CTRL/PRODUCT

FOR CONTROL OF YOUR INVENTORY, ORDERS, AND BILLING

Take control

FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Inventory and Product Management

The activity, the unit and the equipment exist in the price configurator to increase the flexibility of adaptation of CTRL/Product to particular management contexts where specificities come into play when one wishes to automate and speed up the preparation of business proposals.
The "Update of the average cost" parameter of the "Transaction code" form has been divided into two distinct parameters; the current parameter and the "Update of the last cost" parameter. This makes it possible to separately manage the impact of a transaction code on updating the two pieces of information, "Average cost" and "Last cost" of an item. However, in the context of physical inventory management and accounting integration with CTRL/Finance, it is imperative to perform a rigorous analysis and the required management configuration to ensure the asset's complete integrity to maintain financial information at all levels.
A choice of date of reference has been added to the price update option activated in the header or detail of the document to determine whether the configurators with date interval must be taken into account in updating the price. If no price configurator contains a date, the date entered at that time is not important. We can, therefore, simply leave the current date.
It is possible to operate different inventory companies with CTRL/Clinic in the presence of CTRL/Product. Indeed, the company associated with a CTRL/Clinic resource ("Resource" file) determines the inventory company (CTRL/Product) affected by the invoicing of an item with this resource. To this is added an "Integration with CTRL/Clinic" parameter on the "General" tab of the management parameters of CTRL/Product, which allows defining whether the current company is integrated or not with CTRL/Clinic.
It is possible to use the information processing status when editing document detail lines, a beneficial principle in a manufacturing context. For example, in a production order document, items of type "finished" have a list of material for their manufacture, added with the status INF and the quantity to be produced. During the generation of the requisition document in which the list of material will be "exploded", these "finished" type items must also be transferred for information purposes to know the necessary quantities of the items in the list of material.
With the inventory evaluation report, which allows you to assess your inventory for any desired date, you have fewer restrictions when closing the fiscal year, and thus more flexibility.
The "Reference" tab on the "Item", "Version", and "Warehouse" worksheets has 15 additional reference fields for personalized information management, allowing for more specific inventory analyzes.
The inventory assessment reports by warehouse and by transaction type offers the option of interactive drill down. This drill down allows you to interactively view the details of the displayed summary value for a more in-depth analysis of the value of your inventory.
Item coding using up to 30 characters.
Each item has a status that allows you to determine if a product is “Active”, and can, therefore, be used by current documents or if it is best not to use it. For example, if a product has become obsolete and the use of the product should be avoided in a finished product, the company can define the number of customized statuses it will require for management. With CTRL/Smigg’s information security, you can configure each user’s work environment to allow access to a partial list of products, such as the list of active items, which is the most up-to-date.
Item description with a maximum of 100 characters of space available to describe your products effectively.
Fifteen additional “Reference” fields are available. With CTRL/Smigg, the title for each “Reference” field can be customized to company needs.
Comments and annotations for each item, allowing up to 99 pages of text of reference documents (8.5x11) to be included and use of CTRL/Smigg’s standard RTF editor.
Management of several versions of one product with codes of up to 15 characters in length. In combination with an item code, management on the basis of version allows you to control product coding using a maximum of 45 characters.
Management of several warehouses (multiple warehouses) with coding using a maximum of 6 characters. Each item has one main location if multiple warehouse management is not in use. In this type of situation, each warehouse can be subdivided into several physical locations and one item can be found in different location references according to the warehouse.
