>From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Jul 01 19:31:48 1996 X-Sender: ahanson@maine.maine.edu (Unverified) Date: Mon, 1 Jul 1996 19:34:32 +0300 From: ahanson@maine.maine.edu (Tom Hanson) Subject: Re: Hardware jokes wanted.... John: Please change my address for Bangor True Value Hardware to tomhanson@POBoxes.com. Other users may be interested in POBoxes.com. It is a service that will forward email. This can be very useful as people choose to change providers, etc. Just change your adress with POBoxes.com instead of everyone you may receive mail from. There are at least two of these services available: POBoxes.com is free but says you can send a donation. POBox.com charges for the service I believe. My hardware anecdote which happens to be true: I walked by our key machines to find a very agitated man waiting. He was dressed in what looked to be a very expensive suit and was obviously very impatient. I asked him what the trouble was and he explained he had a key copied and it didn't work. As I was checking the copy for an obvious error, the man went on and on unrelentingly of how we wrecked his life because this key did not work. All of a sudden it just hit me: I asked him if his original key worked. He put his hands on his hips and stood extra tall before me and exclaimed, "Of course not! Now if my key worked I wouldn't need a new one now would I?!" >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Jul 01 17:14:17 1996 Date: Mon, 1 Jul 1996 17:14:55 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: Vacation!? Tony: System goes down on any day is a nightmare I have now experience 2 Monday Downs --the first one took 4.5 hours before reactiving and the second one took 1.5 -->I did not wait for the Advice Line this last time saved 40 minutes on just the first call-back. The Off-Line Program works nicely-->my people are getting used to it (unfortunately). Have Fun Rick Schwartz True Value >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Jul 02 08:02:03 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Tue, 02 Jul 1996 08:01:50 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Backup restore problem At 03:37 PM 6/30/96 UT, Mike Jones wrote: >Re:Triad >We had a situation recently where we had to Restore from a previous backup >and we had to go back THREE DAYS!!! to get a tape to read correctly. It was >a NIGHTMARE. Mike, Please post a final report once everything gets ironed out. Have you determined why the backups didn't read properly? What was the hardware failure that the FE couldn't figure out? It's possible that the backups were not completing, which would have only shown up on the boot log. I tend to read those every day, but mostly because I'm frequently testing new software and like to keep an eye out for errors. Most folks probably don't check their boot logs every day. With autopilot and shutdown, it's possible for the system to merrily chug along and run reports each night for you even if the backup is dying nightly. I usually check MBC on the nights I lock up to make sure the backup went through fine on the preceeding night. The system probably could do a better job of warning about bad backups. I also date every backup tape when we first put it into use. I usually put one new tape into circulation every quarter, so I have a quarterly backup that we use as an archive tape. Next quarter, we put another new tape in the rotation, save a new quarterly tape, and toss the one in the media safe. Tapes generally can be counted on for about a year, and then they are suspect. This is all water under the bridge at this point... but maybe it's a reminder to everyone to make sure they have good backup procedures in place. John ************************************************************************* John Fix 3rd http://www.cornells.com/john.htm John3@cornells.com (914) 961-2400 Cornell's True Value Hardware Manager/Cashier/Webmaster ************************************************************************* >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Jul 02 17:34:11 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Tue, 02 Jul 1996 17:33:58 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Hardware Stores book and web page There's an interesting book out called "Did Monkeys Invent the Monkey Wrench? - Hardware Stores and Hardware Stories" by Vince Staten. To quote from the book jacket.. "One thing that separates humanity from its beastly origins - tool lust. That's the white heat that hits you behind the eyes when you see the perfect chainsaw or heft a heavenly hammer. And where does this lightning bolt strike? In a hardware store, of course." I've just started the book, and it seems to be a nice collection of stories, history, and tool and hardware descriptions. The author's father owned a hardware store for many years, so he has a good feel for "behind the scenes" at a local hardware store. At $21.00, the book is a little pricey, but it's worth checking out of the local library or perusing at the bookstore (if they stock it). In related news, I've added a new area to the Cornell's Web Site... it's called "Hardware Stores" and is intended to be an online open forum for all topics related to hardware stores. Retailers and consumers are free to participate, and anyone with access to the web can find the discussion at http://www.cornells.com/Hardlines Drop and by and add your two cents... John PS - HWI now has their web site up... it's www.doitbest.com. >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Jul 03 08:10:46 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Wed, 03 Jul 1996 08:10:32 -0400 From: "WILLIAM H. ROUND" <102753.622@CompuServe.COM> (by way of John Fix 3rd ) Subject: Backup restore problem Dear Folks, On the subject of backups. 