Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?

Yahoo Archive
1
Where is this I find the box for the sales analysis but not gross margin... we are on 5.1 is it in a different version? We create a table in access with the gross margin report in vantage and then add all the cost by customer and part number that hit the variance account when you close the jobs.. this way you have all the cost for a given months cost of sales. I do have to add any credit memos or misc. invoices but that is it. If I could find this box and check it I would only have to add credit memos.
Thanks in advance
Stephanie

"Edward F. Fox, Jr." <efox@...> wrote:
There is a flag in the misc charge setup for whether or not you want it on
the Gross Margin report. I see your point on CM's.

Edward F. Fox, Jr., CPA
Controller
Maxson Automatic Machinery Company
Phone: 401-596-0162 x110
Fax: 401-596-1050
www.maxsonautomatic.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon Schindell [mailto:gordons@...]
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 3:07 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Re: Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


Edward,

>From my original message:

"The built-in Sales Gross Margin report does not take into account
misc charges, credit memos, etc. (as per answerbook doc #788MPS)
Besides, it doesn't sort by customer or sales gross margin, as we would
like.
(The 'print to ascii' is unusable.)"

If you want to see total revenue and costs per customer, you would have to
take into account miscellaneous charges, credit memos issued, etc. The
Sales Gross Margin report does not do this.

For example, if you sold someone an item for $1,000.00 plus a misc charge of
$500.00, and then issued a credit for $100.00 back, Vantage would make it
look like your revenues were $1,000.00 for that customer, rather than
$1,400.00. If you tried to write your own report out of the invdtl table,
you could pick up the misc charge and the credit, but then your costs for
the job would be out, because the cost info in the invdtl table is cast in
stone at time of shipping. Hence the dilemma.

Gord.

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward F. Fox, Jr. [mailto:efox@...]
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 9:48 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Re: Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


I may have missed something, but what is wrong with the Gross Margin Report?

Edward F. Fox, Jr., CPA
Controller
Maxson Automatic Machinery Company
Phone: 401-596-0162 x110
Fax: 401-596-1050
www.maxsonautomatic.com



Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/



Yahoo! Groups SponsorADVERTISEMENT

Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
2
All,

It seems to me that it's impossible to create reports in Vantage that
accurately show sales per customer with prices and costs. What more basic
information could you want from an ERP? So far I'm stumped.

The built-in Sales Gross Margin report does not take into account misc
charges, credit memos, etc. (as per answerbook doc #788MPS) Besides, it
doesn't sort by customer or sales gross margin, as we would like. (The
'print to ascii' is unusable.)

I created a series of custom reports based on the Invoice Details table
which DOES show extended price and total costs per customer, and also takes
into account credit memos, misc charges, etc. But then realized they were
useless because any costs added to jobs after shipment are not recognized,
and we do this a lot in our shop.

We ship jobs when they are finished on the shop floor, and then typically
the last remaining labor and mtl costs are added the next day when time
cards and job pick lists are entered. These costs do not show up on the
price and cost data pulled from the Invoice Details table because these
costs are set at time of shipment (as per answerbook doc #259.722MPS.)

The boss wants to know what sales there were in a given month for each
customer with true prices and true costs. Has anybody figured out how to
get this 'impossible' data?

Right now I'm thinking that Vantage is fundamentally broken.

Gordon Schindell
Almac Machine Works, Ltd.
Edmonton, AB
3
Sounds like you need to get the data collection module going to get your
costs entered earlier.

Patrick Winter
sSc Specialty Screw Corporation
Vantage 5.10.130, Progress 9.1C



-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon Schindell [mailto:gordons@...]
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 5:18 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: [Vantage] Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


All,

It seems to me that it's impossible to create reports in Vantage that
accurately show sales per customer with prices and costs. What more basic
information could you want from an ERP? So far I'm stumped.

The built-in Sales Gross Margin report does not take into account misc
charges, credit memos, etc. (as per answerbook doc #788MPS) Besides, it
doesn't sort by customer or sales gross margin, as we would like. (The
'print to ascii' is unusable.)