Unit and inventory estimate with dynamic conversion in the work screen when a unit is changed. This feature allows you to determine inventory in another unit immediately.
Price, estimate and basic selling price per item. The “Selling Price” can be adjusted by the price configurator of the “Sale Order” module.
Date and amount of cost price recorded for the item.
Unit, estimate and economic order quantity for each item as a basic reference or for use by the “Purchase Order” module.
Average cost price calculated automatically for each item and updated according to the number of daily transactions carried out. Transaction opening allows you to define which specific transactions should affect the average cost price if necessary.
On-screen consultation of quantities in inventory, on order, minimum, reserved and available.
Management of serial numbers for applicable items. The serial numbers available for an item can be entered directly in the serial numbers window or can originate from the purchase receiving process. Serial numbers are released automatically upon sale or upon delivery of another type. By analyzing transactions for an item, the software allows you to determine the date since when an item with a specific serial number has been in your inventory.
Physical stock-taking function with a work interface for a mobile wireless barcode reader. The utility is based on an intelligent validation approach to detect location discrepancies and allow employees to adjust the location of items when conducting an inventory, if necessary. The system detects, for example, double entries of an item or the presence of one product in two different locations. This subsequently doubles floor productivity.
Direct input of transactions using this basic module.
Registration code for each transaction allows you to determine at any time which user carried out a particular transaction. This is a management tracking function, not a technical tracking function, which can be carried out using CTRL/Smigg’s audit trail function.
A transaction or overall item history allows you to examine all of the transactions carried out for a product, according to different criteria. Among other things, when you use of the CTRL/Smigg “Filter” function in combination with the “User Interface” module, you can immediately locate the owner of a specific item with just a serial number.
Automatic creation of a description for different versions of a product or warehouse. This feature allows you to define a specific and automatic set of descriptive terms for different products. The mode that is selected applies to the entry of a basic transaction and document functions such as “Sales Orders”, “Purchase Orders” and “Document Management”.
Direct transfer of products between warehouses for each transaction or with the “Purchase Order” module.
Accounting integration where CTRL/Finance is in use (general entry and other accounting journals). Activation and type of integration are initially configured on the basis of the transaction, and the generation of entries uses an accounting distribution table. This approach allows you to operate transparently in complex and simple accounting situations. The software operates from specific to general, with twelve potential criteria to define the accounting allocation for a transaction. An interactive confirmation mode for the accounting allocation of a transaction is also available. Everything you need is on hand for precise control!
Integration with analysis reports and CTRL/Project’s “Purchases and Subcontractor Tracking” module, if in use. CTRL/Product loads allocation and holdback data in a project management situation.
Inter-company transaction management is fully supported.
Item/Version record import utility. You can use this function, for example, to import a catalogue of supplier products on a CD.
Using the allocation utility (version and warehouse), you can immediately create batches of version and warehouse profiles for existing products. The utility allows you to use a model item as a starting point. The utility can also be used to increase selling costs in batches for product categories or on a random selection basis.
Import of transactions from an external system with validation of integrity and statement of exceptions and errors. For example, a weighing system.
Transaction validation settings can define inventory quantities and negative quantities available.

