click here for the link to the CARQUEST EXPLORIS blog ....

click here for the link to the CARQUEST EXPLORIS blog ....

click here for the link to the CARQUEST EXPLORIS blog ....

click here for the link to the CARQUEST EXPLORIS blog ....

click here for the link to the CARQUEST EXPLORIS blog ....

Let the last one to leave turn off the lights

Well -- one by one we are leaving -- our 3 stores switched to CARQUEST Exploris on Dec 1 2009.

J-Con for all her faults was solid - and with some help from others we learned how to pull a lot of data out and work with it ( mainly in Excel ) - this really helped us extend the life.

Happy Holidays and best of luck if you are still on J-Con

Signing off

Greg H

ps -- click here to see the EXPLORIS Blog

get missing parts in NOW - not overnight

See the post here to see how to FORCE parts in to system right away = use with caution ....



----add parts NOW ------

how many orphaned core part sku's do you have ?

Wonder how many orphaned core parts you have with no matching part number .... run a 8-15 3 dot 6 and your report will spit out quite a few. These problems happen when something goes wrong at the DC more often than not. You are left with old sku's of cores.

9 times out of 10 this is not that important - but on that one time when you ADD the part --the part will not link properly with the EXISTING core --and you will sell the part without the core being charged ... there is not easy way to fix (normally) so you go to the 3-2 and manually delete the CORE part number (if the report says ..... AAA 12345 is missing .... you delete the AA9 12345 part number. Try 10 then re-run the 8-15 3-6 to see it works .... last time we ran it we had 200 parts but in past years we have had a TON of parts show up .... how is your list ?

Decimal key shortcut

This tip from Abe Enns at Petes Paint & Parts ---thanks Abe for sharing it .....Just a little short cut that I came across while closing a point of sale. If you are more comfortable using the number pad on the keyboard, then try this. When you are ready to close an invoice and you are ready to push either F2, F3, or F4, push the decimal button and that will get you right to the form of payment options at which you can type what form of payment you want and close the invoice. It saves having to look down at the keyboard and looking for the F keys. I find it saves a bit of time.

Hidden Treats

Every computer has hidden treats -- things that are special -- thy this at POS when finishing an invoice. Hit the DECIMAL BUTTON ( hint --works best for cash sales )

This tip came from Abe at Petes Paint

got another hidden treat --send to info (at ) dtauto (dot ) ca ---yeh --got to do the e-mail address this way to avoid splam --or post a comment to this item

Double Wildcard posts

Do you know the middle part of a part #? How do you find the full part #? Try this - use a DOUBLE WILDCARD search. How many batteries do you stock in the group 31 series ...use *31*

Try it. Very handy for the Canadian jobbers who sell Keystone and forget some prefix or suffix's

This is also available in Exploris --but since that system has such a bloated data base - the searches take longer. They don't use the Parts Source CD to keep track of 'all available parts'

overstock returns - something to try

Have you ever wondered what you have turned off on the PREVENT OVERSTOCK RETURN settings? Well- when we asked j-con help desk they told us there was NO WAY to get a report on how many sub-lines had been turned to Y to Prevent the overstock return. After some playing it quickly became apparent that the best way to test what is going on- is to turn the flags to N -- for all lines (we stopped at WSW to avoid touching out X lines which will stay turned off )

What happened -- the return list became HUGE. Some sub lines are obvious candidates - such as ABH s/l 0 (boxes of body shop screws) or BRK s/l 10 bleeder screws. We are keeping a LIST this time of what we turn back on --as some manual review has to happen at some point for these parts.

What happened -- we found lots of parts where we need to TAKE ACTION and - update levels - sell off - throw out, etc etc etc.

A good job for the winter when we slow down

84 Obsolete recalls ?

A few weeks ago we had a cute thing happen -- 84 OBSOLETE RECALLS showed up on the CQ LINK ...wow ... well here is some more background

1) Most of these are OLD - they showed up again due to a change on the LINK shows them -- mainly to have Cdn recalls show properly (these 84 probably only showed up on the Cdn link - also they have started to CONSOLIDATE recalls - so the one you see with ONE part # will not happen again )

2) I checked a couple of random recalls and called the Toronto DC -- well - the customer service person didn't know how to see what the warehouse computer ( ADIS ) so I called a higher up -- these classifications where STILL IN as a 7 or 8 ....

3) I called one of the guys who classifies in Raleigh -- he assures me that the ADIS warehouse class ( movement code ) SHOULD BE changed to a ZERO before the notice goes out .... so what is happening -- we have a call into Peter McNally in Toronto to see

4) There is NO EASY WAY for the J-Con to automatically list new mvt code ZERO items ... I just heard a story of someone at a jobber store who manually entered every part # to see if it was in the system -- wow - that is a time waster of extraordinary proportions .... so I called J-Con help desk and got one of the smarted people .... he suggested running a 2-20 report for just items with mvt code ZERO ...

Our three stores get their data from 2-20 and run it thru EXCEL --- but remember we all get short circuited if the Toronto ADIS is not updated with the mvt code updates ....

stay tuned ....


