PsL Monthly 1993 December/PSL Monthly Shareware CD-ROM (December 1993).iso/reviews/ab_02

Text File | 1993-10-01 | 17.0 KB | 399 lines

AB-02:  Inventory-Related Programs


Cost Effective II
   Ehrenfried, Frank B.
   $?
   #7643/1044
is a bill of materials program. It allows a manufacturer to track costs by
specifying raw materials and their unit costs and CE will compute the cost of
each product. When the price of the raw materials change, the program will
recompute the costs automatically. It also contains many other features such
as, upon request, giving the user a list of products by material. (NOTICE:
Cost Effective is written in a system that will not let you use RAM disks nor
memory-resident utilities at the same time CE is running.)


Material Notebook
   Nael Software
   $0-$10
   #7643/2860
keeps track of up to 1500 material inventory items; keeps track of all vendors,
users, and materials received, ordered, or used.


CRIS
   McCoy, Matthew A.
   $75
   #7095/2036
is a point-of-sale inventory control program. First you get the program ready
by entering company information, sales tax rate, etc, and then putting in all
your inventory information. Then when you enter a sale and put in the part
number, it automatically displays the product name and price, extended amount,
sales tax and total. It uses the Code field to itemize charges, e.g. Labor,
NonTaxable, Merchandise, and Shipping. The program can even use bar code
readers. A number of reports are available. CRIS uses dBase III+ compatible
files, so you may link these databases to a wide range of software.

CRIS is basically well designed. We have always been impressed by programs
that keep the changing of screens and wading through multi-layered menus to a
minimum. For example, you can search, edit and add new entries all on the same
screens, although there are, by necessity, different screens for inventory,
for customers, and for orders.

In contrast to the excellent general design, there are some minor, but
maddening quirks in the keyboard handling. For example, once you select to
enter a transaction, you cannot Esc out; and once you have entered a quantity,
you cannot go back and change it, although in other situations you can move
back to prior fields. These stumbling blocks are partially mollified by the
ability to easily go back and edit or delete a transaction, and overall, we
have no qualms about recommending the CRIS for businesses needing a
point-of-sale program.


CSINV
   $0
   #7095/1151
is a perpetual inventory system. Features include item query, monthly
summaries and status reports, analysis and usage reports, turnover and reorder
point calculations based on data entered during the months. The disk contains
both the BASIC source code for you to customize if you wish and the compiled,
executable programs.


DTS-Inventory
   Smith, David
   $70
   #7095/1355
enables tracking of stock items across up to 15 stores. End-of-month reports
include count sheets for taking inventory, printouts of stock movement
invoices, stock summaries, envelope addressing, end of month merge of
inventory counts, and invoicing. If you are presently using a database
program, short routines can be written to load most databases to eliminate
hand loading.


Easy Inventory
   Smith, I. M.
   $35
   #7095/1956
is an an easy-to-use, stand-alone inventory program. Besides various inventory
reports, other sales reports monitor cash flow and income from sales. The
program provides for inventory by number, locations, and by supplier for the
reorder report. It also offers virtually unlimited record capacities. The
program is fast and easy to use. Requires 512k and a hard disk is recommended.


Inventory Base Module
   North Woods Software
   $50
   #7096/1411
is an inventory control system aimed at small to medium sized
businesses. It is completely menu driven with full documentation and
context-sensitive help screens.

Information which can be recorded for each part includes a part number,
description, substitute part, short name, location (and bin number),
Commodity Code, Category, unit of measure, weight, ABC Code, Make/Buy,
last cost, standard material cost, current labor rate, list price and
discount prices (plus volumes needed to get those discounts); quantities
on hand, on order, allocated, work in process, and available to promise;
starting balance, month to date, year to date, last year, Cycle Count
Code; dates of last cycle count, last receipt, and last issue. Other
information includes reorder point, maximum on hand, economic order
quantity, lead time, reorder policy, reorder cost, shrinkage, maximum
order quantity, maximum order dollars, name of buyer or vendor and more.

Functions include entering buy and sell transactions and inventory
counts, period-end processing, status reports, availability reports,
movement logs, and printing bin labels and price lists.

The program appears to be bug-free and easy to use (though it does not
allow full-screen editing - one of our pet peeves). If all the features
mentioned are not enough for you, the same company sells many other
manufacturing accounting programs that can be integrated with this one,
such as receivables. (The authors can no longer be reached at the
address provided in the documentation.)


Invoice-It
   Future Systems
   $79
   #7096/2470
will keep track of invoices, merchandise, vendors and customers at the point
of sale. This is an easy to use, menu driven program. A perpetual inventory
system helps keep track of inventory as well as providing easy look-up. It
eliminates the need for pre-printed invoices since all information is printed
on plain paper. Features include multiple price setup in inventory, support
for Canadian GST Tax, and American/European date formats. Requires 640k RAM
and a hard disk.


