This version of c9 allows you to query supplier stock for Honda and Suzuki suppliers.

To do this, key in the part in point of sale and add it to the list.  Use up arrow key to highlight the part.  Press F12 to do a magician query.

The first time you do this on a Suzuki or Honda part, c9 will open up a window asking you for login details for Honda Dealer NET or SuzukiNET.  Once provided and c9 has successfully logged in it will memorize these settings and settings work globally across all terminals.

Query results are displayed in same window as Parts Magician results.

How does it work? : c9 will connect to supplier website as if you were browsing the website and make appropriate query.  Typically it takes ~ 10 seconds for first time lookup (as c9 has to login to the site), subsequent queries take about 2 to 3 seconds.

• Bug fix : prior version of c9 broke the ability to modify payment instrument used after the fact.  Functionality is now restored.

• Order book - option to access view part
• Stock Analysis - option to access view part
• Multiple payment methods. Under some circumstances c9 would appear to memorize payment values of prior txn performed (or even viewed) when user expectation in circumstances such as creating a new sale, is that these are reset. Now fixed.
• Receive order. Option to add parts to bottom of list instead of in part number order. This may be useful when receiving back order parts where parts printed in receive sheet from supplier are not in part number order and you would like to line up what is on screen with what you see on the printed sheet.
• Browse units by Query function.  Screen display would refresh in strange ways when viewing a unit and going back. Now fixed.
• View customer : new tab to show all parts they have invoiced
• Point of  sale : when you complete point of sale and set a discount. The prior window you could still see 'GT' which did not update when you tweaked values in complete screen.  Very unintuitive. To deal with this, the line of figures in bottom right is hidden when you click F10 to proceed with sale
• Point of sale : edit discount dollar value and press F10 would not apply the value entered. Now fixed.
• Import KTM catalogues.  The list of units retrieved is now sensitive to filter settings in advanced.  Means unit list loads faster and resulting list of units is only a sub set, making process of adding more units more intuitive.
• Import Generic CSV price file. Cope with '$' and ',' etc in numeric fields on CSV files.

Parts Magician is a service created 9 years ago to allow motorcycle dealers query one another for obscure parts to help reduce dead stock.

The service was moderately successful, but not nearly as successful as we originally hoped.  Though in the last 18 months two distinct things have happened that have triggered a dramatic increase in usage and in particular have delivered alot of value to c9 customers. (Parts magician is not just a c9 product BTW, it is used by many dealers that do not use c9 as their DMS).

• Improved integration into the c9 DMS means that with a single button press (F12) in point of sale you can check query a list of other dealers who stock the item being queried
• Automated integration into distributor inventory systems (only Butmac (KTM + Husaberg) and McLeods at this time).

Parts Magician was originally designed on an open architecture and openly encouraged all DMS vendors to provide automated integration because we recognized early on that this is a key ingredient for success.  No DMS vendor took up the offer.

An important recent learning which we did not realise then is that the integration needs to connect all the way into actual point of sale; a single button press provides instantaneous Australia wide query.

Other organisations, a car industry consortium, whose name I've long forgotten, offered alternative approaches though their technology was extremely cumbersome, complex and created risky network security profiles for dealers also tried and failed.  Some suppliers have tried web based upload and query solutions with very limited success.

It is heartening to see that 9 years on, parts magician over the past 18 months has finally unlocked a means to significantly increase it's value to those who use it.

Options feasibly exist for us to build further on parts magician technology to include modernised integration techniques (i.e. web services), and to build upon recent learnings.

