The C9 system is increasingly becoming more sophisticated and intelligent in terms of its capacity to meaningfully crunch the business data it collects and provide meaningful feedback, for things such as recommended stocking levels and useful charts such as customer retention analysis.  Normally, c9 users need not worry about this, it is barney's headache (actually a hobby). But there are some areas you need to be aware of, that the information you are looking at needs to be considered in light of the underlying processes used to derive it.

Consider a chart report; customer retention. Here is such a report taken from live data.

Note the bit I have highlighted in green.  It appears as though retention is dropping off, but this is not necessarily so. It could be a statistical artefect.

Consider a customer who brings their bike in every 12 months for a service.  Their last service was 3 months ago. I run the customer retention report.  Obviously between 3 months ago and when he first become a customer he is counted as a retained customer. But what about today. In order to count him as a retained customer we need to assume that he will come back in 9 months.  The above c9 report does indeed do this, it looks at individual customers, their return rates and makes a prediction when he comes back.  If the customer comes back every 12 months like clock work then it is easy. But what happens if there is variance? i.e. he comes in after 9 months one year, 14 months the next etc etc.  c9 needs to be able to cope with this variance and make a reasonable prediction. But it is only a prediction; so the tail end of the graph is somewhat inaccurate. Also, consider customers c9 has only seen once, currently c9 lacks a means/model to make a guess whether or not they are new retained customers or once off customers only.    So never read too much into the tail end of a graph such as this one.

MYOB Integration tweaks

• Detect if MYOB supplier that c9 maps to has been deleted; if so then request user to remap any c9 suppliers during sync
• Configuration option to skip syncing a certain c9 suppliers. Setting is memorized only for the duration of the sync operation. Next sync user has to map the supplier and skip it again.  Note that skipped invoices are not flagged as synced, so if you run sync again, c9 will try to resync prior skipped invoices.
• Configure mapping, include option to refresh list of MYOB suppliers and account lists.  Useful when you go to map a supplier and find that card is missing in MYOB. You can switch to MYOB, add the card, switch back to c9 click refresh and see the newly added card
• Bugfix : under some circumstances during configuration of MYOB, c9 would crash. (Caused by incorrect database access)

• Business activity report; cash/accrual filter on report was incorrect for invoiced sales/invoiced payments
• Publish website. Include ability to add consignment units
• Browse part : show retail price in browse
• Browse received orders. Display supplier if known. This was happening previously. It was displaying 'accessories - <supplier>' but window design you could only see 'accessories' you had to expand the column to see supplier. Fixed by shortening accessories - to 'Acc -'
• Sell parts to a job. Permit creation of a new job at this point.
• Complete job : warn user if job contains items with zero line item value. Some dealers will initiate line item value to 0.00 because cost of item is unknown at time item is added. But forget to check it on completion. Warning is to remind such users.
• Receive order. On receive print output, display SMS notification setting for customer orders

• Added ability to generate HTML based email mailouts.  This allows you to mess with fonts, colors, insert images, links and tables into miner generated emails. (Previously only plain emails were supported)
• Minor tweaks and usability annoyances
• cash till report : included a simplified version of detail report. (Prior was a print of biz activity report which is potentially too complicated for cash till analysis)
• Browse dealer units, could not keyin VIN number to search until click mouse in list of units. Now fixed
• Clockoff on different day. Disallow time travel (user specifying clockoff date/time that occurs before clockon)
• Spares deposit. If spares invoice is of invoice type then open account deposit taking window
• Create/convert account. Default balance limit to $0.01
• Built-in spell checker works properly on mail merge edits (bulk printer or new HTML/email system)
• Pickup workshop job : include big colorful banner at top of the window that indicates if pickup is cash/account/dealer/etc
• Cash till : till taking for initial workshop deposit would incorrectly record on job start date, not date job is entered into system
• Pickup Reserve order.  Default invoice type to either receipt or invoice depending on type of customer

Note 4.230 addition of HTML contained some bugs which were only obvious to me when testing under Windows. 4.231 fixes these.