Main Reports

Three utility reports, accessible by the "Management-Utility-Export" menu, allow export from one company to another of the "Items", "Versions", and "Price Configurators" files to speed up the creation of basic inventory information in a new company or an update of the information of an existing company by allowing to start from a reference information, that is to say, from another company.
All the reports on the items have been revised and enhanced with interactive drill down. This drill down allows you to view the details interactively, thus allowing quick and accurate information for effective decision making.
Numerical and alphabetical inventory list.
List on the basis of location code for physical inventory.
Analysis of transactions on the basis of several criteria and group on the basis of date, type, item, category, warehouse, individual, document or other.
Inventory evaluation list at a given date. For each category of item and warehouse.
Analysis of the change in inventory for a specific period. Used if CTRL/Finance is not present or if there is no direct integration with CTRL/Finance.
Comparative use statistic for each item (year, month, period).

Sale Orders and Billing

It is possible to manage purchase invoices (supplier) by status to block the payment of specific invoices upstream of the payment process.
A processing code with the "In Approval" status of a document generates transactions in the same way as the "Active" processing. This status may subsequently block certain other functionalities.
Using this type of status will block payment of invoices relating to the purchase in CTRL/Finance for purchase documents. When generating a purchase with this status, this status will be retained in the generated purchasing document instead of assigning the final defined status to the purchase document type.
It is possible to change the status of a final purchase document to an "Active", "Completed", or "In Approval" processing status.
It is possible to change the status of a current supplier invoice to an "Active", "Completed", or "In Approval" processing status.
An "Invoice status" field in the "Supplier" file is used to determine the status assigned by default to the supplier's invoices. If no status is specified, the status will be according to the purchase document generated in CTRL/Product or will be "ACT-Active" if the purchase is created from the purchase journal of CTRL/Finance. Invoices with an "In approval" processing status will not be presented during a cash-out. It will not be possible to pay them during the batch generation of supplier payments, thus creating an upstream payment block.
The supplier batch payment table has an "Invoice in approval" option. This option allows you to validate all the invoices still in the approval process, therefore having a processing status "In approval". At this stage, it is possible to change the status of any invoice pending approval to an "Active" or "Approved" status so that it can be paid.
A "CTRL/Project - Order follow-up" parameter appears on the "Transaction code" form of CTRL/Product when the type of operation associated with the transaction code is "Purchase operation". This allows defining the impact of a purchase transaction on the integrated order tracking of CTRL/Project to incur or disengage a cost at the project level or to do nothing.
The performance when creating transactions dated prior to today's date is done quickly.
In the periodic sales order generation (invoicing) window, it is possible to determine whether the date to be used for generation is always the 1st of the following month or whether a manually selected date is used.
A "stakeholder price configurator" option, available at the document header, shows the configurators filtered by the stakeholder and the current document type. When adding a configurator from this option, the document type and the individual's code (including the type and company code of the worker in the presence of CTRL/File) will be automatically initialized according to the information already defined in the current document.
Two types of price configurators have been integrated into the software, either "Addition to the unit price of the document" in $ or %, to allow the addition of an amount to the unit price already entered in transaction 2 of the detail of a document. These are only used when activating the "Update prices" option in the documents.
Two fields have been added to the "Generation frequency" section of the document sales order header, namely "Start date" and "End date". When generating periodic documents (in batch), these dates will be validated according to the date defined in the generation window. It will, therefore, not be possible to generate a document before the start date. According to the end date, the document will automatically be put in COM-Completed in the last generation.
An ''Exceedance of the order'' parameter in the document types allows configuration of the system behaviour during the processing (transaction 2 production) of the document of purchase. This parameter validates whether the final amount of the order is greater than the amount originally specified. You can set it up to display a validation message, block the transaction, or let the process complete without a message.
