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User eNotes - December 2019
Presidents Comments
Rod Hatcher
Welcome to a new decade!

Since every new year, or decade, comes with an assortment of people spouting dire warnings of the impending end of life as we know it, we thought we would allow you to ignore those warnings. Specifically, the sales and purchase warnings found in ALERE!

We have had customers request that they would like to eliminate some or all of the item errors warnings on Sales and Purchase orders. As of the v15.0 release, changes have been made to ALERE’s perennial WS_LINGO table to allow codes to be entered to suppress line item warnings.

The changes are easy to make and information on the specifics will be available in the soon-to-be released revised HTML manual. If you simply can’t sleep because of these warnings, contact our technical support for a brief one page how-to.
Notifying 3rd Parties
Sometimes there are third parties, called Agents that need to be kept up to date when you place an order or receive one. An example would be a company who has a contract with your company to handle your IT requirements. They need to be notified when you receive a shipment of new computer hardware.

This can be done by adding the agent to the Refer To fields on the purchase order and including them in an email rule so they are automatically notified when the purchase order is received.

The Refer To fields can be found on a purchase order by clicking on the small black triangle on the header tab.
This uncovers the Refer To fields by shifting the group of fields to the left. Entering the company ID and location ID of the Agent automatically fills in the company name and contact.
Setting an Agent to automatically receive an email is done on the Email Rule screen. Here is an example of how a rule is defined.
There are many other reasons that you may want to keep a third party, or Agent, in the information loop. The Refer To fields can be used by a number of different types of email rules to help your organization improve teamwork.
Rules of Credits and Debits
When you are not familiar with accounting it can be quite intimidating. Heck, just the word “INTIMIDATING” is intimidating! Debits and credits - how do you know what they do and when to use them? But, in truth, just knowing one fact can make sense of accounting. And what is that one fact you ask?

You always debit an expense.

It can’t be that simple! In fact, it is. Just knowing that you always debt an expense will allow you to figure out everything else. After all, accounting is all about making two offsetting entries that add up to zero: a debit and a credit. For example, if you buy office supplies you debit expenses. If they came out of your checking account, then you credit the checking account. If you sell a towel, then you debit the checking account which is the opposite taking money out of it. That leaves crediting a sales account. Follow how that works?

Of course, a little chart of shortcuts can help.
This table chart can be found in your ALERE HTML Manual by clicking on the Finance section instead of the “+” button to open the section.
Time Phased Generation
In our November newsletter we discussed the Plan Module and noted that one of its advantages is the ability to “Generate time-phased recommended work orders and purchase requisitions based on the current demand in the system.” That is quite a mouthful! Let’s take a moment and parse what that statement is saying.

The first word “generate” is easy. It means to cause something to exist.

“Time-phased” is a bit more difficult to understand. According to the Business Dictionary, time phasing is “Distribution of activities, tasks, milestones, and resources over an appropriate time scale for the scheduled completion of a plan, program, or project.”
Next is “recommended work orders and purchase requisitions”. That means the software is going to come up with a list of work order and purchase orders that will need to be created.

Finally, “based on the current demand in the system” alludes to software referencing the sales orders, inventory levels, outstanding purchase orders, and forecasts to recommend the necessary orders.

In summary, the Plan Module will figure out what you need, when you need it, and then create everything you need to do it! There is magic in the Plan Module.
Technical Seminars - Your Source of Training
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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