J Albright & Associates
2710 Windemere Lane Erie, Colorado
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200+ SHIMS MODIFICATIONS
The following SHIMS modifications have been developed over the past several years.
We continually update this list with new modifications to try to
present the ones with the most universal interest. Please call us if you would
like more information or a price quote on any of these
modifications.
The latest additions to this list as of 08/20/23 are highlighted by
(NEW). The TOP 30 most popular mods installed at
over 20 SHIMS sites are highlighted in
BLUE.
System-Wide Related
Modifications
- 1) Integration of Now Docs (RxLaser) forms for invoices, statements, checks and bids. This allows usage of plain paper to print forms with logos, watermarks, double-sided and laser quality printing. A great savings over custom multi-part forms.
- 2) Removal of the header information on secondary pages of all forms including pick tickets, invoices, transfers, bids and purchase orders. This allows almost double the number of products per page.
- 3) Automated purging of files at month end based on specified schedule. For example, Old-Invoices in June & December, Inventory-History every month, etc.
- 4) Master password for flat SHIMS menus. Both the menu line
password and the master password will access the program.
- 5) Quick Inquiries:
Part-to-Bin and Bin-to Part.
- 6) Save
Your TCL Stack on Networks from one login to the next:
This small mod will capture your TCL stack when you logoff and
re-load it when you log back on.
Since the stacks are normally saved by port#, they are lost between logins for
network users; since you don't get the same port# each time. Universe only,
- 7) EDI interface for any SHIMS release using
the following EDI vans: Unilink, LBMX, IDEA, Virtual Rain and York Worldwide.
Several buying groups work with specific vans. LBMX handles the WIT, Blue Hawk
and TCG buying groups.
- 8) Export of selected or all EOM A/R and
A/P reports to the PC in text format. Reports can be sent to a network drive
or single PC drive. Columnar reports can be opened in Excel.
- 9) Un-attended EDI. A unix 'cron' process is set up to automatically
run the EDI send and receive processes. Standard setup is every hour from 6am to
6pm, Monday through Saturday.
- 10) Remove Unix Files with "/". Universe ONLY. This mod renames the unix files; but leaves all SHIMS file names unchanged.
Files like A/R become AR.FILE in unix with links to the A/R file. The makes
all restores and other operations on these files much easier.
- 11) Any SHIMS report can be setup to
export to the PC using Accuterm in addition to a print option. Columnar reports can be
created as Excel reports. Non-columnar as text documents.
- 12) Accuterm Report Viewer. Accuterm will open the report in Note Pad
for all Windows versions through Windows 11. 40 baseline SHIMS report programs were set up in SHIMS for
the Invue Viewer which will now work with the new viewer. Once in NotePad, the
reports can easily converted to Excel reports. Other report programs can easily
be updated to use the Accuterm Viewer.
- 13) Send DQ Fax Results via E-Mail
instead of to the DQ desqtop. The fax results will be e-mailed to the faxer.
- 14) Sales and Cost G/Ls down to the
Product Line or Product Level. Standard SHIMS allows for sales tracking
down to the customer level only. This was a Trend G/L feature.
- 15) Large Numbers. This mod allows
for the entry and display of net and cost prices up to 999,999.999 in all
display screens, forms and reports. Current SHIMS only allows up to 99,999.999
in all programs.
- 16) 1MAGE Document Processing Interface
to SHIMS. This is a major interface mod for cold processing and scanning
of images with retrieval as pdf documents. Call for details on this SHIMS
enhancement.
- 17) Label Generation on Zebra or Tally
Printers. These labels can contains barcodes and graphics for mailing,
shipping and bins. Labels available in many sizes.
- 18) Limit Number of Sessions. This
mod sets up the number of SHIMS sessions allowed per user to prevent
maxing out of Universe licenses.
- 19) Run the goodnight on a unix or Linux cron
process every night.
- 20) Internet Faxing using
www.esker.com. All faxing will be sent
through Esker, the worldwide leader in fax processing. SHIMS interface
remains unchanged to the user. Replaces all SHIMS faxing for standard and
custom form faxing. Monolith's Desqtop annual fees and landline
phone modems are no longer required.
- 21) Multiple printer drivers can be set up for a selected
physical laser printer. The same printer can then print in
normal mode. condensed or landscape by selecting the proper Q#.
-
22) Added an option to the
Inventory History Inquiry to be able to view ALL branches for a
selected product.
- 23) Pseudo-EDI. Customers can send Excel files for orders
which can be converted into EDI inbound 850 orders and vendors
can send invoice files that can be converted to EDI Inbound 810
invoices. Neither requires an EDI van. Custom development.
-
24) (NEW) For jBASE users, Excel
reports can be generated quickly using the TOXL command in a
proc.
