Tech Tips

The Retail Spotlight

Meet Our Staff

Sign Up for the New and Enhanced Gold Support Service

Customization Programming

Star Performer's-March's Top Ten Upgrade Partners

Referral Program

Inventory Reduction Sale

Even though consumers' wallets won't be opening quite as wide for Father's Day as they were for Mother's Day, Dad will not be hurting for attention. The NRF 2005 Father's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, found that 73 percent of Americans plan to celebrate Father's Day on June 19. Those who do celebrate will spend an average of $85.66, down slightly from $86.19 last year.

Total Father's Day spending is expected to increase reaching $8.23 billion in 2005, up from $8.04 billion last year. By comparison, consumers spent $11.25 billion on Mother's Day this year, with the average consumer spending $104.63. This is a relatively new trend, as just two years ago consumers spent more on Dad than on Mom -- an average of $99.65 for Dad and $97.37 for Mom

Popular Gifts for Dad

Percentage of consumers planning on purchasing

Greeting cards - 70.9 percent
Clothing - 31.6%
Gift certificates or Gift cards - 24.1%
Books or CDs - 22.8%
Electronics or Computer related accessories - 12.5%
Tools or Appliances - 12.2%

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Tech Tips

1. Security Administrator:

The use of Security Administrator is optional.  Using Security Administrator, you define user-groups and assign area security rights for each group.  Security rights give all members of a group access to the same features of an area in Retail Pro.  Individual users can be added to or deleted from groups, as required.

2.  View Menu

VIEW > TOOLBAR > ALIGN    Display the toolbar in security administrator
                                         on any one of the four sides of the window.
VIEW > TEXT LABELS            Select to display labels on the toolbar
                                         buttons.
VIEW > HIDE                       Select to not display the toolbar.
VIEW > HELP HINTS             Select to display tool tips when the cursor
                                         is over a button.
VIEW > STATUS BAR            Select to display the status bar (shows the
                                         current logged in user).

3.  Import Users from NT Domain

The following feature is for use with a Microsoft network with a domain controller:   Select EDIT > IMPORT USERS FROM DOMAIN to add all network domain users to the current Security Administrator user list. Users already on the list are unaffected by this merge.  Depending on the information available from the domain host, Security Administrator fields may be populated during this action.  Once the users are imported, each user's profile must be edited.

4.  Rpro DB:

RPRO DB has three distinct functions:
* To create your data files when you first install and run Retail Pro.
* To reconstruct and/or reindex critical files that are missing,
  damaged or user-revised.
* To provide the interface to define or revise the program settings
  that affect data file structures.

It is strongly recommended that you have a current backup of your data files before running RPRO DB, or any program that modifies these files. Be sure to understand Rpro DB before attempting to use it.  ARMS technicians are available via phone for assistance.

Any time changes are made in RPRO DB the program creates, reconstructs or re-indexes data files when you choose OK to close the window.  Depending on the size of your database this process may require a considerable period of time.  If you stop the program before it has completed processing files, some files may remain corrupted.  In this case RPRO DB or the Reconstruct tool will have to be run again.

The Retail Spotlight

Barb's Scrap Shack

Some of us are fortunate enough to have family heirlooms in the form of scrapbooks from many decades past and even a century. These heirlooms are coming back with the help of people like Barbara Atwell and her staff at Barb's Scrap Shack. If you are a scrapbook enthusiast or just looking to see what you can do with your creative talents, then Barb's Scrap Shack is the place to get started. Barb's Scrap Shack opened its doors in 2001 in Aurora, Colorado to meet the needs of the creative community involved in scrap booking. Barbara did her due diligence with a lot of research and assistance from the local Small Business Development Center before launching Barb's Scrap Shack. Prior to this she was a civilian employee of the United States Air Force. She was a Public Affairs Specialist working in media and community relations.

When Barb's Scrap Shack first opened they used a Point of Sale product by the name of Nickel POS. According to Barbara it had so many problems that they switched to a cash register. In choosing Retail Pro, Barbara did research on various systems available and felt that Retail Pro was the best for her business. "Customer service and sales played a large role in my decision," Barbara says, in a recent interview. Barbara likes the various features available in Retail Pro. The inventory tracking for re-ordering is very helpful, including the employee clock in/out system. She uses this to help with payroll preparation. Barbara uses Retail Pro to track her customers and awards loyalty points. She also uses this to prepare mailing labels for mailings that she will do once a quarter.

With the scrapbook industry growing as it is today, Barb's Scrap Shack is well prepared to meet the challenge.

Meet Our Staff

Katerina (Katya) Deason
Certified Retail Pro Tier 1 Technician

Meet Katerina Deason, Tier I Tech. Katerina joined the ARMS Technical Support Team in February of 2004. Katerina is a native of Belarus, a part of the former Soviet Union. She has been in the United States since November 2000. Most of Katerina's family is still in Belarus and she is very happy to be a part of husband Aaron's family. She has been married to Aaron for two years and they have made Denver their home.

When not answering calls for technical assistance from Retail Pro users she is continuing to advance her education. She is constantly learning both at work and outside of work. Katerina will be graduating from college in September with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Computer Science. She has already begun master level course work. As you could imagine her hobbies and interests revolve around games that require thinking. She loves math. As busy as she is, Katerina loves to spend time visiting with family and playing with children. If the time allowed she would definitely do more camping. We are very pleased to have Katerina as a part of the ARMS family.
 

Last year we added new features to our Gold Support Service and we received numerous thank you notes and compliments from existing Gold Support Customers telling us how much they liked the changes. Whether you are an existing Gold Support customer or a customer considering this premier support plan, we wanted to make sure you were aware of the recent changes. Gold Support Service now has 3 new features:

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 Stacey Ryan at 303.738.1800, ext 321 or email her at stacey.ryan@armsys.com.

Customization Programming

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!

Inventory Reduction Sale!

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.