I created a series of custom reports based on the Invoice Details table
which DOES show extended price and total costs per customer, and also takes
into account credit memos, misc charges, etc. But then realized they were
useless because any costs added to jobs after shipment are not recognized,
and we do this a lot in our shop.

We ship jobs when they are finished on the shop floor, and then typically
the last remaining labor and mtl costs are added the next day when time
cards and job pick lists are entered. These costs do not show up on the
price and cost data pulled from the Invoice Details table because these
costs are set at time of shipment (as per answerbook doc #259.722MPS.)

The boss wants to know what sales there were in a given month for each
customer with true prices and true costs. Has anybody figured out how to
get this 'impossible' data?

Right now I'm thinking that Vantage is fundamentally broken.

Gordon Schindell
Almac Machine Works, Ltd.
Edmonton, AB


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy
Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for Your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer
at Myinks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/l.m7sD/LIdGAA/qnsNAA/PhFolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
4
Profit and loss by sales order line item ... using actual, real, costs ...

The holy grail ...

If you figure it out let us know, I've been trying to find a system like
that for years.

-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon Schindell [mailto:gordons@...]
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 5:18 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: [Vantage] Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


All,

It seems to me that it's impossible to create reports in Vantage that
accurately show sales per customer with prices and costs. What more basic
information could you want from an ERP? So far I'm stumped.

The built-in Sales Gross Margin report does not take into account misc
charges, credit memos, etc. (as per answerbook doc #788MPS) Besides, it
doesn't sort by customer or sales gross margin, as we would like. (The
'print to ascii' is unusable.)

I created a series of custom reports based on the Invoice Details table
which DOES show extended price and total costs per customer, and also takes
into account credit memos, misc charges, etc. But then realized they were
useless because any costs added to jobs after shipment are not recognized,
and we do this a lot in our shop.

We ship jobs when they are finished on the shop floor, and then typically
the last remaining labor and mtl costs are added the next day when time
cards and job pick lists are entered. These costs do not show up on the
price and cost data pulled from the Invoice Details table because these
costs are set at time of shipment (as per answerbook doc #259.722MPS.)

The boss wants to know what sales there were in a given month for each
customer with true prices and true costs. Has anybody figured out how to
get this 'impossible' data?

Right now I'm thinking that Vantage is fundamentally broken.

Gordon Schindell
Almac Machine Works, Ltd.
Edmonton, AB



Yahoo! Groups Sponsor

<http://rd.yahoo.com/M=259395.3614674.4902533.1261774/D=egroupweb/S=17050071
83:HM/A=1524963/R=0/SIG=12o885gmo/*http://hits.411web.com/cgi-bin/autoredir?
camp=556&lineid=3614674&prop=egroupweb&pos=HM>

<http://us.adserver.yahoo.com/l?M=259395.3614674.4902533.1261774/D=egroupmai
l/S=:HM/A=1524963/rand=224636275>

Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.>
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages>
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links>

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service
<http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
5
Hi Gordon ...

Do you allow your end items to go to inventory and then
ship them from stock .. or do you ship them off a job?

If shipping off the job, how does your company decide it
has actually finished gathering up all the costs for the job?

If shipping out of inventory, how does the impact of late
arriving costs get adjusted into the value of the on-hand
balance?

All cost elements (Burden, Labor, Material .. etc) are
able to be adjusted ... at any stage of completion .. even
after shipment.

Vantage has no mechanism by which to decide that you must be
done entering costs. It's just a big calculatin' mailbox, so
the business processes around it are the determining factor in
accurate cost analysis.

I'd offer some of my reports, but you don't sound too stumped
as to how to read data that already exists in Vantage. Seems
like you are sorta whipsawed by processes outside of Vantage.


Mike


-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon Schindell [mailto:gordons@...]
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 5:18 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: [Vantage] Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


All,

It seems to me that it's impossible to create reports in Vantage that
accurately show sales per customer with prices and costs. What more basic
information could you want from an ERP? So far I'm stumped.

The built-in Sales Gross Margin report does not take into account misc
charges, credit memos, etc. (as per answerbook doc #788MPS) Besides, it
doesn't sort by customer or sales gross margin, as we would like. (The
'print to ascii' is unusable.)