Sales & Customer Related Modifications
- 1) Automated faxing or
E-Mailing of customer invoices and/or statements. Faxes use Desqtop or Esker and
E-mails use the unix or Linux mail functions.
- 2) Automatic product specific standing comments. If the product is flagged in Product File maintenance with a specific comment, that comment will always follow the product on a pick ticket and invoice.
- 3) Bring Bid Job# into Order File and print on orders.
- 4) A "Message Box" is added to all invoices and/or statements. Messages
logic can be setup by customer class, branch or other categoy. Customers will get a message directed to their type of business.
- 5) Customer Purchased Products Report. Selected
Customer, Product line(s), Date range and
selected ship-tos. Summary or detail version. Printed, exported or
emailed.
- 6) Allow
entry of a kit master as a component of another kit: When a kit master is
entered as one of the components of another kit, the components are exploded
into the kit master record and quantities can be entered for each component.
- 7) Modification to the Overrides Maintenance to show the actual basis prices in the basis window, instead of just the basis descriptions.
- 8) Automated A/R posting of cash receipts from a bank data transmission. This is for companies that have all A/R payments sent directly to a bank lock box. Cash application is made if the payment is within tolerances. Exception reports are also provided.
- 9) Tracking and viewing of deleted orders with Writer Code of
person who deleted the order, deletion date and reason for deletion. This
report can be emailed to the branch manager.
- 10) Shipto-Sales-History in the same format as the Customer Sales History
(CUS-SLS-HIST). This now provides data to the missing fields in the A/R Inquiry when inquiring for a particular ship-to. A 24 month inquiry program is also available..
- 11) Faxing or e-mailing of multiple invoices directly from the A/R Inquiry detail screen. A pop-up window
provided for entry.
- 12) Faxing or e-mailing of Sales Orders Acknowledgements directly from Sales Entry.
Option to show pricing.
- 13) Variable Minimum GP% by
customer.
- 14) RGA program will allow checking any
branch's
Inventory-Hist to find the original invoice and product price. Currently
SHIMS only scrolls the IH for the branch entered in the RGA.
- 15) Extended descriptions pop-up windows in Sales Entry.
- 16) Entry of comment lines into the Customer Overrides file.
- 17) Import of a Statement or Old Invoice in text file format from
SHIMS into a PC folder using Accuterm. Statement
or Old Invoice can then be archived, PC faxed or e-mailed.
.
- 18) Improved sorting of products on the sales
order by bin location for faster picking. Keeps comments with the
product. Standard SHIMS version does not.
- 19) Flat rate service charge amount
if the calculated s/c amount is below a selected minimum amount.
- 20) Convert the DQ alert messages
to e-mails. Requires Unix 'sendmail' to be operational on your system.
- 21) Added a pop-up window when converting a Catalog file item to the Product File.
Allows entry of an alt-1, alt-2, UPC, product line, product group and per.
- 22) Update of the Demand History and Product Sales History for products on
direct orders that are normally stocked items. Excludes NS, BT and T items.
- 23) Sales order entry of requested
delivery time for 'Our Truck" orders. Prints on pick ticket. Tracking
reports of on-time and late deliveries also available.
-
24) Reprint of any customer statement from the past 12 months. The A/R file
is captured at EOM which allows reprinting the exact statements.
- 25) Revise pricing hierarchy to move class
overrides to AFTER the customer overrides instead of after the Specials. This
is more logical.
- 26) Customer File Update Tracking. This
mod captures the changes for up to 20 Customer file fields and tracks the
change date, auth-code of the person who made the change and the previous
value. All previous change transactions can be viewed in the inquiry.
- 27) Four utility programs to manage the
overrides & rebates files. a) Deletes rebates by quote#, b) Delete
overrides/rebates for deleted products, c) Deletes overrides/rebates by
product group, and d) Deletes overrides/rebates by product line.
- 28) Option to change the vendor on a
DO/DI order after products have been added to the order.
- 29) Enhances the Serial# search program
to allow for partial serial#s.
- 30) Enhanced Warranty logic. Allows
assigning of warranty products to a product. Auto pop-up windows when
that product appears on a bid or order to indicate the warranties that are
available and the costs. Auto-adds to the bid or order if selected.
- 31) Allow entry of one, multiple or [ALL]
groups for the Group Overrides Listing. Same for Product Overrides
Listing. Standard SHIMS prints the entire group or product overrides.
- 32) Option for a Ship-To# entry in Old Invoices Inquiry to further fine tune
a selection by customer.
- 33) Direct e-mail from SHIMS for any
customer form in Adobe pdf format. Bids, sales orders, invoices, price books or statements.
