Trader Update

Shortly before going to press the Trader User Group meeting took place at BMS and the feedback from those attending was positive. 

We spent a morning updating Trader users on the latest changes to the software.  Afterwards there was time for discussions on the current state of the market and the very significant price rises over the last twelve months in raw materials. 

A key part of the morning concerned the progress on the development of the Graphical User Interface (GUI - similar to Microsoft products) and how this can be developed further to handle the storage of various media on the Trader database.  Points included:

Multi-media storage on Trader
In principle we can store and access on the Trader database: pdf documents, word documents, pictures, emails, spreadsheets, scanned documents etc held against products, customers, suppliers, contracts, deliveries etc.  So, for example, a manually completed credit reference check can be scanned in and stored against a customer. This can then be viewed when looking at the customer record.  Another example would be the ability to view a picture of a farmer’s grain in the field when arranging a grain purchase.  

The intention is to be able to file electronically various items of information making them easily accessible and removing the need to store them in their original (often paper) form to save storage space.  Additionally, as outlined below, invoices produced by Trader are stored on the database for enquiry/reprint.

Trading position
The enhanced version for GUI reduces the amount of information that a user has to input to just the product or product group. The summary trading position can be displayed for the preceding twelve months with a monthly breakdown, and via a single mouse click a detailed analysis of a single month is available.  The trading margin now takes into account commission and contract costs.

Additional buttons and features
New buttons have been added on enquiries such as the stock account to show tickets, order lines and matches in and out allowing the user to find information with a single click of the mouse.  New links have been added that allow the user to access other related processes, in particular the new ticket analysis entry screen can be accessed directly from  contract  matching.  The enquiry can be rolled backward and forward to view the month by month changes, with two additional buttons that provide an alternative approach to viewing historical information.

Queries from favourites
The favourites list, as its name suggests, holds a list of favourite short cuts to frequently accessed screens.  It is a convenient place to access user-defined enquiries/reports that permit customisation of information available to the user.  The output format with differential line highlighting and practically unlimited width, thanks to Windows sliders, makes it possible to show comprehensive information that is easy to interrogate and use.

Ticket analysis entry
Ticket analysis entry now enables the automatic self billing of purchase commissions, as well as radically simplifying ticket entry, while losing none of the flexibility currently available.  The GUI screen is significantly more intuitive than the character-based screens.

GUI capture facilities
This feature allows the user to copy or file screen images for emailing or printing.  A far more flexible option than the old screen dump which only permitted printing of the screen image.

Aareon changes
Where there is more than a single search on a field, such as the movement instruction field on the match enquiry screens, all available scans are immediately shown rather than the user first having to search for them.  When a scan is used to select items, the size and position of the window is remembered from the previous time it was opened by the user.

Invoice pdfs in multi-media
When invoices are generated, they can now be produced in pdf format for immediate emailing to the customer/supplier.  They will also be filed on the system so that they can be accessed via the multi-media system from one or more associated file records.  For instance, invoices can automatically be made available to the account enquiry or the stored invoice enquiry screens.

Product
The product enquiry screen encapsulates a number of the enhancements that we have been able to add to the GUI version of Trader that would not be possible through the character version.  The multi-media option allows technical data sheets to be attached to the product record which can then be easily emailed to a customer who wishes to review.  Along with stock and Trader information, the pqr button allows the user to view the detailed profitability of the product at a click of a button.  To see the current order lines on the individual stock locations, the ticket contracts and order lines against the product all require just a mouse click.