Article #322 Route Sheets with Sales History

Introduction

Customer Route Sheets with Sales History allows route sales staff to receive summarized historical sales data. This data enables them to make informed sales decisions based on the customer's historical sales, returns, and on-hand quantities. It also allows them to monitor spoilage rates on perishable products and optimize return ratios.

Optionally configured for each Mobile Unit record, this information is updated on the mobile device each time they sync. As transactions (both sales and returns) are conducted on the mobile, Solid Sales Pro™ will continue to maintain the Sales History values until the next connect session.

While servicing a customer (i.e. store account), the route sales staff can optionally enter the amount on the shelf (Quantity on Hand at the Customer) along with Sales Order Quantities and Credit/Return Quantities all on the one convenient screen. Solid Sales Pro™ will suggest an order quantity for that item based on the amounts entered above and on historical data. Once the Customer Route Sheet has been completed, the proposed order, with Sales and Credits, is generated with a single button click. Note that the order can still be modified until finalized.

For more information and pricing on this optionally licensed feature, please contact a Solid Product Specialist. Please note that a complimentary 15-day demo license is available to existing clients on a one-time basis.

Configuration

To get started, follow these steps:

1. Once you receive the confirmation email, log into SolidRouteAccounting.com.
2. Navigate to the Settings screen
   
3. Under the Mobile Settings section, enable the Route Sheets feature.
4. Then, define the history period - the default is the last 5 visits/transactions. The range is 1 to 10 depending on company settings:
   1. Last x transactions
   2. Last x weeks
   3. Last x months
5. Now define the Suggested Quantity Calculation formula:
   1. Average Sales - calculates the average quantity sold over the history period.
   2. Average Sales with Multiplier - calculates the average quantity sold over the history period and multiplies the result with a multiplier.
   3. Build-to - uses the predefined build-to values to determine the sales quantity, i.e., build-to qty less on-hand qty plus return qty.
6. If you selected the Multiplier calculation method, define the multiplier value (range 0 to 2).
7. Define the number of decimals for quanities ranging from 0 to 3.
8. Click on [Save].
9. Now, navigate to the Mobiles screen.
10. Select the appropriate mobile and click on [Edit]
11. To enable the "Route Sheets" feature, select from the 3 options:
    1. Use Company Settings
    2. Enabled
    3. Disabled
12. Optionally enable the "Route Sheets: Set Build To".
13. Click on [Save].

NOTE: The summarization process runs overnight when you initially enable Route Sheets. This means you need to enable and configure Route Sheets. Then, the historical information will be availble after the overnight run and mobile computers have synchronized.

Solid Sales Pro™

A new [Route Sheets] button will be displayed on the 1100 Create Transaction, which takes the user to the 1160 Customer Route Sheet screen.

The 1160 Customer Route Sheet screen provides a list of items sold over the past 'x' visits as previously defined in the company configuration screen.

You can choose from different filters for displaying Customer Route Sheet inventory records:

1. All Products: Displays all inventory records regardless of whether the historical information is available or not
2. Sales Hist. (default): Displays only inventory records with historical information available for the selected customer for the visit period.

Use the "Filter Items..." text box to search for a particular inventory item.

Now enter the quantity on hand and the number of items to return in the respective columns, and the system will adjust the Sale Qty accordingly. If necessary, you can always change the Sale Qty manually to the desired value.

Tapping on the right arrow at the end of each line item will display the 1135 Item Details screen with more information on the selected inventory item, as well as the historical transaction data.

Once all the quantities have been entered, tap the [Save] button. This will validate and generate the proposed sale transaction based on the route sheet information entered and then you will return to the 1100 Create Transaction screen to complete the transaction.

Note: a separate Credit transaction will be generated when a transaction includes returns. When signature capture is enabled for transactions, the system may prompt you for 2 signatures in a row, once for the sale transaction and once for the credit transaction.

Defining Build-To Levels

Solid Route Accounting™ provides two methods for defining a customer's build-to level:

1. Through the web management console, SolidRouteAccounting.com
2. If enabled via Solid Sales Pro™

SolidRouteAccounting.com

Creating a Route Sheet with Build-To Levels

To define a customer's build-to level via the web management console, proceed as follows:

1. Navigate to [Lists / Route Sheets Build To]
2. To create a new Build-To level for a customer, click on [Create New]
   
3. Search for and select the customer
4. From the Route Sheets - All Items screen, you have two options:
   1. Use the [Auto-Populate] button:
      1. This will populate the list of items with suggested quantities using the sales history based on the Route Sheets settings.
      2. Note: the suggested quantity is calculated based on the average sales per item on at least half of the transactions in the history range. Here are some examples of sale quantities for a particular item over a history range of the last 10 transactions:
         2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 2 - suggested quantity: 2
         1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - suggested quantity: 3
         5, 0, 5, 0, 5, 0, 5, 0, 5, 0 - suggested quantity: 2.5 rounded to 3
         0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 4 - this item will not be included as it appears in less than half the transactions
   2. Manually add items to the Build-To list:
      1. Search for and select an item from the list.
      2. On the Route Sheets - New Item screen, enter the desired quantity.
5. The Route Sheets - Active Items screen displays the current Build-To quantity. To edit a quantity for an item, click on it.
   
6. From the Route Sheets - Item Details screen, you can either edit or delete the record. To edit, click on the [Edit] button
   
7. Adjust the quantity to the desired value and click on [Save]

Route Sheet Seasonal Adjustments

The Route Sheet feature allows to adjust the Build-To values by specifying temporarily:

1. Qty Adjust %: this percentage will adjust all the items' Build-To values for the selected customer.
2. Qty Adjust Start Date: the start date when this seasonal adjustment starts.
3. Qty Adjust End Date: the end date when the seasonal adjustment ends. The system will automatically reset the adjustment percentage to 100% and reset the dates after the specified end date.

This screen displays three buttons:

1. [Reset] - this will reset the adjustment percentage and dates for the selected customers.
2. [Set Baseline] - this will make the adjustment percentage permanent for the selected customers, i.e. if the adjustment percentage was set to 120%, clicking this button will multiply all the current build-to values by 120% and reset the adjustment percentage to 100%.
3. [Set Dates] - use this button to easily set the start and end dates for multiple selected customers.

Solid Sales Pro™

An administrator can enable the ability to edit the Route Sheets Built-To levels on a per-mobile basis. If a mobile is allowed to edit the Route Sheets Build-To levels, a sales rep can create or edit a customer's Build-To level directly in Solid Sales Pro™.

To edit a Route Sheets Build-To level, open the 1160 Route Sheets screen and edit the quantity in the Build-To column.

Note: when multiple mobiles are allowed to edit the Route Sheets Build-To levels, and multiple sales reps edit the same Route Sheet, the changes contained in the last sync will be saved on the server.