[beadfountain]

This weekend, I was playing around with my cordless scanner, scanning barcodes for all of the empty hooks in my shop. I uploaded the numbers into PICS and printed a report.

Can I generate PO's from that data??? What ELSE could I use the PICS file for besides my year-end physical inventory?

Thanks,
Jennifer Fountain
Bead Fountain
College Station, Texas

[RetailEdge Moderator]

Jennifer,

You can update Receiving, Inventory, POs, Transfers and Sales from PICs. Some uses might be:

1. Scan UPCs on items as you pull them out of the box and then add them to receiving. And if these items are coming off of a PO you can receive them from a particular PO from PICs as well.
2. Scan your shelves for item you want to add to a PO, then dump the PICs onto a Purchase Order.
3. Scan items walking the store with a customer and then add them to a Sale from PICs. This can be useful for Furniture Stores that have large items. Or you can save the Sale and create a Wish List for the customer.
4. Add the to Transfer Orders for items that are overstocked and should be transferred to another location.

We also have the ability to import files into the PICs list. You used your cordless scanner that worked but be careful. You are essentially scanning where the cursor is flashing. If for some reason this moves then you will be scanning into some other field which won't work. Also cordless will only work about 30 feet away from the base (although there are models the do more). So you might think you are scanning when nothing is making it to the computer. This is why we prefer using a batch device like the Metrologic Optimus. That way you scan anywhere (back room, warehouse, outside, etc.) and then import the data into the PICs device.

This weekend, I was playing around with my cordless scanner, scanning barcodes for all of the empty hooks in my shop. I uploaded the numbers into PICS and printed a report.

Can I generate PO's from that data??? What ELSE could I use the PICS file for besides my year-end physical inventory?

Thanks,
Jennifer Fountain
Bead Fountain
College Station, Texas

[beadfountain]

Bill,

I have a NCR RealScan 7832; it operates as a batch collection device unless it's plugged in to a computer (tethered, in which case, it inputs scans immediately upon pressing the button). The Item IDs I scan while disconnected (untethered) are stored until I plug-in the device, at which point it immediately "dumps" the data without prompt. In a Notepad file, each barcode appears, then it returns to the next line and dumps another code, etc. That process works beautifully when I opened the PICS List/Add BEFORE plugging in the scanner.

So that gets the data into the PICS list, but I'm not sure how to move it around from there. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the vocabulary, but I'm not clear on the processes for accomplishing the tasks you mentioned:

[quote]1. Scan UPCs on items as you pull them out of the box and then add them to receiving. And if these items are coming off of a PO you can receive them from a particular PO from PICs as well.[/quote]

Tethered or untethered? How do I do this? On which RE screen?

[quote]2. Scan your shelves for item you want to add to a PO, then dump the PICs onto a Purchase Order.[/quote]

Do you mean Add a new PO, then click Add, and then plug in/dump the scanner-data onto a PO? How? I tested this with two scanned Item IDs, and upon "dumping," the first Item ID converted to the Stock Number, the CrLf moved to the Quantity Tab, where the second Item ID was entered as the Quantity.

Or did you mean that I can dump the PICS list (from the Inventory menu) onto a PO. How?

[quote]3. Scan items walking the store with a customer and then add them to a Sale from PICs. This can be useful for Furniture Stores that have large items. Or you can save the Sale and create a Wish List for the customer.[/quote]

So this would be on the Sales screen? The scanner will "dump" onto the Sales Screen?

I'm seeing great potential here, I just need a few more specifics on utilizing the technology.

Thanks,
Jennifer Fountain
Bead Fountain
College Station, Texas

[RetailEdge Moderator]

The process to get these items onto a PO/TO/Inventory, etc. is the Update Process. Choose Update from the Inventory|PICs menu item. You will then be asked what table to update.

We have considered using these "memory" scanners for PICs and I am glad it works for you. However we typically don't recommend doing it, because:

1. You don't have as much control as you might with a batch device. A batch device will create separate files so you can categorize your imports and if you make a mistake you can go back to the particular file(s) that have the error and correct it.

2. If the computer hiccups, during the transfer you stand to lose the data. The idea of opening up a text editor is a good one and if you are going to go that route, I would say this might be safer to do it this way.

3. You don't have a display so that you can do things like scan one prompt (scan everything in at a quantity of one) or two prompt (scan, then type the quantity)

The batch devices are more expensive but provide a good balance between reliability and simplicity and are relatively inexpensive.

The device we would recommend for someone who is going to try to do what you are doing would be the Metrologic MS9535 - 5M with bluetooth. This device will work as an ordinary scanner and is wireless and will work normally about 33 feet away from the cradle base. This device also has a memory and can hold about 2500 barcodes. If you need to do physicals or receiving and you are out of range of the cradle, you can place it in Inventory Mode by scanning a barcode in the Memory Reference Card. When in inventory mode you can scan the specialized barcodes on the card to Clear All Records, Clear Last Record and even scan in quantities after the barcodes. Then when you are ready to send the data to the computer, you scan a barcode that will start the transmission to the computer or directly into the PICs file with the interface provided by RetailEdge. When you want to return to regular operating mode for the POS then you would simply scan the barcode for disable Inventory Mode. This is a good solution that is only around $400 and fits nicely between the standard MS9500 scanner at $161 and the Optimus at $580. And it is only about $15.00 more than the regular BlueTooth Scanner.

Bill,

I have a NCR RealScan 7832; it operates as a batch collection device unless it's plugged in to a computer (tethered, in which case, it inputs scans immediately upon pressing the button). The Item IDs I scan while disconnected (untethered) are stored until I plug-in the device, at which point it immediately "dumps" the data without prompt. In a Notepad file, each barcode appears, then it returns to the next line and dumps another code, etc. That process works beautifully when I opened the PICS List/Add BEFORE plugging in the scanner.

So that gets the data into the PICS list, but I'm not sure how to move it around from there. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the vocabulary, but I'm not clear on the processes for accomplishing the tasks you mentioned:

1. Scan UPCs on items as you pull them out of the box and then add them to receiving. And if these items are coming off of a PO you can receive them from a particular PO from PICs as well.

Tethered or untethered? How do I do this? On which RE screen?

2. Scan your shelves for item you want to add to a PO, then dump the PICs onto a Purchase Order.

Do you mean Add a new PO, then click Add, and then plug in/dump the scanner-data onto a PO? How? I tested this with two scanned Item IDs, and upon "dumping," the first Item ID converted to the Stock Number, the CrLf moved to the Quantity Tab, where the second Item ID was entered as the Quantity.

Or did you mean that I can dump the PICS list (from the Inventory menu) onto a PO. How?

3. Scan items walking the store with a customer and then add them to a Sale from PICs. This can be useful for Furniture Stores that have large items. Or you can save the Sale and create a Wish List for the customer.

So this would be on the Sales screen? The scanner will "dump" onto the Sales Screen?

I'm seeing great potential here, I just need a few more specifics on utilizing the technology.

Thanks,
Jennifer Fountain
Bead Fountain
College Station, Texas