ALERE Logo

User eNotes - November 2019
Presidents Comments
Rod Hatcher
How much time do you spend each work day looking for something? Maybe it is a document, an invoice, or even a name. Whatever it is, you need it to finish a task you are working on. Way back in the 90’s I read a Harvard business study that said people spend, on average, 50% of their time at work searching for something. That is a lot of hours!

There are many mechanisms in ALERE to help you find information. Perhaps one of the most inconspicuous, yet most powerful, is Fetch. In version 11 and greater, although it has been around much longer, it is found to the right of the menu ribbon in a small white box that says “Enter Fetch Text”. When you click in that field a drop down list of search choices appears - your instant gateway to virtually all the data in ALERE!

Fetch is always available and you never have to leave what you are doing to use it. In fact, as you use Fetch it automatically moves the search options most requested by you to the top of the list. Now some of our clients live and die by Fetch. Others have never even tried it. If you are in the second group, I strongly suggest taking it out for a test drive. You might find it addictive!
The Amazing Plan Module
Planning vs Luck
The Plan module is an enigmatic name for a very powerful component of manufacturing. Used properly, this module can save countless hours of time and perform functions that would be impossible to do manually.

Its purpose is to:

  • Generate time-phased recommended work orders and purchase requisitions based on the current demand in the system.
  • Allow conversion of selected recommended orders into work orders.
  • Allow conversion of selected recommended orders into purchase orders when integrated with ALERE Accounting. If not linked, then provide a report listing purchase requisitions.
  • Recommend changes to existing work orders and purchases orders by suggesting which ones to change quantities on, pull or push the date needed closer or further out, and to suggest orders to cancel because they are no longer required.

The Plan module is designed to be integrated with inventory, order entry, and purchasing on the accounting side and work orders, scheduling and bills of material on the manufacturing side.

This integration is necessary to fully support all the planning functions. However, integrating with just the Order module in ALERE and an inventory module can support minimal functions.
Order Approval Tooltips
ALERE provides a structured approach to approving sales and purchases. Up to four levels of approvals can be requested and, once initiated, ALERE will shepherd the process along by automatically notifying the next person or persons whose authorization is required.

Tooltips are used to provide you information on where in the approval process your document lies.
ALERE Order Approval Tooltip
The progress of the approval process can be checked by hovering the mouse cursor over 'Submitted" on an order and a tooltip will appear. The tooltip contains one line for each required approval. The name of the employee and the time of approval are shown if approval has been granted. Otherwise, the line shows the description of the approval group.
Sales Tax Credit Memo
Every so often an invoice is created for a customer who, upon receiving the invoice, immediately calls you up and complains that they should not have been charged sales tax for one or more items. This can be a tedious mistake to correct but not in ALERE!

Start by going to the invoice in question and click on the Status tab.  Select the Create Tax Credit release function.
Creating a Tax Credit Screen
Check the lines on the invoice that should be included in the tax credit and select the Release button. The Release Sales Invoice screen is displayed where all that is required is to check the Proceed to New Order option and press the Continue button. This will display the credit memo that is created.

From here you have the choices of applying the credit memo to the customer’s invoice, their account for future use, or converting the credit memo into a payable.

There are three simple rules that govern creating a tax credit:

  1. There is an accepted or completed sales invoice.
  2. The invoice contains taxable line items.
  3. A sales tax credit memo has not been previously created.

An elegant solution for what can be a daunting task!
Technical Seminars - Your Source of Training
business_people5.jpg
TIW's next Technical Seminars in Easton, PA will be held in January.

The Manufacturing Seminar will be held January 27th and 28th.

The Accounting Seminar will be held January 29th through January 31st.

Invest in yourself and keep your knowledge of ALERE up to date!

Make your reservations now at Technical Seminar Reservations or by calling Chris at 610-258-5161 x105. Current users on SMAs have certificates that entitle them to a free seat in a seminar.

Send employees to recurring training to educate them on how to use the new features in a just released version. Use it as comprehensive training for new additions to your staff to familiarize them with the capabilities of ALERE. Don't let that free seminar seat go to waste!
TIW Technology, Inc. | Phone: 610.258.5161 | Fax: 610.258.6217