- 34) Added a rolling 12 months of Sales$,
GP$ and GP% to the A/R Inquiry screen. Current options are MTD and YTD.
- 35) Added an indexed scroll window to the
sales entry and old invoices screen to access an order or invoice by customer p/o#. Any new indexed
scroll can be created.
- 36) Temporary customer Credit
Limits with expiration date
- 37) Open orders purge and report.
Allow purging old open orders by entry date. .
- 38) 7 Digit Invoice Numbers. This allows
the invoice numbers to use 7 digits instead of rolling back to 1. This may
be necessary for any company sending 810 invoices EDI.
- 39) AR Ledger Print Option. This adds a
date range option to the A/R Ledger print option and an option to import the
report to the PC using Invue or Accuterm.
- 40) Copy Products to Overrides from Sales
Entry. This is the same type of mod as currently exists in Bid Entry to
allow copying the pricing on a sales order to the Overrides file.
- 41) Interface to the "Net Pricer"
system to import vendor pricing to SHIMS.
- 42) Interface to the Emerson, White
Rogers, '1st Choice
Rewards' program.
- 43) Interface and automated file build
for the GE lighting rebates.
- 44) E-Mail of goodnight reports or EOM reports to
selected list of recipients.
Set up for branch managers or by individual reports. Maintenance screen
for email addresses.
- 45) Variable service charge months by
customer
- 46) 12 month rolling spreadsheet of
customer service charges.
- 47) Summary report of Product Line Sales
by selected salesman.
- 48) Group faxing or group e-mailing from
a get list of customers or vendors.
- 49) Deposit Ticket printing. Adds
an option to re-print a ticket and also print all back-ordered products on the
deposit ticket.
- 50) Change the payment weighting logic to
use only the last 3 years. Very important if you keep more than 3 years
of AR-Ledger records, otherwise it uses all history on-file.
- 51) Interface to Billtrust for external processing of invoices and statements. They can
print, fax or e-mail per your specifications. Bullpenning and other features
available.
- 52) Interface to the Virtual Rain EDI
van. Preferred for some vendors.
- 53) New option from the AR-Ledger control
line to directly jump to the Old Invoices Inquiry
- 54) Adds the printing of the TERMS on all
invoices. Currently, the terms only list if the discount amount is
greater than zero. Printed, faxed and e-mailed invoices.
- 55) New option from Old Invoices Inquiry
control line to directly jump to the Individual Item Inquiry.
- 56) Laser printed Pick Tickets or branch transfers using
multiple drawers to print 3 copies on different colored paper.
- 57) Extended price column on Pick
Tickets.
- 58) Manual entry of order and p/o numbers
in local procurement instead of system assigned next numbers.
- 59) Nightly e-mailed backorder
report of all items backordered when required date is less than 10 days.
- 60) Manager's Below 15% Gross Margin
report e-mailed each day for previous day's invoices
- 61) COD Collection Amount Add-on.
Adds on a fixed percentage of overdue balance to COD orders.
- 62) Utility to copy one override/rebate
record to a get-list of customers. Matching overrides will be updated, new
overrides added and existing overrides will remain..
- 63) Several new Pline and Sline sales
reports in various formats.
- 64) Affiliated Distributors AD Rewards
Excel report creator from New-Invoices file.
- 65) E-Mail Affiliated Distributor vendors
the monthly remittance advice.
- 66) Automatic substitute products if
requested product is flagged as discontinued.
- 67)
Manual Overrides Tracking. Several versions of this tracking. Can be printed
or e-mailed daily.
- 68) A year-to-year comparison report of Pline or Sline sales with Jan-Dec sales listed. with Sales, GP$ and GP%. Any 2
years of the past 5 years can be compared.
- 69) Added logic to the Alert messages from
Stock Receipts and Backorder release to list the actual products received
instead of just the order numbers.
- 70) Option in Sales Entry to flag all products as exceptional sales after
the entry with one command instead of individually flagging each product.
- 71)
If a product is on an order multiple times, it will only count as 1 hit.
- 72) Added the extended
descriptions and the keywords into the Alternate Access Description scroll
window.
- 73) Print the original
invoice# and the invoice line# for each returned product on the "RI" invoices.
- 74) Allow the same product on multiple sales
order lines to be tagged to the same p/o without consolidation.
- 75) Option added to "Override Flagged Demands" to select by purchasing
line or [ALL] lines.
- 76) Generate EXCEL
customer price books for selected product lines or purchased products.
- 77)
Expiring Overrides report based on an entered cut-off date with all pertinent
data.
- 78) Added a Q[nnnnnn] option to the
control line on screen 1 of sales entry to bring up the sales order associated
with Bid #nnnnnn.
- 79) Report of
"Customers with NO sales in specific product lines" Date range and PLINE
entry.
