to "Calculating Price based on Desired Margin or Percentage of Retail" for more information.
Price A, Price B and Price C
Each inventory item has three different prices, in addition to the Retail Price, Our Price and Minimum Price. These additional prices are labeled Price A, Price B and Price C. Prices A, B and C may be for your reference only and may represent various pricing structures according to your store’s requirements. Prices A, B and C may also be used as the selling price in POS according to the workstation or customer assignment. Refer to Our Price above for more information.
Example: A situation in which you may want a specific workstation to use one of the inventory price levels is as follows: You have a store front set up on the internet. Inventory sold over the Internet is priced differently than inventory sold in your store. You establish the Internet pricing as Price A on applicable inventory. You have one workstation devoted to invoicing Internet sales. This workstation would then be set up to use price level A in POS.
Hint: To calculate the Price A, B or C according to a desired margin or percentage of retail, press the F6 key on your keyboard. Refer to "Calculating Price based on Desired Margin or Percentage of Retail" for more information.
AutoPrice
If the 'AutoPrice' system variable is set up to automatically calculate the Minimum Price, Price A, Price B, Price C and Our Price according to margin percentage of cost or weighted cost, percentage of retail or percentage of our price, click the button to have the prices automatically calculated accordingly.
Active-e
Active-e represents the price of the item as it should appear in your online shopping cart, if using the Active-e technology.
Ship Charge
This is the shipping charge for the item. The invoice program will add a new line to the invoice for the shipping amount automatically when this sku is sold. In order for this to happen, the workstation setting 'Auto Ship Charge' must be set up with the category to use for shipping charges.
Note: Even if a shipping charge is entered here, it would only be automatically added to sales invoices on those workstations that the 'Auto Ship Charge' has been selected on the "POS tab" in "Workstations" on the "General Maintenance" menu.
Example: You might have a workstation designated for online sales. In this case, it would speed up the POS transactions to automatically add the shipping charges to the invoice so it does not need to be done manually.
Spiff
Spiff represents an additional commission incentive for sales people to sell the item. When the item is sold the Spiff amount will appear on sales reports in order for you to calculate commission accordingly.
Volume Pricing
If this sku may be sold in bulk, and volume discounts are offered, click the button in order to set up the volume discount pricing. Refer to "Volume Pricing" for more information.
Barcode
Barcode is the manufacturer's barcode assigned for this sku. Scan or manually type the barcode number in the Barcode box. The barcode and associated sku will be saved to the barcode reference table. If the barcode was typed incorrectly, you must change the barcode in the barcode reference table by clicking Maintenance on the menu bar, Inventory Maintenance and Barcode Reference Table. Refer to the "Barcode Reference Table" for more information.
If the sku is not pre-barcoded from the manufacturer, the item’s sku number will automatically be saved as the barcode number in the barcode reference table.
Primary Vendor#
The account number of the primary vendor from whom you receive the item.
Hint: Press the F6 key on your keyboard in order to select the vendor from the Pick Vendor list box.
If you receive the item from multiple vendors, assign the primary vendor here and click the button in order to add the other vendor information. Refer to "Multiple Vendors" for more information.
Primary Vend Item#
The unique number assigned by the primary vendor to the item to be used when ordering. When entering an order for this item, the sku number is used; however, the Item# will actually print on the purchase order. The Item# is only used in the purchase order module. If the item number is the same as the sku number, it is not necessary to type the item number here.
N/L Cost
The vendor has two costs associated with it, Normal Cost (first box) and Last Cost (second box). The normal cost is what the item will normally cost, and will remain the normal cost until it is changed. The last cost will always represent the cost you last received the item at from the vendor. These two costs might differ if you received a special price on the item the last time it was ordered.
You have the ability to choose which cost to use when ordering the item by changing the system variable 'POCost'. Refer to "System Variables" on the "General Maintenance" menu for more information.
MPN
The MPN represents the manufacturer part number and will default to the sku. If the MPN differs from the sku, change as needed.
Min/Max
The first box represents the minimum quantity of the item that should be on hand. The second box represents the maximum quantity of the item that should be on hand. If you choose to use The Inventory Management Routines (which we strongly recommend) these fields will be adjusted automatically based on parameters you establish ahead of time based on sales history. The third box comes into play when using Inventory Management. This field represents the minimum quantity that you want on hand regardless of previous sales history. Refer to "Inventory Management" for more information regarding the automatic generation of minimum and maximum reorder quantities.
Example: Let's say that you always want at least 3 of this item in stock so you assign a 3 in this third "lowest minimum" box. When you run "Establish/Reset Min/Max" AIMsi calculates the minimum quantity to be 2. Since you have already established that you always want 3 on hand, the calculation that AIMsi came up with will be ignored and the minimum quantity will be set to 3.
MM Code
Inventory items that should be not be included in the standard calculations of minimum and maximum reorder quantities should be assigned an 'MM Code'. The available MM Codes are defined below.
- Exempt. Inventory with an MM code of exempt might consist of those items that are not only stocked and sold to customers but also purchased for in store use (such as repair parts). For these items, you want to manually assign the minimum and maximum order quantities as you will probably want the quantities to be greater than what would be calculated.
- New Issue. Inventory that is considered a new issue should not be included in the analysis.
- Seasonal Product. Inventory that is stocked for a particular season only and therefore should not be included in the calculation of minimum and maximum order quantities for stock orders.
- Seasonal/Stock. Inventory that is stocked year round but increased during a particular season. Sales of the item during the season assigned to these inventory items will not be included in the calculations of the minimum and maximum order quantities for stock orders.