In the processing summary window, the due date is automatically initialized based on the date of the entered invoice and the deadline defined in the contributor's file (client, supplier).
Management of proposals and bids. A tender converts to “Sale Order” mode simply by changing the document status following customer approval. Items listed on the order are, therefore, automatically reserved in the inventory.
Sale order and billing for standard or special products with the option to insert a comment line.
The language of communication can be defined for each sales order. The default language is initialized by the language on the customer file linked to the order.
Identification of the salesperson for each sales order. In addition to being used for sales statistics, the “Representative” field allows you to apply a specific work window configuration to each salesperson, using CTRL/Smigg. A representative can, therefore, view only his or her files.
Identification of the region for each sales order. Useful for statistics on the regional distribution of potential and actual sales. Also simplifies management of a network of resellers by allowing you to focus efforts on a specific region if necessary. The region is key information when configuring a central sales management system for a company in the operating internationally. The work windows for each branch connected to a country can be optimized to show only their specific sales records.
Identification of the transporter for each sales order. This function allows you to quickly group together the shipment of deliverable items for each transporter at the shipping dock.
The delivery date can be defined on the order line basis. You can use this feature to manage upcoming deliveries and differentiate the analysis of the management of backorders accurately.
The delivery date can be defined on the basis of the order line. You can use this feature to accurately manage upcoming deliveries and differentiate the analysis of the management of backorders.
The billing frequency can be defined for each sale order and you can define model orders for periodic repetitive billing. This feature allows you to quickly manage “Monthly Rental” type billing for an asset.
Price configurator for the definition of price fixing rules based on a combination of criteria: item category, version, warehouse, customer region, customer category and project. A price can be configured on the basis of a quantity interval, date interval and a particular day to simplify management of specific sales situations: special promotion for a fixed period, automatic discount for a particular category of customers, volume discount, % of discount on a particular category of items, etc.
Basic billing, also called fast billing or counter billing. Designed for fast billing of items that are frequently encountered in the retail distribution sector. Option to implement a point of sale (POS) system with a barcode reader. This function is fully integrated with sales orders, which allows you to process an order from fast billing. Using this feature, you can take an order by phone and process it when the customer comes to the counter to take delivery of the goods.
Batch billing of sales orders, which allows you the option to operate on the basis of billing frequency (weekly, monthly for a given period, etc.) and according to several groups. Two types of sorting at printing are available: numerical on the basis of customer and numerical on the basis of the master customer. In situations where this applies, sorting by master customer generates a logical-physical grouping of bills to simplify sending. You can also use this function to operate on the basis of a random preselection of customers.
Partial and gradual billing of orders with detailed tracking of backorder items.
Billing and payment conditions integrated into the billing process allow a user to select the mode (an account, in cash, by cheque, visa, etc.) that applies to the customer’s situation. A default mode can be defined in the customer record of CTRL/Finance.
A taxation configurator for management of different tax situations in one order. The configurator allows you to manage differences based on the type of product and differences that apply in the tax region of the sale.
Summary billing window that allows you to adjust certain accounting settings such as an invoice due date.
Management of sale discounts and holdbacks.
Incomplete order closure function. This option allows you to close an order if there are still quantities to process or even quantities on back order for this order. This option also operates in batches on the basis of a random selection of documents.
Partial or complete cancellation of an order already processed. Two options are available: input and processing of a negative quantity and amount directly in a detail line or use of the “Reverse Quantity Processed” function, which completely reverses the total quantity for the entire order or for a selected line.
Standard or customized billing form, and the option of defining a general form or a form for each client.
Option to reprint a bill at any time.
Complete integration with CTRL/Finance (sales journal, customer accounts and costs of goods sold). The “Accounting Distribution” concept allows you to operate transparently in complex or simple accounting situations. The software operates from specific to general with twelve potential criteria to define the accounting allocation for a transaction.