This version includes database changes and will force you to log all terminals out first

• Spare parts types and groups now permit configuration of a discount.  When selling such parts c9 defaults line discount to this value. Means you can run a limited special discount on items such as 10% off all boots.
• Line item discount in point of sale is now memorized after pressing F6 to view/change stocked item
• Suzuki Price files :  c9 can now import the .ZIP file distributed by Suzuki directly.
• Workshop clocking report.  Multiple visual fixes. Mainly displaying incorrect unit for techs who are idle or on break.
• Leasing - c9 now contains an ability to run c9 in 'readonly' mode.  For dealerships that have closed business but need to retain ability to run reports for accounting purposes etc.  Read only mode does not require ongoing licencing but you do not have the ability to raise new invoices in this mode.
• Point of Sale. Display Grand total (GT) as well as stock and order total.  Option, configured via setup to display profit margin (M:).  If margin of invoice (not factoring in invoice discount) is <cost+17%, (17% is configurable via setup), display text in red.
• Docket invoice : print customer code
• Cancel active order item.  Flag item as cancelled for customer/workshop order items as opposed to physically deleting the item from the database, so that there is a record of the fact that a part was originally ordered. (Is okay to physically delete when it is for stocking, because a record of cancellation serves no purpose in this instance).
• Order book : add ability to generate stock order from the book.  Other minor visual tweaks
• Bug Fixes
• If you go through a POS sale, select a payment instrument, then back out at the last minute in order to redo the sale to indicate to use customer deposit to pay for invoice, payment method previously selected is recorded on the invoice throwing out cash till. Now fixed.
• Sell unit. It was possible to flag a sale as an account sale and change to cash customer.  Now modified so transaction type automatically flips over to cash transaction.

C9's import of KTM catalogs imports information from KTM's dealernet website.  The website although contains all KTM's manufactured world wide, not just Australian models.  So c9 tries to be 'smart' and only import Australian models.  The logic though does not correctly import all models although.

For example, SX-F models and EXC.  In Australia, I believe that SX-F used in Australia are the US models and EXC are European.  C9 by default skips these thinking they are overseas models.

Following describes how to do work around this.

Read more...

We recently implemented a new advertising campaign after having no success with facebook advertising and results are very promising.

The campaign was implemented on the 15th and since then we have seen a meaningful increase in traffic.

Web traffic is now capturing alot of web users browsing for second hand motorcycles and spare parts and many of those users are further clicking to go visit dealer websites.

It is still early days though we are quite excited by this result, especially considering how poorly facebook experiment went.  And we hope that this additional web traffic translates into additional business for our c9 customers.

Aussie bike finder listing is a free website. It is serviced and maintained by us at c9 for dealers that use c9.  Bike listing is part of c9 online backup package; all your second hand bikes will be automatically listed.  Spare parts are provided by c9 powered websites.  We allocate a small monthly advertising budget for promotion of the site.  For best possible results we recommend dealers also promote their website, via online advertising themselves and other means.

• Order book : display a date
• Receive Order : option to automatically invoice fully paid cash orders
• Configured via setup
• Invoice only generated if deposit matches value of parts exactly
• Invoice only generated when all parts on original invoice have been received
• Payment Method : allow certain payment methods to have a surcharge. i.e. credit card surcharge. Currently only works on spares and workshop invoices.  To enable must be configured via payments and deposits in setup
• Spares point of sale. Setup option to print two copies of invoice for any sale involving ordered parts
• Image resizer : a hidden hotkey will allow you to set a custom size so you can upload larger images, i.e. for bulk mailer. A limit is still imposed. Images can be no larger than 1024x1024. Accessed via F8 key.
• Ad hoc adjustment report : print line total
• Spares Point of Sale.  ST and OT values displayed now take any line item discounts into account
• Print spares Barcode. Modify item : OK button was hidden underneath cancel button. Moved things around to fix.

C9 is about to reach a new milestone : it's 300th released version. Since November 2009 we have averaged two versions a week. Now seems as good a time as any to measure velocity of change in the product and to discuss why this is occurring.

Firstly, measuring changes by measuring 'function points'.  In c9 a 'function point' typically represents a single window, a report etc.  It mostly only measures things end users directly interact with; so it is not a complete measure of everything in the c9 product. But it provides a fairly consistent way to measure the number of end-user features in c9 and how that has changed over time.

A few observations.  C9 today has increased amount of functionality in the DMS by 70%.  At our current velocity, c9 will have literally twice as many features in it as the old c8 in 18 months from now. Or approx 5 years since development stopped on c8.