1. I am not an organized person. I handed the following tasks to someone else: a. Check boot log every morning for "FATAL ERROR" "BACKUP FAILED" etc. b. Check MBC just to the sure. c. Take last night's backup home and keep there for 2 days. d. Rotate 7 backup tapes, one for each day of the week. e. Manage MBC to relabel as required. 2. Backup tapes can and do fail. Clean drive periodically. 3. Triad could give us a better "early-warning" system, but what we have is adequate. 4. I have my EOD reports and backup on autopilot. This cured many of my problems over the years. Yes, it does keep churning along with end of day reports if the back up fails.... but that is what it is supposed to do. See item #1 to take care of this. 5. It is very easy to get three or 4 days out with failed backups. I don't keep a quarterly tape like John does. I figure the business moves too fast and too far for a back up of that type to be useful. Year end's might be important, but haven't heard of a case where they were needed more than a week or two later. Regards, Bill Round, Jr. >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Jul 08 21:24:34 1996 Comments: Authenticated sender is From: "coos.or.us" Date: Mon, 8 Jul 1996 17:49:30 +0000 Subject: RE: Retail Systems 96 X-Confirm-Reading-To: "coos.or.us" X-Pmrqc: 1 Priority: normal I've got a much easier, although not variable way to ease your prices and margins up. It wouldn't be something you could use over and over, but if you feel you need a little more margin, and are willing to let it take effect over time, you might try it. I've assuming that you are using Triad's price rounding. IF you aren't, you should! If you are, then your desired GProfit is always going to be slightly less than your actual GP. The difference is the amount of rounding the computer has done for you. Run RPC to add a group of prices and go through the gyrations to change your desired GP to equal your actual GP. Then sit back and run your business. Gradually as your prices change, the Triad will use the new, higher desired GP to calculate the retail prices. We did this once, when we began to get electronic price changes. It wasn't painful, and as long as your file of costs is generally clean, it is not noticable to your customers, but it increases your store wide GP by 1 or 2 or 3 % Jay Farr 541-267-2137 jwlfarr@mail.coos.or.us >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Jul 08 23:31:59 1996 Date: Tue, 9 Jul 96 03:28:04 UT From: "MIKE JONES" Subject: RE: Backup restore problem ---------- From: owner-hardlines@cornells.com on behalf of John Fix 3rd Sent: Tuesday, July 02, 1996 7:01 AM To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Subject: Backup restore problem At 03:37 PM 6/30/96 UT, Mike Jones wrote: >Re:Triad >We had a situation recently where we had to Restore from a previous backup >and we had to go back THREE DAYS!!! to get a tape to read correctly. It was >a NIGHTMARE. Mike, Please post a final report once everything gets ironed out. Have you determined why the backups didn't read properly? What was the hardware failure that the FE couldn't figure out? It's possible that the backups were not completing, which would have only shown up on the boot log. I tend to read those every day, but mostly because I'm frequently testing new software and like to keep an eye out for errors. Most folks probably don't check their boot logs every day. With autopilot and shutdown, it's possible for the system to merrily chug along and run reports each night for you even if the backup is dying nightly. I usually check MBC on the nights I lock up to make sure the backup went through fine on the preceeding night. The system probably could do a better job of warning about bad backups. I also date every backup tape when we first put it into use. I usually put one new tape into circulation every quarter, so I have a quarterly backup that we use as an archive tape. Next quarter, we put another new tape in the rotation, save a new quarterly tape, and toss the one in the media safe. Tapes generally can be counted on for about a year, and then they are suspect. This is all water under the bridge at this point... but maybe it's a reminder to everyone to make sure they have good backup procedures in place. John ************************************************************************* John Fix 3rd http://www.cornells.com/john.htm John3@cornells.com (914) 961-2400 Cornell's True Value Hardware Manager/Cashier/Webmaster ************************************************************************* John, Thanks for your reply. The FE surmised that the tapes had failed, but he replaced everything on the unit until he could get any tape to restore! The big problem is that there