Questions & Answers

You can find here the answers to some of the most frequent questions of HOIS and Prisma users, provided at the consultancy sessions of Kirkhamgate Bulgaria Ltd.

Is there a possibility to export the whole HOIS database to a MS Office file (EXCEL) where it could be flexibly handled?

Converting the whole HOIS database into a format that could be imported into Excel is possible. Such approach is however not recommended.
The HOIS is a Relational Database Management System. Its database includes more than 250 files, connected to each other with complex internal relational links.
Simply converting (or exporting) the files as they are kept in the database, would lead to files with information that would not be meaningful to end users.
The HOIS however has a very flexible export tool ("Export File and Report Generator"), allowing users to freely configure any exports from the HOIS database in simple ASCII (plain text) comma delimited format. In this way almost any information available in the HOIS database can be exported with a freely definable layout and in a format that can be imported in any third party software.

Is it possible to obtain at any moment from the HOIS the current stock availability at product level in the shops of the entire network?

Obtaining the current stock availability is possible at any moment through generating the current month report either at station or at consolidated level. The stock availability is shown by the figures displayed as "Close Stock". These figures reflect the stock availability as reported by Prisma at day closure of the last integrated station day.
Applying this possibility with the Export File Generator makes it very easy to obtain and EVALUATE the current stock either per station or for the entire network by including in the export file the field "Average Cost Price". In this way it is possible at any moment to obtain the current stock both as volume and value either at station or at network (consolidated) level for each product (PLU).

The export tool doesn't allow to define free formulas in the Report Layouts definition. e.g. "Field"=Sales Value * 1.2 is not allowed.

This is true. The HOIS export tool is intended to generate source files for further analysis and calculations or interfacing to a corporate accountancy software. Normally, these files should contain only unaltered original data. This ensures that any subsequent calculation is based on actual figures. These figures can be then easily processed with the whole calculation power of Ms Excel, Ms Access or special analysis and accountancy tools.

How a consignment trade can be tracked with the HOIS & Prisma?

Consignment is rather an accountancy issue. The task of a retail system is to register accordingly any inventory change (such as sale, purchase or any other stock movement such as a consignment transaction) and transfer it to the Head Office.
All Stock Movements in Prisma are done through a sophisticated purchasing module, allowing the input of all the needed information for operational and accountancy purposes. The system contains 11 predefined manual Stock Movements Definitions, as well as a possibility to define an unlimited number of "Custom Stock movement definitions". Consignment trade can then easily be tracked through this feature with the help of respective operational procedures.

How does the automatic reordering work in the latest versions of HOIS and Prisma?

This topic is described in details in the HOIS version 5.35 release notes. It is however very important to stress that for this automated reordering to work successfully, the marketing or sales staff in the head office has to one-off define some basic parameters of the articles and the suppliers lists. Once these parameters set, the system generates reordering recommendations fully automatically. The algorithm of calculating the automatic reorder recommendations is the following:

Needed Quantity =	Minimum Stock + (Supplier Lead Time * Average Daily Sales)
Recommended Quantity =	Needed Quantity - (Current Stock + Stock on Order) + (Order Frequency * Average Daily Sales)

Where:

1. Current Stock is the number of units of this product on stock at the targeted station. This figure automatically reflects the current inventory status in the specific site.
   
2. Average Daily Sales is a value reflecting the average pieces of products sold per day at the targeted station for the last 14 days. This value is automatically calculated by the system.
   
3. Minimum Stock is a value set in the article definition and intended to trigger a reordering recommendation in case the current stock at the retail site reaches this pre-set minimum. The Minimum Stock parameter thus gives an extra buffer at the station to overcome situations like late delivery, increased sales, etc.
   
4. The Supplier lead-time has to reflect the supplier's "response time". In other words this should be the number of days the particular supplier needs for processing and executing an order after it has been placed.
   
5. The Order Frequency should reflect the number of days between two deliveries in case of regular (cyclic) supply of this product.

The field for Article Name is rather short - 20 symbols only.

There is no software problem to make this field longer. However, it is obvious that this "long article name" will no longer fit into the customer receipts, where the printing space is restricted. In case the software just "cuts off" a part of the long article name to make it fit into the customer receipt, this will surely result in meaningless names on this receipts. Moreover, such approach would be against the fiscal regulations in some countries.

Is it possible the Ordering Proposals (Reordering recommendations) to be generated per article group, instead of per supplier?

