Release Notes

2020 6.40

Jon Lemons – Thursday, April 30, 2020

6.40 Final

6.40 Additions

Mobile Additions

1. Line Busting Checkouts. Line Busting is the new way to speed up the Checkout process by pre-scanning the items a customer is buying before they get to the Counter. Just use the mobile app and scan items into a Cart, name the cart, and select to “Send” it to the POS. Insid eSales Entry, just select Lookup/Cart Add Cart and all the items will be added to the transaction using will the current store and customer settings. Enjoy!

POS Additions

1. Rewards Program. The All New Rewards Program is a simple points based program you can use to encourage your customers to return and shop again – both in-store and on-line. You define how many points they earn on purchases, and how many they need to redeem a reward worth a pre-defined dollar amount. Specialty retailers are having great success with this type of program so we encourage you to begin using it right away. The Rewards program is easy to setup, does not require loyalty “cards”, and only needs minimal training to begin. Just activate the program and select to enroll customers as they shop with you.

   
   
   Activating
   To activate the Rewards Program, select Setup Rewards, and select to “Activate” the rewards program and review the default settings you have been provided. The default Rewards program earns 1 point for each dollar spent and has rewards that are worth $1 for every 10 points earned. This equates to a $10 reward for each $100 spent – so basically a 10% discount. If you want to double their benefit on their return visits to your store, just set them to earn 2 points for every dollar spent.

   

   After activating the rewards program, customers must be enrolled to begin earning and redeeming points. Ideally you need to ask each customer if they would like to enroll, but can default the Customer form to already have this on. The Customer Form has a new Rewards Tab with the reward settings for the customer and a log of all points earned and redeemed. There is also an option to adjust the rewards points if needed. You have the option of assigning the Rewards points for Billed Accounts to the Sub-accounts on transactions, or to the Billed Account. By default, Rewards points are assigned to the Sub-Account.

   Checkouts
   During the checkout process, clerks will be prompted to enroll users not in the program, and to redeem points when the customer has enough for a Reward. The Rewards balance is printed on receipts and invoices.

   Sales and Taxes
   When a reward is redeemed, each item on the transaction is reduced proportionally by the Reward amount and the selling price of the item. This reduces the sub-total of the transaction by the amount of the Reward(s) applied. For income and sales tax purposes, Rewards are considered an in-store coupon and therefore it reduces the taxable amount of the purchase (both income and sales taxes). Rewards points used and redeemed are reversed when transactions are voided or deleted.

   For item sales reporting, the item’s selling price before the reward is applied is used in the Item Sales Reports so margins are not affected. An option to use the item price with or without the Reward amount in these reports is coming.

   Customer List and Reports
   To help encourage customers to use their Rewards, you can send emails or texts to selected customers. The Customer List can use the new Rewards filter to quickly display customers that have Rewards within a range of points. The Rewards Statement report can be used to review all activity for a customer and the Rewards Balance lists all reward customers and their balance totals.

   Ideally you should create a “Rewards Policy” to grant your business certain rights when a customer enrolls into your Rewards Program. With this policy, you should be able to email and possibly even text customers in your rewards program. Ideally post this policy in the store and on your website, but please check you state and local laws first.

2. New Modern Toolbar and Menu. The new application toolbar mimics the look and feel of Microsoft Outlook, Word, and other more modern programs. It simplifies “touch” navigation and keeps all options in a category (i.e. Tab) displayed until a new category is selected. The “Home” Tab provides a similar look and feel to the current toolbar, but with some additional options too. You’ll also like how easy it is to find and run reports.

   
   

3. Updated Simple POS Window. The Simple POS window has been updated with some new font colors and styling to make the Window look and feel more modern. Minor changes have been made to the standard PO entry screen as well.

   

4. New User and Store Access Features.These new features help address the need for restrictions for Cloud systems where all stores are “Local” and a user could be able to create and edit transactions for any Local store. It also addresses the need to limit certain activities while a Store is the active local store in the Toolbar.

   User Access Features.
   Users can now be authorized to perform specific activities for specific stores if needed. When a store is the “Active” store in the toolbar, the user must have “access” enabled for that store on the User Form Access Tab. Access can be granted for (1) all activities and all stores, (2) for all activities for selected stores, and (3) for specific activities for selected stores.

   

   To use these new features, select the Access Tab on the User Form and choose the stores and features the user can perform for each store. There are options to limit the following activities: Sales Entry, Purchase Order Entry, Deliver Orders, Receive Payments on Account, and Adjust inventory. Keep in mind that the user still must have the specific security options enabled to perform an operation for a store – like editing a Sales Entry transaction.

   Store Access Features.
   When a specific store is the “Active” store in the toolbar, certain process or activities can be limited to selected stores if needed. The Access Tab on the Store Form enables you to set the stores for each of the following activities as needed: (1) Include stock on Purchase Orders, (2) Include Special Orders on purchase orders, (3) Apply payments to selected store invoices, (4) Special orders can be delivered for selected stores. A common use of this new feature would be to prohibit AutoCreate from including stock and special orders when certain store are the “Active” store.

   *Note: this feature replaces and enhances the features previously found on the Store Form Options Tab when a store was “Remote”.

   

5. Sales Table. Added a button called “Find by Barcode” next to the locator field to quickly launch the “Sales Search” feature. You can also use “Ctrl + Shift + S to launch “Sales Search”.

6. Invoice/Order Transfer Ownership
7. Store List. When multiple stores exist, the Store List is displayed when you select Settings > Store so you can easily review all the stores and their settings. As the Store List is expanded (i.e. made wider), columns appear that can be useful to review. These columns include the tax rate, stock store (if the store does not maintain an inventory), and the invoice and special order ownership transfer stores. The last column displays the WebStore MyStore name used in the WebStore.

Cloud Additions

1. Admin Tools. New admin tools have been added to provide some local control of the Cloud Server that runs your copy of The Uniform Solution Cloud. On the Help > Tools button you will find options to (1) Restart the Web Server, (2) Close all Cloud Session (except the current one), and (3) Restart the Cloud Host. These options can help you resolve issues that may come up without contacting our Support Team.
2. Incomplete Batch Messages on Startup. The messages and actions the user sees when the Batch does not complete have been re-worded to make the choices simpler to choose correctly.

Webstore Additions

1. Select My Store in the WebStore. If you have more than one store, your WebStore Shoppers can now set the WebStore to display the stock levels for any “Local” store by selecting the “Set My Store” button in the header. Shoppers will also be able to select to pickup their orders at the My Store location if they wish.

   

   To enable this feature, just set the “Pickup Stores” in Cart Settings to include the stores where an in-store pick-up is OK. Any “Local” store location that does not batch can be included in the list of stores.  To complete the setup, use the Payments Tab on the Store Form to set the WebStore payment options for each store, and set the My Store Name on the General > Company Details > More Tab.

2. Multi-View Images and Detailed Descriptions/Specifications. Connected Vendors can now provide images with multiple views along with detailed descriptions, specifications, and care instructions for their products displayed in your WebStore. The WebStore retrieves this information from the vendor when an item is displayed.  Right now only Strategic Partners supports this feature, but I expect others will follow.  Just ask your key vendors and show them the Strategic Partners items.

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3. Preview Content Pages. You can easily preview Content Pages in your WebStore. Just select the “Preview” button on the Content Page List and the Content Page will be displayed in your WebStore and all links will be functional.​