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Online
Support Services @
www.armsys.com
New Features Added to Gold Support Service
We are pleased to announce, effective December 1, 2004,
all Gold Support customers will have additional features
added to their current plan at no additional charge. We
strive to give the best possible service, have listened
to customer suggestions and have responded with a group
of changes to enhance the Gold Support Service.
We have added 3 new
features to the Gold Support Service:
Emergency Technical
Support (ETS): Gold Support now includes ETS at no
additional charge. ETS is available during the week
after hours and on weekends and holidays. The hours for
ETS during the week are: 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. and 5:00
p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The hours for ETS on weekends and
holidays are 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Mountain Day Time).
ETS is offered for emergency support. Examples of ETS
are customers who have data corruption, when a system is
down, or when you cannot make a sale at POS.
Courtesy Calls: Gold
Support Service now includes courtesy calls. In the past
short training questions and questions on your hardware
were considered Client Services. Courtesy calls are now
included with Gold Support Service at no additional
charge. A courtesy call is typically 15 minutes or less
and could be a training question or any type of general
assistance on your Retail Pro system. Keep in mind
formal, scheduled training is still tracked as Client
Services.
Updates within a
Series: Gold Support now includes support services to do
updates within the same Series of Retail Pro (example
8.3 to 8.5). Periodically new features and hot fixes are
released for Retail Pro within the current Series of
software. The services to update your system are now
provided as part of the Gold Support Service. Changes in
a Series of software (e.g. Version 7 to Version 8) are
still considered updates and do require Client Services.
Just a reminder of the
key features of Gold Support:
Toll free 800 number to call for support
Unlimited support incidents for 12 months
Available during regular business hours 8:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m. Mountain Time
Includes Emergency Technical Support (ETS) at no
additional charge
Includes Courtesy Calls for training questions and
general assistance.
Includes support services to update within the same
series of Retail Pro, e.g., V8.3 to V8.5
Priority response time - calls are typically responded
to within 1 hour
Includes unlimited access to ARMS' Online Support
Services:
Log a call online
Search AnswerBook
Review open calls online
Newsgroups
Downloads
If you are interested in
signing up for Gold Support Service please contact Marta
Witt at 303 738 1800 ext 323 or email her at
marta.witt@armsys.com
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Retail
Pro Free Training Seminars
Advanced Retail
Management Systems will be conducting Free Retail Pro
Training Seminars in the upcoming months. As a current
Retail Pro user you will not want to miss this
opportunity. Our first seminar will be held in Denver,
CO on February 23, 2005 at the Holiday Inn Downtown
Denver, 1450 Glenarm Place. Future seminars are planned
for March 2005 in Chicago and St. Louis. These seminars
will cover specific topics on the use of Retail Pro and
we will also present new industry products. Look for
information coming soon - times and details will be
announced in future Retail Edge Publications. If you
would like to see a Seminar in your city, please contact
us at
marketing@armsys.com.
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No Customer Left Behind!
3 Ways to
Guarantee Your Service Gets A Passing Grade!
By Anne M. Obarski
Have you ever been a lost customer? I
mean a "real customer" who was left behind, left
alone, feeling like you were taken for granted?
Sometimes it's a subtle feeling and other times
it's like a slap in the face.
Well, I'm still feeling the bruises of my last
brush with being left behind. It happened last
week when I was rushing to make a very early
morning flight. As usual, everything was going
wrong, from hitting the alarm one too many times
to not packing the night before like I should
have to racing to the airport at 5 a.m. in the
pouring rain.
And did I mention, NO COFFEE!
I parked the car, ran into the airport with my
carry-on bag barely touching the wheels to the
ground, up the escalator around the bend
scanning the signs for my airlines. Now, I must
tell you that this is an airline I rarely fly
and the reservations were made by the client. I
finally spied the counter and then stopped in my
tracks. There had to be 75 people in line! Who
would have guessed that many people on a rainy,
Thursday morning would be on the same flight?