The reordering recommendations (ordering proposals) are supplier driven and supplier oriented. Actually, wherever the reordering recommendation is generated (in the HOIS or in Prisma), the result is a set of separate orders for each supplier. Actually, generating orders at article groups level would hardly be anyhow useful. All orders are usually oriented towards the suppliers and these orders usually include items from different groups. Furthermore, the main parameters the automatic reordering is based on, are supplier related (Order Frequency, Supplier lead-time) or article related (minimum stock, packaging unit etc.). They are not article group related.

Can the automatic reordering recommendations be generated at once for all articles (not for each supplier separately as it works now)?

Normally, the automatic reordering is initiated when the head office staff or the site manager decides to place an order to a specific supplier. It is obvious that some suppliers (for fast moving goods) supply the stations more frequently (twice a week or more) than others, that can supply the stations once a month or even less. Therefore it would be hardly justified to generate orders for all suppliers (i.e. for all articles) every time the automatic reordering procedure is initiated.

Is there a way to obtain purchases reports per supplier per period?

The HOIS does not keep track on each separate purchase in its main database. However every such purchase (or any other manual article inventory change in Prisma) is registered and transferred to the Head Office in an electronic file with the extension *.PUR (standing for "Purchase"). In case of need, these files could be either directly imported into Excel and visualized, or imported into a third party analysis or accountancy software.
Once imported and processed in such software, these files contain all the needed information for the above-mentioned report.

How can write-off lists be handled in Prisma?

The so-called "write off list" is actually a normal type of stock movement that should be done at the site (in Prisma). Therefore, in order to keep track on these movements, a stock movement called, for instance, "write off" or "wastage" should be defined in the HOIS programming -> Stock movements definition. Then, the managers should be instructed to book any "wastage" as this precise type of stock movement.

Can we receive a warning when the shelf life for an article is finished?

The Prisma does not receive information on the product's shelf life (expiry date). The information about the shelf life of the product is normally not contained in the barcode, therefore it is impossible for the system to know which article (and from which specific delivery) has been sold at the POS. For the system to keep tract on the shelf life (expiry date) of each product, major developments would be needed, including interfacing to additional barcode printers and respective additional labeling of EACH product that appears on the shelves.
Although fairly possible, such approach would be quite expensive both as development and as day-to-day maintenance costs.

How do HOIS and Prisma handle the database with customer's information (customers database)?

The customers database was introduced with the HOIS version 5.35. As long as the companies using HOIS and Prisma had different requirements as regards this functionality, this feature was finalized and configured according to their specific wishes. There could be different approaches:

1. The tax customers are programmed in HOIS and sent to the sites; Sales to these customers are reported in HOIS (totals only); The Prisma attendants can have access to this database at time of sale. If the customer is not registered there, the attendant can enter the details on a one-off basis, without adding the new record to the database.
2. Same as 1, but new customers are added into the Prisma at time of sale are saved in the Prisma Database for future use (but NOT sent to HOIS).
3. Same as 2 but the new data is SENT to HOIS and then distributed back to the other stations.
4. Same as 2, but actually NO customers are programmed in the HOIS and NO sales data per tax customer is reported at HOIS.

How does the calculation of the average price on HOIS level work?

The HOIS average cost prices are calculated with the standard mathematical formula for calculation of weighted averages. These prices are re-calculated every time new purchase information is received from the retail sites.
It is however important to understand that the HOIS keeps and updates a multitude of average cost prices (ACP). The HOIS keeps an ACP for each period (month, quarter, year), but also a total ACP for each site, reflecting a weighted average on all purchases since the startup of the station. It must be also mentioned that in case the inventory at the station goes to a negative figure (in case sales are made without respective deliveries), then the ACP goes to zero. (In case of negative stock, a negative ACP would not be meaningful). Therefore it is vital to operationally prevent retail sites from going to negative stock (by requiring the managers to register the purchase immediately upon stock delivery).
The HOIS also keeps and updates consolidated ACP. These consolidated cost prices are updated every time a new purchase information arrives from any station. They are intended to reflect the average cost at corporate level.

Is it possible to use an invoice-verification function in reference to purchasing order for checking price and receipt quantity?

All data concerning the purchase details are kept by HOIS in daily generated electronic files (PUR). It is then possible to make invoice verification, in case the supplier would be ready to submit to the petrol retailing company their invoices in form of electronic files.
Some wholesaler companies are already offering such service and provide "electronic invoice" files.