- Special Order. Inventory that was received as a special order for one of your customers that you do not wish to stock on a regular basis.
Refer to "Inventory Management" for more information regarding the automatic generation of the minimum and maximum reorder quantities and how the MM code is used.
Season
A season should be assigned to inventory that is ordered only for a particular season or more of the item is ordered for that season. Seasons are referred to when calculating the minimum and maximum order quantities to be used when ordering stock for an upcoming season. Seasons are also exempt from the calculations of minimum and maximum order quantities for stock orders.
Example: If a season is defined as 11/1 through 12/31 and that date range falls within the DaysForMin and/or DaysForMax, that date range will be ignored and the days prior to 11/1 will be used in the calculations instead. If this did not happen, the minimum and maximum order quantities would be skewed because of the increase in sales during that time period. Note that this would only apply to those inventory items assigned to the season.
Seasons are established in "Setup Inventory Seasons" on the Inventory Maintenance menu.
Refer to "Inventory Management" for more information regarding the automatic generation of the minimum and maximum reorder quantities and how Seasons are used.
Model Yr
Model Yr represents the year this model was introduced.
Warranty
The warranty period for the item, entered in months.
Created
Created represents the date the inventory record was first created in AIMsi. This will default to today's date; however, you may change as needed.
# Labels
The '# Labels' field will only display if the inventory type is "Accessories".
If you have purchased the Barcode Labeling module of AIMsi and would like to print barcode labels for this item when it is received in "Receive Inventory" or "Receive Purchase Order", select the option you would like the Receiving programs to default to. The options are 'Print Qty Received' or 'Print 1 Label' (regardless of the quantity received). If you do not want barcode labels to print when this item is received, select the option 'Do Not Print Labels'.
Discontinued
If the sku being established is a replacement sku for an item that has been discontinued, enter the sku for the discontinued item here.
Sel Code
The selection code may be used to further identify the inventory item and is for your information only. Click the down arrow to the right of the Sel Code box and select the applicable code, if applicable.
Selection Codes are established in "Selection Codes" on the Inventory Maintenance menu.
Tax Code
The tax code will default to the tax code that your workstation is set up to. If this inventory item is to be charged a different tax code or is tax exempt, click in the Tax Code box and select the applicable option. At POS, this tax code will override the workstation tax code. Refer to "Tax Authorities" on the General Maintenance menu for more information on tax codes.
Sku Link
If another sku should be linked to this one so they both appear in POS when this item is sold, enter the sku to link.
Example: If your state requires a deposit on bottles and cans of beverages (i.e. soda, beer, water), you would want to link the deposit sku to the beverage sku, causing the deposit to automatically be sold with the beverage.
Hint: Press the F6 key on your keyboard in order to select the sku from Display Inventory.
Scaleable
The Scaleable box will only appear if the inventory type is 'Accessories'.
If this inventory item is sold by weight and you have a scale set up that interfaces with AIMsi, check the Scaleable box. When this item is sold, communications will begin between AIMsi and the scale automatically.
For more information on scales, and how they work in AIMsi, refer to "Scale Setup" under "Device Setup".
Healthcare
If checked, this item will automatically be marked as being a healthcare item. At the checkout process, any healthcare items will total separately allowing the sales clerk to see what can be paid with an HSA card. This is a default option which may initially have been set up in "Maintain Sub Categories", but you may override here.
Food Stamp
If checked, this item will automatically be marked as being a food stamp item. At the checkout process, any food stamp items will total separately allowing the sales clerk to see what can be paid with a food stamp card. This is a default option which may initially have been set up in "Maintain Sub Categories", but you may override here.
Loyalty Exempt
If checked, this item will automatically be marked as being exempt from your customer loyalty program. This is a default option which may initially have been set up in "Maintain Sub Categories", but you may override here.
Image
To attach an image to this sku, click the button. Refer to "Attaching an Image" for more information.
Add-On
To add to or modify the add-on sales table for this sku, click the button. Refer to "Add-On Sales" for more information.
Notes tab
The "Notes" tab may be used to add comments about this particular sku. The notes may be viewed/modified in "SA Maintenance", "Receive Inventory" and "Display Inventory". These notes are for your information only and will not be seen by customers.
Hint: Press F6 to insert a note from the Comment Catalog.
POS Reminder tab
If the button was clicked and information was added to the "POS Reminder" box, that information will appear on the POS Reminder tab. You may also type directly on the "POS Reminder" tab; however, it is best to add suggestive sales skus to the table by clicking the Add-On button. That way, when the sales person makes a suggestion to the customer and the customer decides to purchase an item that was suggested, the sales person can select the appropriate sku from the table and it will be quickly added to the invoice. Refer to "Add-On Sales" for more information.
Hint: Press F6 to insert a note from the Comment Catalog.
Invoices Notes tab
If there are notes pertaining to this particular sku that you would like printed on the receipt when the sku is sold, type those notes on the "Invoice Notes" tab. Anything added here can be viewed or modified in "SA Maintenance" and by clicking the "Notes" button in the invoice program.
Hint: Press F6 to insert a note from the Comment Catalog.
Invoice Coupon tab
If you would like a coupon to print when this item is sold, type the text to appear on the coupon on the "Invoice Coupon" tab. Examples of coupon text might be "Bring in this coupon for a free lesson", "Save 20% on your next bicycle tune-up", "Buy one package of guitar strings, get another free".
Hint: Press F6 to insert a note from the Comment Catalog.