Now collecting from your customer has never been easier. The new Proof of Delivery (POD) system in MasterWorks makes collections a breeze.

Your staff can access detailed information on the customer shipments, delivery time and date and even the customer's signature using MasterWorks POD system. All this information is available for sending by email or fax directly to your customer.

Please take a look at the PDF presentation and contact us information on how we can help increase your collections and reduce bad debts.

Last month we told you about the release of eWorks Graphs for MasterWorks’ customers. The new release includes a powerful built-in graphing engine that automatically transforms large tables of data into easy to understand graphical presentations.

Beckard Associates continues to enhance this system by adding additional graphs to eWorks tables. A major component that is soon to be released is the eWorks graphs for MasterWorks' Recommend to Purchase System (R.T.P.). This new component provides fast method of seeing the stocking levels and sales cycles for specific products.

Maintaining product stock levels at optimum levels is critical for successful distribution operations. Too much inventory and you're wasting space in the warehouse and committing valuable cash to items that may never sell. Too little inventory and you're losing sales and customers to your competition.

To be successful, you need to pull together several key factors relating to the products' sales history. Then you need to make a judgement on whether to purchase more now - or wait and replenish stock at some point in the future. Making the wrong decision could leave you under stocked with many unhappy customers or you may end up over stocked and put added strain on company cash-flow and warehouse space.

To be successful,

• you need knowledge of how well this product is selling;
• you need real time numbers on current inventory, supplier lead times and replenishment requirements;
• you need sales history details and a forecast for the next few sales periods;
• and, you need to tie all this data together into an easy to understand view.

The solution is eWorks Graphs for RTP Analysis.

RTP for eWorks shows the critical information for purchasing together in one easy to understand graph. It allows you to visualize the past sales cycle of products and displays the future forecast. The graph then over-lays your minimum, maximum and average stocking levels for the product.

On the x-axis, the graph displays weekly sales to provide the buyer a view of usage volumes over time. The large green blocks represent inventory receipts. Finally, the dotted green line represents the Quantity on Hand for that item that week displayed over time.

The buyer now has a simple view of product sales and forecast levels they can use to support their decision to purchase additional inventory. They can quickly see when a product will fall below the set minimum QOH and when the item will be out of stock based on sales forecasts. They can then plan the optimum order time and quantity to keep the inventory level required to fill orders.

The graph is a tool that helps the buyer visualize all the data available in the RTP system They can use the graph to get a quick and easy to understand view of the product ordering needs. The RTP tables of detailed product information is available for further analysis when required.

Help your purchasing staff make the right decision.
Sign up now for our November 16 presentation !

Beckard Associates, a provider of business application software suites for the wholesale distribution market, is developing an Open Source Java based Point of Sale (POS) application for their retail clients. The new product will allow customers to eliminate third party application license fees and will run on inexpensive, non-proprietary personal computers or laptops.

Current POS environments typically run on proprietary hardware and use one or several layers of licenses to operate a single station. This includes Personal Computer (PC) operating system licenses and server licenses to support remote systems. By developing in an Open Source environment, this new system can run on almost any basic PC hardware.

This system will also allow POS stations to operate independent of any connections to servers, Internet or other network environments. All customer, catalogue and pricing information will reside on the local machine. As products are scanned, the system searches data files on the local machine to determine pricing information and product descriptions. The local database is provided through a central server that polls these remote locations with updates when changes or new data is available. This minimizes the data traffic over a network and allows better functionality of a POS satiation, since it doesn't rely on a central server for basic operations of processing a retail sale.

Store operations can now be considered for locations where high-speed networks may not always be available or affordable. The application can also be set-up in add hock locations like special community events, trade shows and fairs with sales data being collected on the local machine. Once the event is completed, these sales numbers and inventory transaction files are passed back to the server through the network. This will allow retailers the opportunity to easily set-up a sales station at special events or remote locations.

This POS system is just one of several business applications systems developed and supported by Beckard Associates. The new application should be available for delivery to customers in May 2006 and will be designed to complement the existing suite of applications available in their MasterWorks Distribution System and eWorks application suites.

For more information on this development or other application solutions for wholesale and retail environments, please contact us.

With the largest reserved floor space, most innovative product displays and a well supported cast of Sales Representatives, Managers and Customer Service staff working the show, Hettich Canada made a overwhelming impression on its' customers. Beckard Associates was proud to be invited to be a part of this very successful exhibition.

Hettich Canada is a subsidiary of Hettich International, the world's largest cabinet and furniture hardware manufacturer. At the 2006 W.M.S. (Woodworking Machinery & Supply Expo) held in October at the International Centre in Toronto, Beckard Associates participated in Hettich Canada's launch of eWorks.

eWorks is an on-line ordering and information portal for large scale distributors. The system provides real-time information on stock, customer pricing, detailed account and sales history and on-line ordering. Hettich Canada's customers' are very exited to have this detailed information to assist them with purchasing from Hettich Canada. "eWorks will help Hettich's customers by providing valuable real time information which is integral in our commitment of combining quality service with quality hardware. By continuing to focus on building strong partnerships, we will surpass our goals for 2006 and eWorks will be an important part of this accomplishment." says Mike Squizzato, President of Hettich Canada.

At the show, customers were offered an opportunity to log onto the live system and see current order status, purchase history and detailed account information. Customers are able to call up past purchase orders and reprint invoices. "This system will save us many hours in managing our orders with Hettich Canada", says one distributor. "Now we know what product is in stock and what items we need to plan for a latter receipt". The system provides an open view of all the customer's current and past order and invoice activity. For smaller businesses, where they are busy running there own operations, eWorks allows them the freedom to place orders outside of normal business hours. They can login before or after the normal workday to review the status of any open orders or to place new orders.

A graphically rich, point-and-click application, eWorks is the web-based interface that allows customers to do business with you - even when you are not open. The system has simple to use drill down and tab based menus to search for orders and invoices, search and order products, look up documents and shipment status.

To learn more about Hettich Canada, please visit their web site at http://www.hettich.ca.

To view the eWorks presentation from the show, please click here.
To view photos of the show, please click here.

To learn more about eWorks and other business building tools from Beckard Associates, please click here to contact us.

Our warehouse management system can now be accessed via eWorks, the web-based interface that gives sales representatives, clients, and managers access to information in graphic formats customized to their needs. >More

Fast answers to common questions about newly released products and enhancements: The new discussion database located in the Support section of this website provides a wealth of information in an easy-to-search discussion format. Check out the latest product news. Learn from other system users and share your own comments.

Save thousands of dollars a year in the cost of pre-printed forms and postage. All business forms - including invoices, customer statements, purchase orders, pik-paks, RMAs and BOL documents - are now available as electronic documents. Send these documents automatically through MasterWorks by fax, email, email PDF attachments or as laser printed paper documents. >More

A graphically rich point-and-click application, eWorks is the web-based interface that allows you to access all of MasterWorks functionality. Drill down through customer orders and invoices; search and order products; look up documents and shipment status - all through front-end interfaces customized for the needs of your customers, sales representatives, inside staff, and management. >New eWorks features