is no procedure to "check" the quality of the backed-up files until you restore....and then it's too late. I have thought about doing a backup and sending to CA for them to read, but haven't done it yet. We just received Level 17 but I'm afraid to install it for fear of having a problem and not being able to restore. I just don't need anymore headaches. Around the store where I work, we don't blame the person (or thing) who made the mistake, we blame the person who tries to fix the problem! So you see why I am reluctant to install 17, especially when I don't see much that it does to address the problems we have at our store, specifically, it takes so much labor to receive merchandise. If Triad had a subprogram that our receiver could enter (or correct, in the case of Cotter shipments) the quantity received while he is checking UPC/SKU it could save us a quarter of the receiving time. ( I also think a shortcut to LOD while in MPO would be an obvious and welcome idea) Back to your question, we had to manually reenter three days of sales, etc. and since I'm not the accountant, I don't know exactly how that worked out. I do know that even with True Advantage bookkeeping, we are having problems, but since I am not the owner and accounting is not within my purview, I can't answer your question in detail. I just know that we here feel like we are walking on egg shells when we have to depend upon Triad. Our FE suggested a 4 tape backup, cleaning the tape drive once a week, and replacing the tapes once a year. I also read the printouts but even during our failure, the printouts reported a good backup! That's why we feel so uneasy. We still have two years on our contract with Triad (we won't do that again) and are seriously looking at Dimension or anyone else with more reliability. Thanks for your suggestions. Mike Joke: originally from the welding industry where I used to work (this also really happened to me recently!) A man comes into the hardware store and wants a 4" pvc short radius elbow. The clerk shows him the bin and the price which is $4.19 suggested retail. The customer says "I was just down the road and your competitor's elbows were $2.99." The clerk says, "Why didn't you buy it down there?" The customer responds, "They were out." To which the clerk replys, "Well, if I didn't have any, they'd be $1.99!" >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Jul 10 19:46:11 1996 Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 19:49:29 +0300 From: ahanson@maine.maine.edu (Tom Hanson) Subject: You guys are scaring me! I've always assumed I would discover up a bad backup attempt the next day as the sequence of backup tapes would be altered. Do you mean to tell me the that I can get a successful backup message and still have an unreadable tape? I think I'll be more careful with cleaning my tape drive. I just upgraded to a 2 Gig backup when I got the catalog. Has anyone had any problems with the bigger tape drives? I was also alarmed by someone's comment that they are losing UPC's that have been in their system for some time. Has anyone else had this problem? I was surprised to discover the Triad will allow me to make up my own UPC's without the proper check digit. My Fredware won't let me get away with that. Tom Hanson Bangor True Value Hardware >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Jul 10 13:33:22 1996 Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 13:32:38 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: Backup restore problem Mike: Just got a call from another TRIAD user -->his backups were not working since June 17th!!!! -->the system finally crashed on Monday and it took till today, Wednsday to get back on line. Just another "Sob" story, but.... The dealer is half laughing. Have fun, Rick Forget to ask him if read his Bootlog --> maybe a PCA to TRIAD to print on the Main Councel of a warning . Level 100?? >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Jul 10 21:23:17 1996 Posted-Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 18:23:19 -0700 X-Sender: pkm@dedot.com Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 18:24:11 -0700 From: Peter Cailotto Subject: Re: Backup restore problem I've had a few lessons on making backups. The first time we needed to use our monthly back ups, we couldn't find the current one, and we had to borrow a monthly from another store. The second time, when our hard drive crashed, I was more prepared and had everything labeled. I can see why Tru trac asks us to back up two months though, you have to use an emergency boot and emergency root floppy diskette, and one of our floppies failed. Fortunately, the other months' floppy was good. Pete At 01:32 PM 7/10/96 -0400, you wrote: >Mike: > >Just got a call from another TRIAD user -->his backups were not working since >June 17th!!!! -->the system finally crashed on Monday and it took till >today, Wednsday to get back on line. Just another "Sob" story, but.... The >dealer is half laughing. > >Have fun, > >Rick > >Forget to ask him if read his Bootlog --> maybe a PCA to TRIAD to print on >the Main Councel of a warning . Level 100?? >*************************************************************** > Hardlines Mailing List is an unmoderated Internet mailing list > for hardware and building materials industry members. > > Address articles you wish to send to list members to: > > hardlines@cornells.com > > To remove your name from the mailing list, send email to > listserv@cornells.com with the following line in your message: > > unsubscribe hardlines firstname lastname > > For any other questions, send email to postmaster@cornells.com >*************************************************************** > > Arrow True Value Hardware Peter J. Cailotto Jr. -Manager E-Mail pkm@dedot.com Homepage http://www.dedot.com/pkm/Arrow.html >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Jul 10 22:23:03 1996 From: "Roger P. Shepard, Jr." Subject: Backup Problems Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 22:14:34 -0400 Pardon me, I'm new to this email user group, but isn't all this backup nonsense simply a matter of preventive medicine? Just check the logs in: SHOWLOG ~ Do it daily, the same way you unlock the doors and turn on the lights: every day ~ >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Jul 12 22:16:59 1996 Date: Sat, 13 Jul 96 02:13:11 UT From: "MIKE JONES" Subject: RE: Backup Problems ---------- From: owner-hardlines@cornells.com on behalf of Roger P. Shepard, Jr. Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 1996 9:14 PM To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Subject: Backup Problems Pardon me, I'm new to this email user group, but isn't all this backup nonsense simply a matter of preventive medicine? Just check the logs in: SHOWLOG ~ Do it daily, the same way you unlock the doors and turn on the lights: every day ~ Roger, No one from Triad ever suggested SHOWLOG, thanks for the tip. Ironically, the next day after reading your suggestion, we had a failed back-up and I got a chance to look at SHOWLOG. However, when we had our original problem, the printed boot log was showing that the back-ups were good! The FE didn't even understand what the problem was. That was our biggest problem and greatest fear: the backup is running, Triad reports it as OK, but it's not. Just because you get a good report doesn't mean you can restore from that tape. We found that out the hard way! NEW PROBLEM #1 Our accounts receivables clerk told me today NOT to trust the POS when checking a customers charge account balance. Seems the good ole Triad is adding the credit limit with the actual charges to come up with a fictitious balance! Has anyone had that problem? NEW PROBLEM #2 We have a Video Rental Department that is run on a separate PC with its own software, cash drawer, etc. and we were not getting good reports as to sales $$. I suggested adding a Dept, and SKU just for Video that we would treat as a generic sku just as we do a number of other generic situations in the store, so we could create reports from the Triad. It was a way of consolidating and eliminating a lot of extra massaging of figures. We tried this for two weeks in June until our bookkeeper said STOP IMMEDIATELY because it was throwing her books out of whack. (I have no idea what exactly because I'm not an accountant) Help Line doesn't understand why this is happening and it makes no sense to me. Any suggestions?? Thanks, Mike >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Jul 15 02:40:33 1996 Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 23:15:31 -0700 From: Jay Will & Linda Farr Subject: Re: Backup Problems If you've got Triad problems, especially complicated ones dealing with A/R, specifically request an advice line call back from Dave Watson. He is THE A/R expert, and excellent at getting into your specific situation, even when you don't understand it yourself, and solving the problem. Try him! Jay Farr Farr's True VAlue 541-267-2137 >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Jul 16 19:39:51 1996 Date: 16 Jul 96 19:37:10 EDT From: "WILLIAM H. ROUND" <102753.622@compuserve.com> Subject: Bank Cards and Cashing out. Dear Folks, Here is how we cash out the day. 1. Each cashier is required to count his/her drawer back to $100. The cash remaining must equal DCD. The cashier tells the manager in charge what that amount is, and it's confirmed or rejected. If rejected, the cashier goes back and recounts. 2. Cashier gives the MIC totals on checks and bank cards. If the amounts are confirmed against DCD, the cashier is done and the pick up goes into the drop safe. 3. At the end of the day, the remaining drawers are cashied out the same way and ICV run. ICV is balanced against DCD. If it's off, the amount it is off is usually found by doing a quick search through the ICV search function. The problem is usually a duplicate transaction caused by either a cashier key stroke screw up (cashier hits ENTER instead of RUN on a transaction time-out or a manual credit card entry for a non-readable mag strip) or a system screw up which I have personally observed at POS (system encounters long delays from the bank, asks for an authorization or a RUN key sequence, system had already picked up authorization in ICV but did not pass this info to the Triad POS). The appropriate VOID is conducted in ICV and the batch closed for the day. 4. An ICV settlement report is run. This report plus the DCD screen print is left for the the office to handle in the morning. 