*************** update ***************

I am ASSURED by Mike Deal from classifications that the mvt code is set to ZERO BEFORE the bulletin is released ... and that my problem is with staff at the Toronto DC who do NOT know how to look up the data in ADIS .... this is being addressed

so - long story made short -- run a 2-20 ( that you can save for future use ) to list stock on hand with ZERO as mvt codes --

hint -0 in our stores go thru and FORCE DELETE parts with ZERO as mvt code that have no on hands .... something that I think EXPLORIS can't do as they can;'t figure out how to delete parts from the system yet

Defect Ratios - Part #2

In part 1 - you will notice that we use TEXT and not NUMBERS for the part number --that helps you keep LEADING ZERO's in part #'s - a tip that is handy

We found it easier to get TOTAL SALES from a 6-3 report and not add up every invoice here ...you use a similar method - but use your Ethernet line if you have one and go thru Acconnex --WAY FASTER ( 20 to 50 times faster )

The 6-3 report is a GREAT REPORT that we do every month to see where we are on select accounts (salesmen accounts and key other accounts )

I am sure I have written on how to take TWO DIFFERENT spreadsheets and take data from one into the other using something we thing is way better than VLOOKUP or HLOOKUP ( =INDEX( range , MATCH ( part #, range of part #'s, 0 ), x is the column you bring back ) --this is trickey at first - but very very handy

Use sub totals from your 6-9 report and get the values for the warranty returns by customer #.

NOW - great tip we found -- how do you get the SUB RTOTAL ONLY data .... use EDIT ... GO TO .... SPECIAL ..... VISIBLE CELLS ONLY ..... and copy the data. The PASTE SPECIAL for VALUES ONLY into a new spreadsheet. From here - import into your 6-3 report (or a clone of it ) and calculate defect ratio's

So - what steps might I have skipped - one is the reverse the negative sign ( older Excel programs like I use do not have it - so get the www.asap-utilities.com add on ( come on--make this for the MAC !! - so far only PC only )

There you have it --data that you can USE -- but with care & caution -- since habits take time to improve - and there might be valid reasons for specific warranty ratio's

Better data makes better decisions

how to calculate defect ratio's for customers

This is a bit complex - and assumes you have some good excel skills.

Master these skills -
1) get a laptop ( or regular PC ) and multiview PC software. Set up the 'capture screen data' option ( mentioned previously in this blog. You have to use a SERIAL line ( not the ethernet Acconnex fast line ) - so it will be slow for capture of the 6-9 data

Set up the laptop/PC as a PRINTER (call J-Con help desk) and have at the > prompt -=-do NOT sign into menu or the port will think it is BUSY. From another PC --send the 6-9 dump to the Laptop/PC ( which you are capturing the data).

If you get more than 500 pages you will need to open into a word doc and split into 500 page sections ( maybe you can go to 600 or 700 pages before you exceed the excel limit --since there is so much crap - extra lines and headers )

Import into Excel - click on the image to see the template setting to cut at what position ( found thru trial & error )

Now you have EVERY INVOIVE you have done in that time frame ---

Transaction code types
DR - Dept Return
FR - Fleet Return
IAP - Web-Link
IR - store return
IS - Store Use
RET - cust return
SR - Shop Return
SU - Store Use
SVC - ???
WHR - Warehouse Return
WR - Warranty Customer

You can sort and have fun ....... end of part # 1 --- see part # 2 on defect rations coming soon
WVR - Warehouse Warranty

Ont stores with enviro fees

Some J-Cons' didn't have an upgrade to the 8-15 control panel --and as such were not charging taxes on the new Ontario envior fees - this has now been cured for our stores -- how is yours?

List Price - more than you wanted to know

How to set LIST PRICE ...gee ...on the onset that would seem simple enough. Thanks to Adrian from CARQUEST Woodstock ON for the tips

First --look at 4-11 screen field #72 for the specific customer info

Then look at the 8-4 settings ... the Min setting is field #50 and the max setting is field #49. This 8-4 setting trumps the 4-11 setting. If you are multi-store --like we are -- check to see if you have all the stores set the same ( hint )

Hope this helps - if not - send feedback

multi store connection problems

Most multi stores connect thru very old technology using dial up or dedicated phone lines and multiplexers ( to join and re-split the various lines to terminals & printers.

Newer technology uses the Internet and boxes called jetstreams to do the job of multiplexers. We have several problems with jetstreams and to make matters worse - Activant doesn't want to stock a replacement in Canada - delaying our repairs by a day and a half when it clears customs.

We have recently found out that the routers used set up a VPN tunnel from the branch store to the main store - this has been a problem at times as well - and takes a systematic process to shut down and re-start to see if it solves the problem

Further -- we have found out that we can TELNET from the multi-view PC emulations (forget this if you use dumb green terminals) --and we are also looking at testing the linking of a serial printer to a host PC

This is all very brief-- it only applies to multi-stores with internet connections -- stay tuned ...