I created a series of custom reports based on the Invoice Details table
which DOES show extended price and total costs per customer, and also takes
into account credit memos, misc charges, etc. But then realized they were
useless because any costs added to jobs after shipment are not recognized,
and we do this a lot in our shop.

We ship jobs when they are finished on the shop floor, and then typically
the last remaining labor and mtl costs are added the next day when time
cards and job pick lists are entered. These costs do not show up on the
price and cost data pulled from the Invoice Details table because these
costs are set at time of shipment (as per answerbook doc #259.722MPS.)

The boss wants to know what sales there were in a given month for each
customer with true prices and true costs. Has anybody figured out how to
get this 'impossible' data?

Right now I'm thinking that Vantage is fundamentally broken.

Gordon Schindell
Almac Machine Works, Ltd.
Edmonton, AB



Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
6
We have had same problem. We analyze closed jobs after all costs are issued
costs. We were able to get the last selling price to be linked to the
closed job production detail. Now that we have CorVu, we have been able to
create COS report that is very useful, but not perfect. It still needs fine
tuning. We also analyze our manufacturing variance report identify what
processes are causing costs not to be issued to the job before shipment or
stocking.

Having that CorVu report has made a big difference.

Tom Ford

-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon Schindell [mailto:gordons@...]
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 5:18 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: [Vantage] Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?

All,

It seems to me that it's impossible to create reports in Vantage that
accurately show sales per customer with prices and costs. What more basic
information could you want from an ERP? So far I'm stumped.

The built-in Sales Gross Margin report does not take into account misc
charges, credit memos, etc. (as per answerbook doc #788MPS) Besides, it
doesn't sort by customer or sales gross margin, as we would like. (The
'print to ascii' is unusable.)

I created a series of custom reports based on the Invoice Details table
which DOES show extended price and total costs per customer, and also takes
into account credit memos, misc charges, etc. But then realized they were
useless because any costs added to jobs after shipment are not recognized,
and we do this a lot in our shop.

We ship jobs when they are finished on the shop floor, and then typically
the last remaining labor and mtl costs are added the next day when time
cards and job pick lists are entered. These costs do not show up on the
price and cost data pulled from the Invoice Details table because these
costs are set at time of shipment (as per answerbook doc #259.722MPS.)

The boss wants to know what sales there were in a given month for each
customer with true prices and true costs. Has anybody figured out how to
get this 'impossible' data?

Right now I'm thinking that Vantage is fundamentally broken.

Gordon Schindell
Almac Machine Works, Ltd.
Edmonton, AB



Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
7
Doesn't seem all that hard, unless I'm misunderstanding your
requirement.

1. Get the required job cost data - jobasmbl has the current
summaries - create a unit cost from that, per job number.
2. Get the required invoice information, create a unit revenue per SO
line from that, reference the packing slip.
3. Join the cost and revenue data on the lot information in the
packing slip if you ship from inventory, or the job number if you
ship from the job. We're inventory based, so we use the job number as
the lot number to make this connection simple. It's even more obvious
if you ship from the job.

We don't typically slice it at the SO line level, more usually it's a
customer/part/month view, but there's no reason you couldn't as long
as the invoice export contains the fields. I use my own Progress
applets to get the data and manipulate it from a menu choice, but you
could use the export utility, or an ODBC connection to feed tables
that could be used in Crystal or Access as well.

The reporting has been the easy part. Getting production to enter the
cost data correctly (or at all) is the real test.