- 80) Old Invoices option to enter a
customer# and a specific ship-to# to get the list of invoices.
- 81) Ship-Via Report by selected date range and branch. Includes
Branch date, ship-via code, sales$, GP$ and GP%. Printed or exported to
Excel.
- 82)
Display the available in sales entry for each product on each line,
similar to bid entry. Eliminates necessity of doing an inquiry.
- 83) Enhanced logic to restrict writers from
changing prices on selected products or selected Slines instead of all or none.
- 84) Option in the Invoice Reprinting to print
the header as 'INVOICE' or 'INVOICE REPRINT"
- 85) AR-Ledger Search by Sales Order#. Adds an
option to find all ledger activity for a specific sales order#.
- 86) Deposit Inquiry screen. The allows a user
who is NOT authorized to enter de
- 87) 2 options for customer statements:(1) Add a Customer P/O# column in place of the
Discount or Payment column or (2) Change the last column to a running balance
like a credit card statement.
- 88) Overrides Maintenance Using Excel.
The Overrides for a specific customer or customers is exported to Excel, then
updated and then imported back into SHIMS.
- 89) Allows the generation and printing of
zero-balance checks to clear off-setting A/R with a paper trail.
- 90) Order scroll options by Writer and
Salesman in addition to the standard scroll only by customer.
- 91)
Allows a date range entry when
printing the AR-Ledger and AP-Ledger records.
- 92)
Option to reprint a selected backorder #
in the Old Invoices Reprint for SHIMS companies that use the same number for
orders and invoices.
- 93) Monthly Service
Charge Aging Report
- 94) Open Sales Order
Report of all 'RO' & 'RI" . The standard Open SO report does NOT include these
order codes.
Bid Processing
Modifications
- 1) Purge bids from BID file to an archive file.
Bid Inquiry on archive file. Option to restore from archive file back to
bid file. Purge program on the archive file.
- 2) Allow a negative quantity entry in Bid Entry and the option to turn
this bid into an "RO" sales order.
-
3) Extended descriptions pop-up windows in Bid Entry.
-
4) Option to create a Bid from an Order or Old-Invoice record with updated
pricing option.
-
5) Added an additional option to the
"Copy Bid lines to Overrides" to copy by a range of line items
instead of [ALL].
-
6) Import of a Bid in text file format from
SHIMS into a PC folder using Accuterm. The Bid can then be archived, PC faxed or e-mailed.
-
7)
Option in Bid Entry to flag all products as exceptional sales after
the entry with one command instead of individually flagging each product.
-
8) Allows changing the branch on an
existing bid .
-
9) Calculation of estimated tax on bids. Display on screen and on printed
bid, faxed bid and e-mailed and imported if applicable.
-
10) Option to add a freight
charge to a bid. Freight line then displays on all
printed, faxed and e-mailed bids.
- 11) Reset the formula from
a $ override to a Cxnnn override when moving bid product pricing
to Overrides.
- 12) Allow a quick entry of
Alt-Code,Qty on a bid product entry and auto-fill the remainder
of the line.
- 13) New report of all
orders created from a specific bid.
Vendor Check
Processing Enhancements
- 1) Integration of the Check Fraud/Positive
Pay program. This program is now available through most all national and
regional banks including
Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase, Amsouth and many others. The new program
will build a file from the C/D or previous months C/D.HIST files
based on the bank specifications. The file will be exported to
the PC .
-
2) Manual Check Pack: (a) Added the tracking of manual checks to
existing vendors to the A/P Ledger file. Entries are posted to
the "Manual Checks" and to the actual vendor and (b) Added entry
of advice lines that appear on the A/P ledger inquiry.
-
3) Multiple advice lines in A/P entry. Option to print the lines on the
check remittance.
-
4) Laser Checks. a)
3-part forms, 2 stubs and a
check. No need for a duplicate copy. One stub for office and one stub for
vendor and b) 2-part pre-printed laser stock check forms.
-
5) Automated check reconciliation if
your bank can supply the information in an electronic data file.
- 6) Option to enter Check Advice lines with an "i" prefix which will NOT print on
the checks; but will be retained in the C/D.HIST file.
-
7) (NEW) ACH check processing.
a) SHIMS Side: A/P records are flagged in A/P entry and processed in a separate check run.
Pseudo check numbers are assigned for AP-Ledger reference and b) Bank Side: A
file is built in the national standard NACHA format from data
collected in the check processing and exported to the PC.
The file is then emailed to the bank.
-
8) Payment of A/P invoices by credit
card. This allows the paying of invoices by credit card with the
confirmation# being used as the check# for AP-Ledger inquiry purposes.
Purchasing & Vendor
Related Modifications