Next rate of change month to month on existing functionality appears to be increasing. Though not enough data yet exists to be certain.  A pattern, if any, will become more obvious in another 6 months or so I think.

Why all this change?  The change is driven substantially by users of c9 responding to changes across the business domain and opportunities that increased computing power and the evolution of the Internet provides.  We suspect that change is self reinforcing.  Users see changes, and those changes inspire new ideas, open up new opportunities to utilise computing power and build upon  newly created facilities further to improve productivity, efficiency and ultimately profitability.  Change is a positive feedback loop.

Largely because of inter-connectivity enhancements thanks to the public Internet, and modern approaches to writing and managing computer software, it is possible aggressively pursue a strategy of rapid, continual improvement to such a degree that we are able to provide an increasingly rich and sophisticated product.  This is the main reason why we modified our billing model with advent of c9; to optimize our business to focus on growing and improving the c9 product.

This upgrade introduces database changes and will force you to log all terminals out during upgrade

• Workshop
• Workshop : track new field. Customer order number.  Visible/settable on most workshop forms and printed on most workshop printouts, including job card and tax invoice.
• Pickup job. Option to allow you to pickup multiple jobs in one go for a single customer.
• Workshop invoice. Printing of payment method values was dodgy for cash invoices involving prepaid workshop jobs where prepaid amount exceeded invoice and customer is to receive reimbursement for difference. Modified so it only prints cash handled at point of invoice. i.e. normally balance remaining to be paid, or in case where deposit is too much, then indication of deposit refunded.
• Pickup warranty job.  Handle situation where warranty job has prepaid deposit. i.e. refund deposit when job is invoiced.
• Invoice classifications
• Under some circumstances classification would not be recorded against invoice. Fixed
• Do not ask for classification for factory unit purchases. (System will ask to classify customer purchases)
• Order unit : allow user to specify a customer order number
• Customers - add new flag 'Must supply order number'.  When an invoice is raised on such a customer and order number field is blank (or notes field in case of a unit sale), c9 warns you that the customer normally requires tracking of their own order numbers for invoicing.  You can click through the warning and proceed anyway.
• Ad hoc stock adjustment report. Option to filter on miscellaneous adjustments or stock taking adjustments.

This upgrade introduces database changes and will force you to log all terminals out during upgrade

• Include basic facility to order units for floor or for customers.
  
• Placement of orders is done via Units - > Sales - > Order
• Sending and receiving orders reuses existing spares ordering facility. i.e. Spares -> Spares -> Orders
• Currently receiving orders just prints out a receive report. You still need to manually receive units and sell them via Unit Sales.
• Added ability to organize and flag key transactions based on a classification. i.e. whether the sale was in response to a newspaper ad, or customer is a walkin customer. Or customer is existing trade customer.
• currently on spares sale, unit sale/purchase, workshop pickup and gift card sale only
• Configure list via Setup -> Browse Setup Tables -> Sales Classifications
• Classification is visible in Business -> Activity
• Classification is a new entity within miner; for reporting
• Bugfix tweak with new order book. Save tab not working correctly
• Customer -> View/Modify. You can now search the list via query. i.e. find customer whose name starts with 'ANDREW'.  Similar to existing select customer behaviour.
  
• Export Spare Orders. Increase path size from 30 chars to 128. Add a button to open file browser to select path.  Makes export easier to use on unix type systems, such as MacOS and Linux, where paths tend to be alot longer than on Windows machines.
• F11 order in point of sale. Make it obvious that part will not be placed on order until sale is completed and invoice is raised.
• Receive order : add new part onto stock . Default maxqty to zero if default maxqty configured in setup is zero, otherwise default maxqty to qty received
• Orders : tweaked some screens devoted to ad-hoc order manipulation adding text and warning screens to try and discourage users from using these functions for typical day to day functions.
• Ad Hoc Order : include option to either add order item onto existing sent order or create a new sent order