I looked at all of their "happy faces" as I took
my place at the end of the line. I glanced up at
the monitor to happily see that the flight was
going to take off a half hour late! Ahh, there
is a God!
I have now been up since 3 a.m. and the
anticipation of a 4 hour flight ahead of me and
I am already breathing hard when what to my
wondering ears I hear, the voice of the airline
employee yelling at the top of his voice, "Next
time you fly this flight you better get here
extra early as there is ALWAYS a long line"!!
Click here for the
full story:
http://www.merchandiseconcepts.com/articles.html |
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Are You the
Destination?
By Rick
Segel
Last week the
Retailers Association of Massachusetts conducted
their annual awards ceremony where I served as
the Master of Ceremonies. Awards were handed out
to independent retailers in various categories
ranging from Excellence in Advertising to
Retailer of the Year.
When I spoke to
the winners prior to the event, I realized that
all of the businesses had a few things in
common. But one thing really stood out. All
seven winners had terrible locations. We've all
heard the term "location, location, location."
These businesses were off the beaten path, but
somehow they were still exceptional and
profitable.
The question
was why? Was their merchandise that unique and
different? The answer to that was a resounding
YES. But that alone wasn't enough. It was the
way the merchandise was offered that also made
them different. As one merchant said, "It's not
rocket science. It's selling something that
others aren't selling and selling it in a way
others aren't selling it."
It's this
combination of unique products offered uniquely
that makes a store a "destination business."
Service alone rarely does it. Product alone will
sometimes do it. But the combination does it
every time, by creating the emotional connection
that keeps customers coming back, regardless of
the store's location.
To learn more about Rick Sigel
visit his site at
http://www.ricksegel.com.
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Tech
Tips
Pro Tip:
Regular File Reconstruction and maintenance
It is recommended that you make automated file
reconstruction a routine part of your Retail Pro
database management.
File reconstruction can
be performed automatically using the Retail Pro
Scheduler. (Refer to Retail Pro Tool Supplement #8: The
Scheduler.) You can schedule reconstruction of
individual files or a group of files specified by a file
list. You can create an unlimited number of file lists,
each one including different files and each one
scheduled to be run at a different time.
Another recommended
strategy for routine file maintenance is to periodically
test all files and reconstruct those in which the
program found errors. This is easily accomplished by
selecting all files (or using a file list) and
processing them in Test Data Only mode. Afterwards, only
those files in which the program found errors will
remain in the Selected Files list. Change the mode to
Full Reconstruct and select Start to reprocess those
remaining files.
Pro Tip:
System Diagnostic Tool
The Retail Proï›™ System Diagnostics Tool is
used to diagnose and troubleshoot system and software
problems. You can quickly and easily generate a
diagnostic report containing a detailed analysis of
system hardware, RTI software, and configuration
settings. If necessary, the report can be printed and
sent to Technical Support to aid in the identification
and correction of a problem. Reports can be saved,
printed, and optionally polled to the Main station.
Pro Tip:
Portable Readers
A large number of tagged items can be conveniently
listed on documents by scanning using a portable reader.
The data encoded on the tag can be any of the three
Retail Pro lookup numbers: Item #, UPC #, or ALU. Both
the lookup number and the quantity scanned are
temporarily stored in the portable unit and later
transmitted to the computer running Retail Pro via a
cable attached to a serial port. The reader only needs
to be connected to the computer during the transmission.
This is extremely convenient, especially when taking
physical inventory or scanning received items to make a
voucher.
Pro Tip:
More Than 500 Scanned Items from a Portable
Terminal
When downloading more than 500 items to a document, the
first 500 items will be listed on the document as usual.
Then, Retail Pro will alert you that there are more
items to be processed. Update the first document, then
begin a new document and select BARCODE to list the
additional items. Update this document as well. We
recommend scanning no more than 1000 items before
downloading to a voucher.
Pro Tip:
Changing a Department Name
Department names are stored only in the
department file; only the code is recorded in inventory
and on documents. Retail Pro looks up a department name
in the department record when needed.
Therefore, if you have changed the name for a
department, the name displayed will be the current one.