This version will modify the database; it will force you to log all terminals out during upgrade

• Unit quotes. Generate quotes and convert quotes into invoices
• Browse/Select unit.  Various browse unit screens now contain a filter option that allows you to only display units that match the filter. i.e.  all Generators, or all bikes whose model contains '250'
• Purchase unit.  Add option for purchase similar unit : it will add another unit to the list of units being purchased by cloning the selected unit.  Useful for processing a purchase order of a bunch of brush cutters of the same model type for example
• Accounts - ability to define type of phone. i.e. instead of 'Alt Phone' you can write 'Bobs Phone', or 'Bills Mobile'
• When browsing lists where search mechanism allows you to search by a date or an invoice number etc, automatically position the list at the bottom of the list. i.e. 99.9% of the time user is interested in last invoices, not first invoice ever raised in the system
• Stocktake sheets. Print barcode
• Stocktake entry.  Redesign so list reflects exact same as printed output. Also tune interface to make data entry quicker
• Receive orders : new column : line total.
• Cash Till Report. Option to print detailed report on all transactions involved in the reporting period.
• Redesign of point of sale screens so sale finalization works more efficiently.
• Tender amount occurs after select payment method
• Tender is only asked if instrument is tenderable (only first Cash is tenderable, configurable via setup) and invoice amount is greater than
• Tender display only occurs if tendered amount is neither 0 or invoice value. i.e. there is change to tender.
• This change has implications.  Specifically you can no longer book an account payment on invoice sale during point of sale. You now have to goto accounts separately and book payment. Arguably this implication yields better software too, as the way system used to work was a frequent cause of human error.
• Ability to open till on all sales; even if print docket is not selected
• Franchises - ability to 'archive' franchises. i.e. parts in franchise can no longer be accessed via POS but old profit reports etc still work
• Receive order : print invoice and order line item notes if any
• Bugfix - if you try to add certain items to the database (i.e. staff or jobitem), and trigger an error like 'Duplicate Clerk Key'; fixing the duplicate and clicking on OK again does not have expected result. Saved data is incorrect.  Now fixed.
• Bugfix : buy sell report would not report received order items that were free-form added/modified onto a receive order at point of receive. Would only report received items which were formally ordered on either daily or stock order (regression caused by introduction of reserve/picklist)
• Bugfix: miner join of unit chains was not working correctly

Bugfix. Ability to copy read only strings displayed in windows onto the clipboard caused an annoying defect with some buttons, especially in point of sale. The buttons could no longer be accessed via the mouse, unless you click on the edge of the button (hotkeys still worked).  Workaround by disabling copy to clipboard for strings which are not dynamic. i.e. On screen in view acocunt for example you will see "Address: 10 Bourke St".  The "Address:" bit cannot be copied, but the dynamic "10 Bourke St" can.

• Monthly passwords.  C9 now includes a facility to fetch passwords from the Internet.  If  status of your bill account with c9 is up-2-date then you can fetch next password by clicking a button in enter password.   Existing methods still work, i.e. manually key in password.
• Right mouse button click on many controls in c9 to copy/paste content. Works on strings, entry, text controls and images.
• Manage images - provide ability to crop and rotate images
• Add ability to store images against units and workshop jobs. Motivated for Victoria RWC changes but can track many images for different purposes against either a job or a unit. Note that this feature is only available if you have online backups enabled.