5. Cashier overs/shorts are recorded on a sheet displayed for all to see. Those who are consistantly "on" receive little stars. Those who screw up get sad faces. Those who really screw up are boiled in oil and fed to the resident basset hound. 6. Those who really screw me up badly are not those who screw up cash. They screw up counts. They cause lots of voids. They don't catch price tag switching. They are harder to catch because it requires 3rd party monitoring or you have to catch them in the act. The idiot cashier can cause more financial harm than a smart thief. ICV transactions need to run faster, and do seem to be doing so after a tragic set-up mistake was corrected (bad phone number for bank was entered as the back up phone number); It still must get better. It is an advance. Cheers, Bill Round. >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Jul 17 13:06:50 1996 Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 13:08:03 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: Backup Problems Mike: Checking Bootlog, Showlog etc is time consuming and unneccessary if the system could and should create a "Good" Flag. Opening the doors is more important then babysitting the computer -->the system has automated functions and warning us should be another one. I love some those "Warnings" and Backup Failures should be one. Can you elaborate on Problem #2 --> it should work and does. We do for some depts with no problems. Rick >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Jul 22 14:09:59 1996 Comments: Authenticated sender is From: "BuildingOnline: Alan Wickstrom" Organization: BuildingOnline Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 11:14:22 +0800 Subject: Hello from BuildingOnline... Priority: normal Hello to the Hardlines list! Thanks to Jim at http://www.Cornells.com/cornells.htm for creating this list and a big hello from your friends at BuildingOnline. BuildingOnline is the first, and still the only, multi-site search engine exclusively for the hardware, home improvement and home building industry. BuildingOnline's web site attracts over 9,500 web site visitors per month, serving over 7,500 files per day and we invite you to come by to consider BuildingOnline's web site for your review at: http://www.BuildingOnline.com BuildingOnline's search engine reads and indexes 41,300+ industry web sites once a week at: http://www.BuildingOnline.com/blsearch.shtml BuildingOnline's industry search engine is used over 2,000 times a week and we look forward to your review. We also have an eMail newsletter digest called BUILDINGONLINE'S eUPDATE. And you can post your note to over 1,400 subscribers! For more details and to subscribe for FREE, please go to: http://www.BuildingOnline.com/eupdate.shtml We hope all the folks on the Hardlines list will submit your web site for free weekly searches and subscribe to BuildingOnline's eUpdate. Please drop me an eMail if you have any questions. Alan Wickstrom ~ webhead@BuildingOnline.com ____ ____ || BuildingOnline || || http://www.BuildingOnline.com || || A Building Industry Search Engine || || || || Ask us how we can GUARANTEE your || || web site 1000 visitors! || || || || Ph: 714-496-6648 ~ Dana Point, CA || \/ \/ >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Jul 23 21:49:20 1996 Date: Wed, 24 Jul 96 01:45:51 UT From: "MIKE JONES" Subject: RE: Backup Problems ---------- From: owner-hardlines@cornells.com on behalf of RICKSS1@aol.com Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 12:08 PM To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Subject: Re: Backup Problems Mike: Checking Bootlog, Showlog etc is time consuming and unneccessary if the system could and should create a "Good" Flag. Opening the doors is more important then babysitting the computer -->the system has automated functions and warning us should be another one. I love some those "Warnings" and Backup Failures should be one. Can you elaborate on Problem #2 --> it should work and does. We do for some depts with no problems. Rick Rick, Turns out the problem was human error after all. Our new assistant bookkeeper couldn't balance the daily reports because she didn't understand how Video was being put in. We are going to make another attempt at it. Thanks, anyway. It seems my complaints about Triad got some attention from California. One gentleman called to say he didn't want me to think Big Brother was watching( on Hardlines), but he did want to discuss my problems. It's been a week and I haven't heard back from him about what to do to test a Back-up tape short of Restore. Oh, well. Keep writing! Mike >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Jul 26 07:34:44 1996 Date: 26 Jul 96 07:31:59 EDT From: "WILLIAM H. ROUND" <102753.622@compuserve.com> Subject: RSO Option E Dear Folks, Does anyone out there use RSO Option E? This is the one where the system generates a temporary purchase order quantity and writes it to a field called New Order Quantitiy. This field can be changed, added to, or cleared in IMU. The feature permits all the work which most people do in MPO (Triad's worst screen) to be done in the much easier IMU screen. Of course, in IMU we all know that all sorts of information can be changed. The RSO can be run again