Micro Register
   Micro Methods
   $75
   #7096/2413
is a point-of-sale and invoicing program designed to automate a retail or
service related business. You can print invoices for customers, statements for
charged sales or services, and even generate price quotations. Past invoices can
be saved to disk. The program keeps track of inventory and customer account
information and gives you the option of using a salesman file that will
automatically give you total commissions earned by each salesman. Income is
recorded on a daily, monthly, and year-to-date basis. These totals can be
printed at any time and have password protection. File capacity allows a maximum
of 65,000 records. Requires a hard disk and 512k of DOS RAM.


RAMbase Accounting
   Ram Base Systems, Inc.
   $35
   #7097/2124
is a point of sale, inventory control and check register program. The
on-screen help is pretty good and the screen layout is very good, showing you
the invoice under way, the inventory list, and the customer list all on the
same screen, along with the totals for the invoice. Inventory items can be
entered by specifying a part number or by moving the cursor to the desired
item. Pressing F2 changes the screen to Payables and shows a list of
suppliers.

The inventory records let you enter the storage location, supplier, stock
level, reorder point, cost, wholesale price (to customers) and retail price.
Of course, balances are adjusted automatically as you assign goods to
invoices. The customer records do not let you enter a discount rate for a
particular customer, but a useful account status window pops up showing an
account aging and other information. The program's strong point is a choice of
100 different reports.

NOTE: We have heard that the author of RAMbase may no longer be taking
registrations for this program. We have not been able to contact him for
verification.


REGIT Point-of-Sale
   American Precision Instruments
   $60
   #7097/2326 [2 disks]
transforms a PC into a powerful point-of-sale cash register capable of
controlling 12,000 products and tracking 10,000 customers. This program is
designed for retail and service businesses. You first enter your inventory,
using product codes which can be as long as 16 characters - enough space for the
Uniform Product Codes.

The transaction window instantly displays the quantity, price, and product
description. The transaction is totaled when completed, sales tax added, the
cashier is prompted for the amount tendered, the cash drawer opens (when
optional drawer, available from API, is connected to a serial port), a receipt
is printed, and inventory and sales records are updated. During this
transaction, many options are available: taxable/nontaxable/manual tax sale,
access customer file, inventory and price inquires, manual dollar sales,
quantity sales, and much more.

Many reports are generated, including product listings, inventory reports,
sales reports, sales by cashier/department, sales by type of sale (cash,
credit, etc.), transaction log, sales ratios report, reorder quantity report,
customer name and address report, mailing labels, and many other reports.

Other features include versatile sales receipt options, master update allows
many cash registers to operate as one, automatic cash drawer, password
protection, help menus, completely menu driven, full bar code support, and
more.


Sales Commission Tracker
   Arnold, David
   $25-$45
   #1835
is a sales management tool for sales representative organizations and
commissioned sales personnel.  It will track sales commissions from direct
sales, print reports showing total commissions for each order, commissions due
on shipments, commissions paid to date and the difference between commissions
due and paid.  It will track sales order status, shipment quantity and shipping
date vs schedule.  Requires 512k of DOS RAM and at least one 720k or greater
drive.

Al Lipsky, Lynbrook, NY, reports that during the editing of the salesperson
commission rate, the program will not hold a rate of less than a whole
percent. For example, 4.0 is okay but 4.5 or 3.5 gets rounded to a whole
number when used later in the program. We verified the bug and are contacting
the author.


Alcor Cash Register
   The Alcor Group, Inc.
   $79
   #7342/3716
is a point of sale and inventory control program that is simple to use.
It will handle a number of inventory and/or service items limited only by disk
space. It will track sales of items and services. It has barcode reader
support and automatic sales tax calculations and recording. There's
support for retail and wholesale pricing and tax exempt sales.

Alcor also flags low inventory items, produces inventory reports and count
sheets, prints invoices/receipts, and lets you export data to your favorite
application. It offers full mouse support and requires 640k.


PICS
   Spirit7 Software, Ltd. ASP
   $75
   #7342/3360
is a cash register and inventory control program. It tracks inventory,
customers, sales, orders, backorders, purchase orders, customer history,
inventory item history, sales history, and vendors. Hard disk, 640k RAM and DOS
3.3+ required. A PC-compatible cash drawer is optional.


Retailer Plus+ 3.0
   Egger, Kuno ASP
   $132
   #27342/3799
(formerly "Retailer") keeps track of retail sales and inventory data for
each item in each store location. It will reduce the sales-to-inventory
ratio and provide quick information about each item you carry. It will
reduce time spent on making up purchase orders, counting stock, and
tracking sales manually. A point-of-sale module with a client database
is included, and the program supports bar code printing.


