It is the start of a new year and that means your company will soon be ugraded to the next release, R5.05.

This article will discuss a few of the new features in this release, but you can read a full list of enhancements and fixes in the wiki.

The first enhancement is the addition of 'Your Space' on the K3S_1010 screen. This is a column where you control what information is displayed for a supplier's order. As an example, this space can be programmed to show you the current supplier bracket level. See the attached example of the K3S_1010 screen showing the current bracket level in 'Your Space.'

Another big enhancement for this release is the addition of Units 7, 8, and 9. Before this release you had Units 1 through 6 for an order (dollars, weight, volume, purchase increment, and other). Now you have 3 additional units that you can use to keep track of a total for a supplier's order.  A picture of these new units is attached for the K3S_1020 screen.

Remember, we appreciate our customers' feedback as it leads to most of the enhancements in a new release. Don't be afraid to speak up if you have the next great idea in your head!

By default the K3S_1010 screen shows a total net cost for each order, whereas the K3S_1030 screen gives a total net cost for each individual item.

If you want to change this default setting to have a different unit display on these screens, you can do this in in your user preference settings. You also have the ability to make a change on the K3S_1020 screen to temporarily change the unit displayed on K3S_1030.

First we will look at how to change your user preference setting. From any screen in K3S press F24 twice. This will bring up your user preferences. Now press F20=Toggle to get to screen 2 of 2, and then position your cursor to 'Order Summary totals to display unit.'  You can F4=Prompt this field and select a different unit. The attached picture shows us selecting Unit 3=Weight. After you have selected a new unit press ENTER and back up to the main menu. Now go int othe K3S_1010 screen and you will see a weight total displayed to the far right of the screen.

Select an order and get to the K3S_1030 screen. You will now see a weight total for each product displayed to the right.

To temporarily change what unit total is displayed on K3S_1030, get back to the K3S_1020 screen.  Locate the 'Lin ext' (line extension) field and press F4=Prompt. Select a different unit and press ENTER. In the attached example we have selected unit 4=Volume. Now go to the K3S_1030 screen and you will see a total volume displayed for each product.

As a new buyer you may get confused on when and why to recalculate an order. Using F21=Recalculate is necessary when you have changed any of the main components at the supplier or product level.

So what exactly are these 'main components'? A checklist I like to do in my head includes all of the steps you go through when setting up a supplier. If you have changed the lead time, bracket level, product buy multiple, product averages, seasonal profiles, or order cycle, then a recalculate is necessary.

Other possible reasons to recalculate include entering a current deal or hold out quantities.

Another handy tool to know when to recalculate is the 'CG' category on the totem pole of the K3S_1020 screen. This category stands for 'product components changed.' When you see products in the 'CG' group it means you need to recalculate the order because at least one product had components changed that might affect the product's suggested quantity. For instance, if you change a product's average it will mark that product as a 'CG' check. As soon as you F21=Recalculate the order the 'CG' category will be reset to zero.

The attached screen shot shows a supplier's order with several products in the 'CG' group. This order should be recalculated before it is approved.

It's the most wonderful time of the year..the Holidays! And that undoubtedly means a change to the order and/or delivery schedule for some of your suppliers!

In general, the best way to handle the changes to your order/delivery schedule is to use the F16=Rebuild function in K3S to add extra days of usage to the order.

If you are ordering from a daily replenishment supplier, such as a cigarette supplier, adding 1 extra day of usage will add the next chronological day to the order. For instance, if you normally place an order on Monday to come in Wednesday, adding 1 day will add Thursday's usage to the order. Adding a second day will add on Friday's usage, and so on.  This is a neat trick because the system knows which day is coming up and exactly what the usage percent is for that day.

If you are ordering from a non-daily replenishment supplier then we do not look at the individual day's usage percent because each day is weighted the same.  So adding two days of usage will be adding double what adding one day of usage would be.

To add on days of usage, go to the K3S_1020 screen and enter the number of days you would like to add on to the order into the 'Extra days' field and press F16=Rebuild twice.

The attached screen shot shows a non-daily replenishment supplier that we have added 2 days of usage to. Notice the 'Replenish' column shows that the original order totaled $2,078 but the 'Actual' order ended up being $2,308 with the extra inventory added on.