to see the results of QOH and New Order Quantity changes, see merchandise sold while counting operations were conducted, or to compare departmental totals to open to buy figures, etc. Once the RSO looks the way you want it, it can be finalized to create the PO. I saw the term "department manager workbench" in Retail Automation magazine. This RSO option E feature does permit this activity, though security supports only screen lock-outs instead of field access. I think the Dept manager should be able to change NOQ, Location, Min-Ord-Point, Safety Stock, and Order Multiple. He or she should also be able to post QOH "change requests" to PIP. As it stands now, I am nervous about opening up IMU. These changes would allow the mgr to fiddle with order possibilties. An NEX function which would allow all RSO review work to be done on-Screen would be a real advance. But, then there is the secrete Triad investment portfolio in all the major paper and printer ribbon companies.... I'd also like to see the entire PO creation function taken off paper and put on an RF Symbol gun. Hope springs eternal... If anybody is interested, I could post some stuff from the old Manchester Cotter Triad User Group detailing procedures for RSO option E. For those who currently use this in their stores, have you seen cases where the RSO "misses" skus by failing to write new order quantities or failing to select items which satisfy the select options? John Fix hasn't seen this, but I believe I have. Rick Schwartz says he's seen it as well. I think the days of the ROP/RSO order generation and demand forcast as we've used them for years is in need of modification. I think a hybred blend of shelf capacity (a new field) based on average demand, current sales, sales forcast, actual demand, and shelf count will be needed. I would like the best elements of the RSO to be off-loaded to an RF gun which would allow the user to see the "suggested" order by location, modify as necessary in light of what's physically on the floor, add items based on what's missing due to theft, screw ups, etc., and call for items which are low on the floor and which may be out back. Even a quick order based on what the dept mgr thinks he or she needs placed against what the system says might be useful. I take too much time to do up an order for my primary vendor, and I am open to change. Any suggestions? Regards, Bill Round Round's True Value If you are not using this feature, >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sat Jul 27 01:03:52 1996 Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 22:05:46 -0700 From: Kerry Higgins Subject: Rental Software I am interested in any suggestions on software for running a small rental center. We are an HWI member in rural central Washington state looking at opening a rental center in our store. We are not pos yet. Any suggestions would be appreciated. >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Jul 29 10:49:57 1996 From: Scott Ellenson Subject: RE: Rental Software Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 08:45:17 -0600 Kerry, Regarding your question about running an HWI rental center. A couple of things to consider: 1) The ability to rent product from any terminal, not just from an "rental" PC. 2) A completely integrated POS system to the General Ledger. 3) A system that has a complete interface with HWI. Thanks and good luck! Scott Ellenson sellenson@dimen.com ---------- From: Kerry Higgins[SMTP:higgins@televar.com] Sent: Friday, July 26, 1996 11:05 PM To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Subject: Rental Software I am interested in any suggestions on software for running a small rental center. We are an HWI member in rural central Washington state looking at opening a rental center in our store. We are not pos yet. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Attachment Converted: C:\EUDORA\attach\RE Rental Software >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Jul 30 07:38:51 1996 Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 07:40:48 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: Backup Problems Mike: "Big Brother s" are listening and that is good. The person from CA has that problem about returning calls (hint!) It is another mode for "Big Brother" to know what is happening out here in the "Real World". Keep having TRIAD fun. Rick >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Jul 30 07:45:40 1996 Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 07:47:24 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: RSO Option E Bill: I could not live without the Option E -->between saving keying in time, the computer becomes more "usable". However, I do have 2 dept mngrs who refuses to let me use that Option in their Dept -->they claim it complicates them since they also buy from other vendors (Sorry Cotter!). I do wish that the "New Order Field" could be washed out if there are mistakes by a SIMPLE program---> I just had a wild option run and it took 30 minutes to clean up (I had nothing else to do --). I do agree that the ordering decision organ method needs to looked at again to be improved and simplified. Ver 100?? Have fun. Rick >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Jul 30 09:17:52 1996 Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 08:50:36 -0400 From: Gary Schwake Organization: Zettler True Value Stores Subject: Zettler True Value Stores: Press Release Zettler True Value Stores Partners with Dimensions Zettler True Value Stores, a nine-store retail hardware chain in Columbus, Ohio, recently signed with Dimensions as its information systems provider. After conducting in-depth research of system vendors Advantage, CSD, Enterprise, Triad, and Dimensions, we concluded that Dimensions best fit the system and business needs of our organization. Dimensions led the pack by providing a powerful combination of flexibly integrated software, a completely open hardware platform, and a willingness to perform custom programming, such as an on-line catalog of ALL Cotter products which can be accessed from any terminal. Zettler True Value Stores is a family owned corporation which has been serving the hardware and home improvement needs of it customers in Columbus for over 100 years. --------------------------- Gary Schwake Director - Store Operations Zettler True Value Stores gschwake@iwaynet.net >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Jul 30 09:46:04 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 09:45:34 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Re: Zettler True Value Stores: Press Release At 08:50 AM 7/30/96 -0400, Gary Schwake wrote: >Zettler True Value Stores Partners with Dimensions >a willingness to perform custom >programming, such as an on-line catalog of ALL Cotter products which can be >accessed from any terminal. Did they just integrate the CIS catalog or did they write one from the ground up? I'd guess the CIS route since you need to pay for the license for CIS anyway. We use the CIS on a stand-alone DOS machine, primarily to receive RDC stock balance updates as well as verify data coming in on the Triad Eagle catalog. Online catalogs are great... we've been getting great use of the Triad Eagle online catalog for the past few months. The ability to lookup items from the catalog at POS is pretty cool. Helps with special orders, lookups on non-stock items, etc. John >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Jul 30 10:05:43 1996 From: Scott Ellenson Subject: FW: Zettler True Value Stores: Press Release Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 08:01:11 -0600 To answer your question John Dimensions provided the following custom programs. Catalogue Access the Cotter Catalogue or any other vendor from any terminal. Look up the item any of the 9 ways Dimensions looks up an item. For example: type in two keywords. POP, VALVE and Dimensions finds all items with POP & VALVE anywhere in the description. Highlight that item and Dimensions pulls in the cost, suggested retail and description. This same capability is available in purchasing. Fax Products: Currently you can fax quotes, orders, returns, PO's and invoices from any terminal. Gary @ Zettlers had the idea of faxing statements automatically at AUTO month end by customer. For example: determine in the A/R file which customer would like printed or faxed statements and would they like invoice detail with the customers name who purchased the items? Cash Balancing: Gary wanted the ability to input into his Dimensions system cash, checks and credit cards down to the penny into his system. Dimensions will then make a deposit slip and track shorts and longs in his cash drawers. Time & Attendance: Gary also wanted his employees to log in and out from any terminal for payroll. This program will give him time and attendance reporting and of course pass off to payroll. Thanks! Scott Ellenson Dimensions ---------- From: John Fix 3rd[SMTP:John3@cornells.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 1996 7:45 AM To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Subject: Re: Zettler True Value Stores: Press Release At 08:50 AM 7/30/96 -0400, Gary Schwake wrote: >Zettler True Value Stores Partners with Dimensions >a willingness to perform custom >programming, such as an on-line catalog of ALL Cotter products which can be >accessed from any terminal. Did they just integrate the CIS catalog or did they write one from the ground up? I'd guess the CIS route since you need to pay for the license for CIS anyway. We use the CIS on a stand-alone DOS machine, primarily to receive RDC stock balance updates as well as verify data coming in on the Triad Eagle catalog. Online catalogs are great... we've been getting great use of the Triad Eagle online catalog for the past few months. The ability to lookup items from the catalog at POS is pretty cool. Helps with special orders, lookups on non-stock items, etc. John >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Jul 30 10:10:27 1996 Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 10:09:44 -0400 From: Gary Schwake Organization: Zettler True Value Stores Subject: Re: Zettler True Value Stores: Press Release Reply To: John Fix 3rd Dimensions is developing the catalog within the system using information from CIS. This will require us to have a seperate PC running CIS, however, it will allow us to have the catalog at any terminal in any store! With only one PC to update for all nine stores, this will make item maintenance