Retailer
   RetailWare ASP
   $30-$49
   #27342/2842
is an inventory control system for the small to medium size retail operation
with multiple locations that sell similar products. It will let you compare
performance of an item at all locations, check where your stock is and how
fast it is moving, and keep track of backorders.

You can enter sales from individual sales slips using a stock number, control
number, or from a physical inventory. The program generates purchase orders
based on preset stock levels.


Retail Solution 2.2 [RETAIL] 09-93 CD
   Northwest Business Consultants
   $50
   #7625/3984 [3 disks]
is a point-of-sale, retail inventory and customer tracking program. It supports
optional cash drawers, scanners, receipt and invoice printers. A multi-site
option lets you know what location has what. Inventory can be retrieved quickly
by item number, description, key words or bar code.

Global inventory updates are automatically posted to the general ledger
accounts. It keeps track of the last 100 purchases, customer lay-aways and
payments, and employee sales commission. The program provides graphic analysis
of sales by employee, by location in the store, etc.

Other features include add-on sales suggestions; bad check tracking; mailing
labels; automatic register readings; the ability to reprint or void past
tickets; user definable invoices, quotes and purchase orders; four-level
pricing with optional sale prices; batch printing of invoices and receipts;
network support; the ability to create new A/R customers from the point-of-
sales, view A/R information from point-of-sales, and print A/R mailing labels;
user definable statements; support of deferred invoice charges with optional
interest charges during deferred period; and numerous reports. Requires 512K
and 3MB of free disk space.


Sales Log
   Smith, I. J.
   $40
   #7098/2191
will maintain sales data by products, customers, departments, and sales taxes.
It can also be used to print invoices at point of sale, or later if desired.
It could also be used as an inventory program. Sales totals are maintained by
periods and annual amounts. Requires 512k and a hard disk.


Sales Reporter
   Arnold, David
   $25-$45
   #7098/1958
is a sales management tool.  It automatically generates sales orders from
sales order-entry; tracks daily sales activity with daily bookings reports;
monthly reports; and a maintains a bookings history file.  Requires 512k and a
hard disk.


Sales Processor
   Bosen, Michael M.
   #7098/732 [2 disks]
is an integrated order entry, accounts receivable and inventory control system.


SPC-Inventory
   Smith, I. J.
   $50
   #7098/1381
is a stand-alone inventory program.  The inventory, sales and purchases are
sorted by a 12-digit numbering system.  A suppliers file is also maintained the
same way.  The program will provide a replacement cost report when sales exceed
the inventory.  Sales taxes are automatically added to the unit purchase costs.
The sales tax percentage can be changed from the purchase entry screen.  Three
selling prices are provided for.  One main controlling price in the inventory
file, and two others by using percentage factors with the first.  This allows
for various price lists and a fast way to print a sales price list.  A hard disk
is required.


ICP 9.0 [ICP] (11-93 CD)
   Spirit7 Software, Ltd. ASP
   $65
   #27805/3070 [2 disks]
is an inventory control program. It is not a point-of-sale program, although
it will allow you to make entries for sales, as well as for orders and
receipts. It tracks PO's and automatically generates reorder reports. Other
reports include an Inventory Summary Report, Stock Value Report, Backorder
Report, Abstract, Deletion Report, and Price Lists. Requires DOS 3.1+, 640K,
and a hard disk.

Other features include the ability to pull up vendor data for an item, enter a
memo for each item, re-price any segment or price level by a given percentage,
identify fast/slow moving items, calculate optimum inventory levels, and track
backorders. Additional features include a pop-up calculator, a status line,
and more.


Bob's Invoice Program
   Blue Moose Software
   $14
   #4538
creates an invoice from a database of client information and a products and
services list. Features include a client address book, mailing labels,
multiple printer support, and a report header. Single or multiple invoices can
be printed, and invoices can be displayed on screen or sent to a file.
Requires a hard disk or high density floppy.


Mail Order System 1.07 [MAILOSYS] 08-93 CD
   Micro Methods
   $79
   #4307
(formerly Mail Order Manager) is an order entry program that combines
invoicing, inventory control, and commission tracking. Orders can be
recalled by invoice number, name, phone, or zip code. It saves "sold to"
and "shipped to" addresses, "shipped via" information, and payment
types.

Invoices can be printed with address labels or preprinted forms may be
used. Printed reports include inventory lists, items below reorder
level, item price list, sales personnel list, and customer mailing
labels.

It has a file capacity of 65,000 inventory items, 65,000 names in the
mailing list and up to 65,000 orders on file. Requires 10 meg of disk
space.


Purchase Order System
   Byxbe, Ronald B. ASP
   $45
   #0844
is a program for recording and keeping track of company purchase orders and
printing several different analysis reports.  It allows item descriptions to
be saved in a file so that you don't have to reenter them each time you order.
It also has a Shipped-To Address for drop-shipping, Freight, Ship Via, Terms,
and FOB.

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