• When you have many c9 instances running it is hard to tell on taskbar which one is which.  New change, the taskbar description changes depending on what module you are in. i.e. 'C9 Spares', or 'C9 Workshop' etc
• F12 Customer pickup - includes option to print list
• F12 Customer pickup - include search option. e.g. search by name or order description
• F12 customer pickup - dramatically improved performance of loading/displaying the list. Especially when there are lots of items in the list
• Receive order - new checkbox to print barcodes after receive. When checked, after receive print barcode is displayed with all of the stock received items preloaded ready for printing
• Bugfix tweaks on processing internet orders requested by Drew.
• Bugfix - last version of c9 modified invoice attachments so name of the shop would be built into the name of the PDF file.  But there is a limit to length of the name of an attachment.  If too long then attachment name would be incorrect and many computers will not be able to open attachment.  Example:  "Really Long business name Bikes & bits" would generate an invalid name of a invoice. New change shortens a name using various algorithms, such as remove "Pty Ltd" etc. So above example becomes "Really Long business name Bikes Spare Parts invoice #123456.pdf".  Tested the algorithm with all c9 customer business names and results generated work well.

• Bug fixes/enhancements relating to introduction of reserve orders
  • Buy/sell report stopped reporting stock received via orders. Now fixed
  • Import internet order. Could not process such an order as a 'reserve'. Now fixed.
• Bug fixes/enhancements relating to recently added restocking analysis tools
  • 'Close' button on some windows did not actually close the window when clicked on. Had to click on 'x' in top right (or press Esc key)
  • Give user option to indicate how often they generate a stock order. Previously c9 would figure this out by looking at how many stock orders were raised in the past 6 months. This technique is problematic; so give user option to expressly indicate.
  • Do not allow statistics generation on assumption of stock order less than every 14 days. Previously was 7 days. Data is too noisy at such a frequency of reordering.
• Workshop clock off. Warn if mechanic was clocked on overnight and provide a means to allow mechanic to set date/time when they really clocked off (defaults to 6 pm on the day the mechanic clocked on)
• Cancel/adjust spares order.  Would not update qty on order for workshop spares on order. Now fixed
• Package Info tweaks (to aid installation of new systems)
• Save/email invoice. Filename/email subject now contains name of the shop instead of 'c9'
• Account statement : make it clear if statement is in credit and does not require payment (portrait only)
• Fixes to handling of new customers on import web orders.

As of version 4.224, c9 now includes more sophisticated restocking analysis tools to help you manage your stock levels and avoid overstocking and understocking. The new set of tools provides:

• A sophisticated statistical model that makes restocking recommendations and responds to: sale history for last 18 months. list price of the item, and margin gain for stock ordering vs overnight ordering.
• Statistical model is able to recognise and cope with seasonal items (identifying high and low seasons), long term gradual trends and unusually high once off orders.
• Ability to tune the model, selecting either aggressive, modest or conservative restocking goals depending on how much stock you wish to maintain.
• Ability to tune the model on a per franchise basis. i.e. aggressively stock your principal franchise, and maintain more modest stocking levels for secondary franchises and accessory suppliers
• A 'flight simulator' that allows you to check how the model settings would perform based on last 6 months of business; showing you resulting overstocking (dead stock) and understocking (overnight ordering) if the model was used for all stock re-ordering. Allowing you to tune towards the mix that is suitable for your inventory.
• Ability to configure per-part hints and exceptions. i.e. 'never stock this part', or 'increasing reordering by 100% for this part'. i.e. sale history and list price are sometimes insufficient for decision making. i.e. things like oil filters you never want to run out of so it is appropriate to aggressively overstock these.
• Makes recommendations for items you do not currently stock but should and is able to resolve super-cession chains
• A redesigned analysis UI that instead of making you trawl through your entire stock, allows you to focus on items that may be potentially understocked or overstocked, so instead of exhaustively checking thousands of items, you only check the top 50 items.
• The ability to reorder based on preset maxqty levels or using the calculated numbers generated by restocking analysis

Important note: Restocking analysis of a part requires that the part has moved in at least 4 separate  restocking periods in the past 18 months.   A restocking period is amount of time on average between stock orders. If you've never placed a stock order for a brand new franchise for example, system assumes 30 days.  So say your restocking period is 2 weeks, then for a brand new item that you order for customers, c9 will not recommend you stock it for 8 weeks at absolute minimum.

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