INVENTORY UPLOAD  FOR COUGAR MTN ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE

The Inventory Upload enhancement provides a fast and efficient method for counting, recording, and adjusting your Inventory stock item quantities.  It works in conjunction with a hand held terminal and bar code scanning wand.  The program reads stock item numbers and item quantities from an external file which is created by the hand held terminal.  When the external file is transferred to your Accounting Series, Inventory Upload compares the physical count to the computer count and adjusts the computer count using add-to and subtract-from transactions.   Installation Instructions   To install the Inventory Upload program, first make a working copy of the disk using the  DOS DISKCOPY command.  Use the copy to install the program.   Place the diskette in Drive A: and close the door.  From the current prompt, type A: and press <ENTER>. When the A: prompt appears, type SETUP and press <ENTER>. When the setup screen appears, respond to the prompts as they appear.  Help is provided on the screen to guide you through the setup process.   Using Inventory Upload   You can buy the additional hardware needed for Inventory Upload from a number of different suppliers. The hardware you choose must be capable of outputting the data in the following file format: each record in the file consists of 2 fields of data expressed in ASCII characters, with a maximum length of 15 characters per field. The data in the two fields are the stock item number and quantity. The fields are comma delimited, and the records are separated by a CR/LF character.  Your hardware dealer can help you determine if a particular machine fits your needs.    note: We recommend RealStar in Atlanta, GA, as a source for hand held terminals.  These terminals work well with our products, are preprogrammed for use with Cougar Mountain Accounting Software including Point of Sale and Non-profit Versions, and are fully and capably supported by RealStar.  For more information, call (800) 554-9111.   Gathering Data   The first step in using Inventory Upload is to enter stock item numbers and quantities into the hand held terminal.  You can input the data with a wand, type it directly into the terminal, or use any other input device supported by your hardware.  Refer to your hardware documentation for further data entry instructions.  Once the stock numbers and quantities have been gathered and stored in the terminal, you're ready to transfer the data from the terminal to your Accounting Series. Transferring Data   Refer to the documentation that came with your hand held terminal for instructions on attaching it to your accounting computer.  After completing the hookup between the two machines, proceed with these instructions.   Start Cougar Mountain Accounting Software including Point of Sale and Non-profit Versions and go into Inventory.  From the Master Menu, select option 3, Transaction Processing.  When you installed Inventory Upload, a new line was created on this screen. To begin the upload process, select option 1, Import Physical Inventory.  If there are unposted Inventory transactions in the transaction file, a warning message notifies you that they are there.  Any transactions you generate with the upload program are added to the ones already in the file.  If this is acceptable, press <OVERRIDE> and continue importing transactions.  If you want to keep separate the transactions you import with the hand held terminal, press <CANCEL> and then select option 4, Post transactions.  Post the existing transactions and then reselect option 1.    To transfer the data from your hand held terminal into a new file, select option 1, Transfer Inventory Count - New File.  To add the data to an already existing file, select option 2, Transfer Inventory Count - Append File.  Verify that the hand held terminal is correctly connected to your computer and ready to send the information.  Refer to the documentation provided with the terminal for instructions on preparing your terminal for transfer.  Press <ENTER> on your keyboard and then start the upload from the hand held terminal.  Refer to the instructions that came with your terminal if you don't know how to send the data.  When the transfer process runs, the data stored in the hand held terminal is transferred to a holding file in your Accounting Series. The holding file is an ASCII text file named INVCOUNT.DAT.  If you choose option 1, the Inventory Upload program overwrites all data that resides in the file from a previous data transfer.  If you choose option 2, the Upload program adds the new data to the existing data.  You can view and edit the contents of the holding file with any text editor, such as the DOS text editor or Windows Notepad.    note: Do not get the INVCOUNT.DAT file confused with the Inventory transaction file.  The new file option of the upload program overwrites the information in the INVCOUNT.DAT file; it does not overwrite transactions in the Inventory transaction file.   Once the file is loaded, you can disconnect the terminal from your computer.  You now need to generate transactions to adjust your computer Inventory quantities to the quantities from the actual physical count.  To create transactions, select option 2, Generate Inventory Transactions.  Then select a processing method.  Choose between (A)utomatic, and (S)elective. (A)utomatic processing creates a transaction for each Inventory item that was transferred into the file.  The (S)elective option stops on each item in the file and lets you decide whether to create the transaction for the Inventory item.  Press <SAVE> or <SKIP> on each entry to confirm or deny the creation of the transactions.  During the generation process, the upload program consolidates like stock numbers and combines quantities for those stock numbers.  This assures that the comparison between the computer quantities and actual quantities produces accurate results.   When the generation process is finished, an Inventory Physical Count Report prints.  This report shows the Inventory stock number, the description, the computer quantity, the counted quantity, and the adjustment required to reconcile the computer and physical amounts.  This report also shows stock numbers that were entered in the hand held terminal but don't exist in the Inventory master records.  You must enter these stock numbers and manually add transactions for these items using the quantities shown on the report.   If your Physical Count Report shows numbers that you want to adjust, you can edit the INVCOUNT.DAT file and re-generate the transactions.  First, clear the transaction file to remove the transactions that were created the first time you generated.  Go out to your text editor and make the necessary changes.  Now, re-generate the transactions.  When you are satisfied that they are correct, post them.   note: The transactions you create with the Generate Inventory Transaction option are added to any other transactions that existed previously in the Inventory transaction file.  If you clear the transactions, you will erase the ones created with this option, as well as any that existed previously.   Until you post the transactions, the computer count remains the same.  If you want to make the adjustments shown on the Inventory Physical Count Report, post the transactions.  This updates the computer count so that the quantity on hand reflects the actual amount.  The subtract-from-inventory transactions show a zero cost on the Transaction Edit Report, and in the Change Transactions option.  This is perfectly normal.  When the transactions are posted, they are subtracted at last cost.   note: If you are maintaining inventory in GL, you must use the Inventory Posting Report to make journal entries.