a snap. In addition, the catalog will allow us to automatically add items to our POS file simply by keying in the SKU, IBM#, or even UPC into our purchase orders. -- Gary ---------------------------- Gary Schwake Director - Store Operations Zettler True Value Stores gschwake@iwaynet.net >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Jul 30 21:46:03 1996 Date: Wed, 31 Jul 96 01:42:19 UT From: "MIKE JONES" Subject: backup problems revisited All interested parties, After having several failed backups this week, our Triad Field Engineer came down and replaced our tape drive and the power supply. He had not been gone over an hour when the terminals quit working. I did a "Powerdown" and brought the system up almost immediately, but ten minutes later it shut down for good! No power at all! We paged him again and were down for over four hours before he got it back up. Needless to say, it shuts down almost anything you need to do and that means most of our store either doesn't get its work done or does it by hand. Can anyone explain why Triad is so-o-o-o bad (at least in our experience) when it comes to hardware? It seems that two out of every three items are defective when they are brand new! If we can find a system that will be compatible with Cotter and can run like we need to, when our contract is up, we'll buy it! By the way, still haven't heard about how to test a backup tape to see if it actually has data. Mike >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Jul 31 20:24:48 1996 Comments: Authenticated sender is From: "BuildingOnline: Alan Wickstrom" Organization: BuildingOnline Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 17:27:55 +0800 Subject: Re: backup problems revisited Priority: normal > At 01:42 AM 7/31/96 UT, you wrote: > Can anyone explain why Triad is so-o-o-o bad (at least in our experience) >when it comes to hardware? It seems that two out of every three items are >defective when they are brand new! I don't know about Triad's equipment suppliers, however, be sure to keep your systems on all the time... hard drives go through heat cycles when you turn them on and off... and this can be the death of them quickly. Also, make sure the environment your systems are located in are at a constant temperature. Preferably under 72 degrees... high heat and humidity can also kill a system fast. We have 6 servers running in our office and had a 3 hard disks crash in a single month... all very good manufacturers and very new too. We finally realized the lack of Air Conditioning in our office (one person hates it when it is below 78 degrees) was killing our systems. Now that we are at a nice 70 degrees... we are fine. No crashes... Hope this is helpful... Alan Wickstrom webhead@BuildingOnline.com See the TOP 10 RETAILERS ONLINE at: http://www.BuildingOnline.com/retail.shtml ------ >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Jul 31 08:26:08 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 08:25:40 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Re: backup problems revisited At 01:42 AM 7/31/96 UT, you wrote: > Can anyone explain why Triad is so-o-o-o bad (at least in our experience) >when it comes to hardware? It seems that two out of every three items are >defective when they are brand new! It sounds like you folks have been especially unlucky. Although I've known one or two other stores with recurring hardware problems, we have almost never had a down system. We've owned a Triad since 1982, and I'd say combined throughout all those years (14 years!) we've been down for the equivalent of four days. That includes two days the week after we got the system. As far as the Eagle/Intel system, we had one dead system, which happened overnight so the FE had the system up by noon. Items to check out in terms of keeping computer hardware reliable... leave it running all the time and put it in a room with no carpet. We've got out CPU in our office (concrete floor) on a movers dolly for easy access to the tangle of wires in the back. John >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Jul 31 23:04:07 1996 Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 22:58:09 -0400 (EDT) X-Sender: eldens@mail.tir.com (unverified) From: eldens@tir.com (eldens) Subject: Re: backup problems revisited I have been watching the e-mail on the backup problems. I don't use Triad, my computers are "home brew" as well as my POS. (until recently I felt maybe this was a disadvantage!). Will Triad allow you to get to a dos prompt? I use a Conner Tape backup and their software. It allows you to select the speed (slower is better in this case) and it has a compare function which reads the tape and compares it to the files you just backed up, to be sure you have exact copies and that they can be reliably restored. Obviously, Triad didn't build the tape drive, they probably use a batch file like the infamous CIS system (...tossed their batch file out first thing!) There are only a handful of manufacturers of tape drives, (I believe Archive make the drive for Conner), so you should be able to find some software to run under dos (or Windows) on the net. Just food for thought, it's like chicken soup - it can't hurt! Roger LaPointe Elden's True Value Harware Waterford Mi 48329 >