Main Reports

The list of sales orders on back order provides several selection criteria for analyses from different management angles.
Standardized or customized order forms and invoices; each form can be designed using the CTRL/Smigg “Report and Form Generator” module.

Purchase Orders

When generating a purchase invoice, it is possible to adjust the tax amounts in the generation summary window. The change will be applied to one line of the document to be produced, so it is unnecessary to go to the detail to make the change. This possibility saves time when the invoice produced by your supplier presents anomalies in terms of tax calculations.
If it is a "Purchase operation" type transaction, a "CTRL/Project - Order follow-up" field in the "Transaction code" form is used to define whether the transaction code must update the order tracking that can be found in the "Project" file and the "CMA" column of CTRL/Project profitability reports. This parameter offers three choices: defining if the transaction should incur or disengage a cost or if the transaction will incur no cost.
In connection with the possibilities of breakdown in purchase orders, the roundings are done to the nearest cent (hundred).
In the case of a "Purchase" type transaction, the initialization of the "Deposit" field in the "Transaction" form will remain empty since it is not a deposit.
Definition of purchase characteristics on the basis of supplier per item. No limit to the number of suppliers per product. This option allows you to manage coding equivalents between internal product codes and external equivalents that are common to each possible supplier. These equivalents are used directly when purchase orders are created to ensure that the specific codes of a selected supplier are used. If there is more than one supplier for a product, a “Priority” field allows you to indicate which supplier to give priority.
Management of requests for quotations. A request for quotation can be sent directly to a supplier by email or fax from the printing procedure. A bid can be converted to “Purchase Order” mode simply by changing the status of the document once your final choice has been made. The “On Order” indicator for items input for order has therefore been improved.
Purchase order and receipt of standard or special products with the option to insert a comment line.
The language of communication can be defined for each purchase order. The default language is initialized based on the language of the supplier file linked to the order.
Identification of the buyer linked to each purchase order. Using the “Buyer” field, you can also apply a specific work window to each buyer via CTRL/Smigg. The platform, therefore, includes only the files requested.
You have the option to specify a delivery address on the basis of a purchase order for special cases.
A delivery date can be defined on the basis of the order line. This feature allows you to accurately manage upcoming deliveries and differentiate the analysis of back orders.
A price configurator to define price determination rules based on a combination of criteria: item category, version category, warehouse, customer territory, supplier category, and project category. The price can be configured on the basis of a quantity interval, date interval or specific date to simplify management of special agreements with a particular supplier.
Partial and progressive receipt of orders with tracking of back ordered items.
Taxation configurator to manage different cases of taxation that apply to one order. The configurator allows you to manage differences based on the type of product or the tax jurisdiction that applies to purchases.
A summary window for receipt of purchase allows you to adjust certain accounting settings such as the due date of an invoice. Optional settings are available to display financial information in the financial information summary window.
Management of “Progressive” or “Final” holdbacks. Four possible configurations: “None”, “Before Taxes”, “After Taxes”, and “Distributed After Taxes”. Control of holdbacks is frequent in project management situations where there are large volumes of subcontractor work. A holdback is, therefore, paid after subcontractor services or goods have been received in full only.
Function to close an incomplete order. This option allows you to close an order if it has quantities to process or even quantities that are on back order. This option also operates in batch mode on the basis of a random selection of documents.
Partial and complete cancellation of an order that has already been processed. Two options are available: input and process a negative quantity and amount directly in a detail line or use of the “Reverse Quantity Processed” function, which performs a total reversal of the quantity processed for the entire order or for a selected line.
Standard or customized form to print purchase orders. Option to choose different forms for each type of purchase document (request for quotation, final order, open order, etc.).
Orders and receiving slips can be reprinted at any time.
Complete integration with CTRL/Finance (purchase journal and payable accounts). The concept of accounting distribution allows you to operate with transparency in complex or simple accounting situations. The software operates from specific to general, with twelve potential criteria to define the accounting allocation of a transaction.
Where CTRL/Project is in use, software is reshaped on the basis of a project concept, and all of the analyses available can be performed for a specific project. For example, you can determine which purchase orders on back order are linked to a specific project.
Integration with CTRL/Project’s “Purchases and Subcontractor Tracking” module allows you to analyze the profitability of each project, including active purchase orders for a project. Automatic entry and removal of orders by CTRL/Product in CTRL/Project.