Pro Tip:
Lead Time
Lead time is the number of days that it
typically takes from the time you order merchandise
until the merchandise is received. You can predefine a
lead time for each vendor. Lead times for items (if the
item?s vendor has a lead time defined for it) are
displayed on the Committed screen.
1. Select SYSTEM PREFERENCES > MERCHANDISE > VENDORS >
USER-DEFINED > Text Field Names: Enter LT as the name
for one of the text fields.
2. In the vendor module, enter the number of days of
lead time for a particular vendor in the LT field.
Note: You can also predefine a lead time for each item.
Item lead times take precedence over vendor
lead times. If you define no item lead times, then the
vendor?s lead time, if any, will be shown on the
Committed screen for that item. (Refer to Chapter 4.
Inventory for more information.)
Did you know that all of these tips
and MORE are available in your Retail Pro E-Manuals?
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The
Retail Spotlight
In October of 1979,
Philip Schwartzer opened the doors to Gamers Paradise.
In the beginning it was a seasonal retail operation
selling board games, chess sets, and role playing games
during the holidays. It did not take long for Gamers
Paradise to keep their doors open year around. Today
there are 13 stores in the Chicagoland area. In the
summer of 2003, Michael Schwartzer COO, began
implementing Retail Pro in several stores. Today 10 of
the 13 stores are using Retail Pro.
Jason Welch Computer
Operations Manager, for Gamers Paradise says there are
many things that are great about Retail Pro. They are
very happy with the ease at which they can service
customers by checking on available inventory. Because
their popularity and the number of stores in close
proximity, they have the need to transfer merchandise
from store to store. Retail Pro allows them to do this
efficiently and accurately. Prior to implementing Retail
Pro, Gamers Paradise used basic cash registers to ring
sales and did manual count inventories. The improved
efficiencies with Retail Pro help Gamers Paradise
continue to provide fun and games to their customers.
Visit their web site at
www.gamersparadiseinc.com
Meet
Our Staff |
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Pat McCright -
Director of Technical Services
Meet Pat McCright.
Director of Technical Services. The man who for 10 years
at ARMS has worn several different hats. Pat joined ARMS
Technical Support Staff in 1994. During the early years
of his tenure he provided Technical Support to our
Retail Pro Customers, assisted in shipping and did a
stint as a Purchasing Agent. He has also been ARMS'
Hardware Manager. Three years ago Pat took on two jobs,
Directing Technical Support and Training. Previously
these positions were managed as two different functions
by two different people. Today, he does it all with
ease. We can thank Pat for keeping everyone on their
toes and on top of both Technical Support and Training.
When asked to tell us something interesting about
himself, he proudly boasts of his hole in one on the
golf course.
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Inventory Reduction Sale!
Advanced Retail Management Systems is reducing
the price on specially marked inventory
items. Only while supplies last, quantities are
limited! Click
here to view the list. |
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Referral Program
Receive $500 credit on account or 4 Client
Service hours every time you refer a new
customer that purchases Retail Pro.
Retail Pro has grown to be the premier Inventory
Control / POS software for small to mid-tier
retailers. Whether you know a single store or a
100 store chain, Retail Pro provides the
technology for retailers to excel.
Call your sales person today at 800-305-0461 or
click here to complete the form on our web
site to refer another retailer and start earning
valuable rewards!
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BusinessWorks Accounting News
We now have the Acctlink
service patch to BusinessWorks Gold Version 5.
This can be downloaded from our FTP site, or I can email
the file on request. Also we can send the file on a CD
for an extra charge.
If you are considering moving to Business Gold software,
there is a price increase coming the first of the year.
We recommend BusinessWorks Gold Accounting for
multi-location companies.
If you have any further
questions or would like to purchase BusinessWorks please
contact Doug Hubka at 303 738 1800 ext 318 or email
Doug.Hubka@armsys.com |
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8100 Southpark Way # A-10, Littleton, CO 80120
303-738-1800 | Fax 303-738-9563
Denver - St. Louis - Chicago
www.armsys.com
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