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Quantum VS Help: File Maintenance |
Quantum VS integrates with the Luckins catalogue, enabling you - the user/merchant - to promote the goods listed in the Luckins catalogue for sale, while minimising the potentially laborious process of converting Luckins product/price data into Quantum VS Product records. The updating of Luckins data, and conversion of Luckins product/price data into Quantum VS Product records, is handled by the system automatically.
Note: For further details see Luckins Product Maintenance.
The following describes the set-up and operational procedure:
The following steps must be carried out within the Quantum VS application:
Switch on the Luckins Distributors Database module in Optional Enhancements. This module contains options for mapping data from the Luckins Database with fields in Quantum VS, so that fields are automatically populated with data when viewing and converting Luckins products in Quantum VS.
Enable User Permissions relating to Luckins Product Maintenance.
Set up the Default Luckins Product record (L-SPECIAL).
See Setting Up Luckins Product Maintenance.
The Quantum VS server must be configured for importing Luckins catalogue data.
The Luckins Distributors Database is supplied as an initial file to load the catalogue data. The 'create' procedure populates the 'Luckins' data tables in the Quantum VS database, enabling Luckins catalogue data to display in Quantum VS.
Subsequently, incremental Luckins 'revision' files are made available on a weekly basis. The 'update' procedure can be automated so that only up-to-date Luckins catalogue data displays in Quantum VS.
An additional process needs to be run to update the details of Quantum VS Products which are linked to - i.e. have been converted from - a Luckins Product.
For further details see Configuring The Quantum VS Server For Luckins Catalogue Data.
Note: It is intended that all procedures for updating Quantum VS data with the latest Luckins data will be automated using a server script run as a cron job, with Quantum VS Highway used to transfer files. Therefore Quantum VS users/merchants should not have to follow these procedures.
When all of the above has been configured, all products from the Luckins catalogue will display in the Product Finder in Quantum VS as a Luckins Product, alongside standard Products. These Luckins Products are considered as being available for sale, and show the latest price and supplier details, except they have not yet been converted into a standard Quantum VS Product. There are various ways of doing this:
From a Sales Order: Should any of your customers wish to order a Luckins Product, the Sales Clerk may add it to a Sales Order in the same way as with a standard Product. When the line is added it is converted into a standard Quantum VS Product - the Product record and associated stock records are created automatically.
From the Product Finder: Various conversion options are available from the right-click menu in the Product Finder.
From a Product Record: The Luckins Code field in the Product record may be used to link an existing Product record to a product in the Luckins catalogue. This might be required if you have an existing Product record for a product you sell, which is also listed in the Luckins catalogue. You may wish to associate it with the equivalent Luckins Product so that Price, Description and/or Supplier details are updated for the product as part of the automated procedure for downloaded weekly updates from the Luckins catalogue.
An additional procedure - Luckins Bulk Create, accessible from the Tools menu (Data Import option) in Quantum VS - enables the user to 'bulk' select Luckins Products based on a range of criteria, optionally add values to replace default values for certain fields, then convert them into full Quantum VS Products.
See Converting Luckins Products Into Quantum VS Products.
When a Luckins product is converted, the Quantum VS Product is assigned the same selling price and 'unit of measure' as the Luckins Product. The product's assigned cost price is a percentage of the selling price, subject to your Default Discount Percentage (assigned in the Luckins Distributors Database 002 options in the Optional Enhancements: Modules Tab). For example, if the Selling Price of a Luckins Product is £84.00 each and the Default Discount Percentage is 30, the Cost Price of the product on conversion will be £58.80 (i.e. 84 * (100 -30 /100)).
Note: For product conversions where the price is greater than £75,000 and the unit of measure is greater than one/each, the price and unit of measure are automatically rounded down proportionally. For example, a product with the price of £85,000 per thousand will display as £8,500 per hundred or £850 per ten.
When a Luckins Product has been converted it will display in the Product Finder as a standard Quantum VS Product. Its default fields are populated based on: (1) data entered in your Default Luckins Product record (L-SPECIAL); (2) the Luckins Distributors Database Module options selected/enabled in Optional Enhancements; and (3) from the Luckins product and price data, subject to any user editing.
You may use the Product Finder to list Luckins Products which have been converted into standard Quantum VS Products. See:
Each week, new Luckins product, price and supplier data is downloaded using the automated back-office procedure. This will automatically update all Luckins Product details in Quantum VS, adding new Luckins Products, removing discontinued Luckins Products and updating the details of existing non-converted Luckins Products.
Data for converted Luckins Products (i.e. Quantum VS Products linked to a Luckins Product) will also be updated automatically as part of the weekly update, subject to the settings of the following flags in the Product record:
Luckins Update Prices: If checked, prices are updated for this Product as part of the weekly Luckins update.
Luckins Update Descs: If checked, descriptions are updated for this Product as part of the weekly Luckins update.
Luckins Update Supplier: If checked, supplier details are updated for this Product as part of the weekly Luckins update.
Quantum VS Products are linked to a Luckins Product via the Luckins Code field in the Product record. This field is populated automatically when a Luckins Product is converted into a Quantum VS Product. However, it may be added manually in order to link an existing Product record to a product in the Luckins catalogue. See Converting A Luckins Product Using The Product Record.
Luckins Suppliers are added to the Suppliers Finder as part of the automated back-office procedure. Advanced Filters enable you to display either Quantum-only Suppliers, Luckins-only Suppliers, or both. See Finding Suppliers.
If a Luckins Supplier has an existing Supplier record in Quantum VS, it may be linked by adding the Luckins Supplier Code to the existing Supplier record. To do this, open the Quantum VS Supplier record, put it into Amend mode, add the Luckins Supplier Code to the Luckins Code field, then save the Supplier record. See:
When each weekly Luckins catalogue update is released, data is updated in Quantum VS as follows:
The 'upgrade' procedure - which may be automated - will pick up the latest Luckins catalogue data 'update' files, transfer them to the Quantum VS server and run additional scripts to update the Luckins product data in Quantum VS.
An additional procedure - which may be automated - will update the product/price/supplier data of Luckins Products which have been converted into full Quantum VS Products, subject to settings in the Product record.
As well as updating product descriptions and suppliers, the 'conversion' script will add a product's updated price to the Forward Price file. There is the option to manually review price updates before applying them. See Updating Product Prices And Costs.
The Apply Forward Prices process is used to apply the 'forward' price/cost updates to the product record. There is the option to specify to update prices to Luckins-linked Product records only, if required. See Apply Forward Prices.