Main Reports

List of items to order. The software suggests a quantity to order based on the minimum inventory and economic order quantity.
The list of purchase orders on back order offers a range of selection criteria for analyses from different management angles.
Standard or customized order form and receiving slip. Forms can be designed using the CTRL/Smigg “Report and Form Generator” module.

Document Management

The management of the impact on the price of an item of the modification of fields in the header or the detail of an existing document increases the flexibility of supported contexts thanks to the "Reset the price according to the detail sections edition" and "Reset the price in creation with a header copy" parameters.
The “Unit” field in the window for inserting a list of materials into a document is only displayed in “Reference” mode. Therefore, it cannot be changed and is used for information purposes.
An "Automatic initialization of the material list" parameter in the "Document type" form allows you to define whether the addition of a document detail, with an item having a list of materials, should automatically create the other lines for the items in the list according to the same information (project, activity, etc.) as the line of the item being created. This improvement increases the degree of automation possible with the software by eliminating the need to manually activate the "Material list" option to insert all the planned items in the current document detail.
A "View" option accompanies certain "Documents" fields integrated into various CTRL software functions to activate a visual extension that displays the content of a document selected and allows full navigation of the selected document. This option will enable you to collect and merge all relevant documents in one place for quick reference.
The bulk modification of the details of a document makes it possible to edit quantity 2, even if quantities have already been processed for the line of the detail to be changed.
The display of files (digital documents) attached to a computer document in the "Document" column of a working window has been simplified for greater clarity. The file directory is no longer part of the display.
It is possible to automatically attach a file (digital document) to a CTRL/Product document by dragging it from Windows Explorer onto the "Document" column of the working window. This functionality is available with CTRL/Product, CTRL/Finance and CTRL/File.
The API (Web Service) of CTRL/Product has been corrected in terms of proper management of amounts and quantities when receiving either information provided separately.
It is possible to add a "Document" column to the various working windows where this control is available to allow the rapid identification of a row containing an attached digital document and enable it to be quickly activated for viewing.
Transactional validation messages provide clarity on the context.
The generation of the physical inventory minimizes the processing time.
Adding a price configurator using the "Contributor price configurator" option in the document header automatically initializes the "Contributor" and "Transaction type" fields, according to the information in the current document.
A "Price update according to:" parameter has been added to the "Document type" form: to define which price will be used in the "Price update" option of the header or details of the documents. Two choices are possible, either "Configurator and item", for which the update will be carried out according to the standard when the price is initiated when adding the detail, or "Configurator", with which the update of the price will be made according to the price configurator. If no configurator is relevant, no update is performed.
The generation of transactions that takes place when the documents are edited optimizes the time required for processing.
Two "% progress" fields have been added to the detail of the document, one for transaction 1 (percentage of delivery) and one for transaction 2 (percentage which must be transacted for the generation of the document and which will initialize the quantity and vice versa).
Confirmation messages when processing documents are clarified to highlight various situations related to different contexts. For example, the processing of a single document versus several documents in batch, or even a blocking notice in the presence of an anomaly to be adjusted versus a warning message allowing the process to continue.
Adjustment of the serial number display to the "Serial number" window of an item.
A validation has been implemented to prevent the use of an inactive participant during a document's processing.
"Status" fields have been added to the "New primary documents" section of the "Generated documents" tab of the "Document type" form for each type of item to copy or explode. It is thus possible to define different statuses for each item copied or exploded in the new primary document's detail.
An option "Update prices" is present at the header and in the details of the documents to update the unit price of transaction 2 of the details of the documents. Depending on the option's activation, it is possible to update one or a few lines of the detail or all the lines. This update may be necessary in different contexts, for example, in a production chain or long-term rental.
All of the general improvements made to document management are available for specific documents such as purchase orders and sale orders.
The "Recipient" tab in the document header offers 15 additional reference fields for personalized information management.
The summary processing (production) of several documents can be carried out from different document types.
With the traceability of any change, get more rigorous management of document production.
The application supports management by branch, which is available with CTRL/Finance and CTRL/Clinic.
The web interface allows for more flexibility for the establishment of an exchange portal, as well as for document consultation with your clients and suppliers.
A "Contributor type" option has been added to the "Document type" record, thus allowing to facilitate, for example, the proposal levels management and the order confirmation management in terms of sales. With CTRL/File, the integration becomes more extensive.
The document management module completes the “Sales Order” and “Purchase Order” modules by allowing you to manage any other type of document encountered in a management situation. For example, in a manufacturing situation, you can use the module to manage in-house orders, production orders, customer returns, etc. Any paper document related to the management of items can be modelled.
The document configurator allows you to define the impact a transaction will have based on the document type and the connections between a series of documents that are part of a chain of operations. A master document is therefore used to create a second document and there is no limit to the number of documents that are part of a chain.
A coding prefix can be defined on the basis of the document type.
A colour can be assigned for each type of document. This feature improves operating efficiency because users can instantly identify each type of document in the main work windows (sales orders, purchase orders and general documents). Determining which documents require priority treatment is, therefore, easier.
Users can customize the reference terms they use for each type of document.
Printout outline for a general or specific document, based on the document type.
Processing frequency can be defined for each type of document, and you can define model documents for periodic repetitive processing.
A price configurator for the “Sales Order” and “Purchase Order” modules can be used for applications.
A summary window to confirm that a document is being processed. The display of financial information can be controlled using settings.
A function to close an incomplete document. You can use this option to close a document if it still has quantities to process or even quantities that are on back order. This option also operates in batches on the basis of a random selection of documents.
Partial or complete cancellation of a document that has been processed. Two options are available: input and process a negative quantity and amount directly in a detail line or use of the “Reverse Quantity Processed” function, which performs a complete reversal of the quantity processed for an entire document or selected line.
The anticipated processing date can be defined on a document line basis. This feature allows you to manage and plan the processing of current active documents.

Main Reports

Three reports/utilities allow an export/import from one company to another of the "Items", "Versions" and "Price Configurators" files. These new reports/utilities are accessible via the "Management-Utility-Export" menu.
A list of pending documents proposes a series of selection criteria for analyses from different management angles.
A document printout form can be completely customized using the CTRL/Smigg “Report and Form Generator” module.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Whether it is to find a precise answer or general information, our Frequently Asked Questions provide an effective mean to understand in greater depth the operational management of your CTRL solution in order to maximize the benefits for your organization!

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