regards,
John

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, Todd Anderson <tanderson@j...> wrote:
> Profit and loss by sales order line item ... using actual, real,
costs ...
>
> The holy grail ...
>
> If you figure it out let us know, I've been trying to find a system
like
> that for years.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gordon Schindell [mailto:gordons@a...]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 5:18 PM
> To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
> Subject: [Vantage] Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?
>
>
> All,
>
> It seems to me that it's impossible to create reports in Vantage
that
> accurately show sales per customer with prices and costs. What more
basic
> information could you want from an ERP? So far I'm stumped.
>
> The built-in Sales Gross Margin report does not take into account
misc
> charges, credit memos, etc. (as per answerbook doc #788MPS)
Besides, it
> doesn't sort by customer or sales gross margin, as we would like.
(The
> 'print to ascii' is unusable.)
>
> I created a series of custom reports based on the Invoice Details
table
> which DOES show extended price and total costs per customer, and
also takes
> into account credit memos, misc charges, etc. But then realized
they were
> useless because any costs added to jobs after shipment are not
recognized,
> and we do this a lot in our shop.
>
> We ship jobs when they are finished on the shop floor, and then
typically
> the last remaining labor and mtl costs are added the next day when
time
> cards and job pick lists are entered. These costs do not show up on
the
> price and cost data pulled from the Invoice Details table because
these
> costs are set at time of shipment (as per answerbook doc
#259.722MPS.)
>
> The boss wants to know what sales there were in a given month for
each
> customer with true prices and true costs. Has anybody figured out
how to
> get this 'impossible' data?
>
> Right now I'm thinking that Vantage is fundamentally broken.
>
> Gordon Schindell
> Almac Machine Works, Ltd.
> Edmonton, AB
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
>
>
<http://rd.yahoo.com/M=259395.3614674.4902533.1261774/D=egroupweb/S=17
050071
> 83:HM/A=1524963/R=0/SIG=12o885gmo/*http://hits.411web.com/cgi-
bin/autoredir?
> camp=556&lineid=3614674&prop=egroupweb&pos=HM>
>
> <http://us.adserver.yahoo.com/l?
M=259395.3614674.4902533.1261774/D=egroupmai
> l/S=:HM/A=1524963/rand=224636275>
>
> Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You
must have
> already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
> (1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report
Builder and
> Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.>
> (2) To search through old msg's goto:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages>
> (3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service
> <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
8
I may have missed something, but what is wrong with the Gross Margin Report?

Edward F. Fox, Jr., CPA
Controller
Maxson Automatic Machinery Company
Phone: 401-596-0162 x110
Fax: 401-596-1050
www.maxsonautomatic.com


-----Original Message-----
From: johnahannaford [mailto:johnh@...]
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 11:01 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Re: Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


Doesn't seem all that hard, unless I'm misunderstanding your
requirement.

1. Get the required job cost data - jobasmbl has the current
summaries - create a unit cost from that, per job number.
2. Get the required invoice information, create a unit revenue per SO
line from that, reference the packing slip.
3. Join the cost and revenue data on the lot information in the
packing slip if you ship from inventory, or the job number if you
ship from the job. We're inventory based, so we use the job number as
the lot number to make this connection simple. It's even more obvious
if you ship from the job.

We don't typically slice it at the SO line level, more usually it's a
customer/part/month view, but there's no reason you couldn't as long
as the invoice export contains the fields. I use my own Progress
applets to get the data and manipulate it from a menu choice, but you
could use the export utility, or an ODBC connection to feed tables
that could be used in Crystal or Access as well.

The reporting has been the easy part. Getting production to enter the
cost data correctly (or at all) is the real test.

regards,
John

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, Todd Anderson <tanderson@j...> wrote:
> Profit and loss by sales order line item ... using actual, real,
costs ...
>
> The holy grail ...
>
> If you figure it out let us know, I've been trying to find a system
like
> that for years.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gordon Schindell [mailto:gordons@a...]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 5:18 PM
> To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
> Subject: [Vantage] Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?
>
>
> All,
>
> It seems to me that it's impossible to create reports in Vantage
that
> accurately show sales per customer with prices and costs. What more
basic
> information could you want from an ERP? So far I'm stumped.
>
> The built-in Sales Gross Margin report does not take into account
misc
> charges, credit memos, etc. (as per answerbook doc #788MPS)
Besides, it
> doesn't sort by customer or sales gross margin, as we would like.
(The
> 'print to ascii' is unusable.)
>
> I created a series of custom reports based on the Invoice Details
table
> which DOES show extended price and total costs per customer, and
also takes
> into account credit memos, misc charges, etc. But then realized
they were
> useless because any costs added to jobs after shipment are not
recognized,
> and we do this a lot in our shop.
>
> We ship jobs when they are finished on the shop floor, and then
typically
> the last remaining labor and mtl costs are added the next day when
time
> cards and job pick lists are entered. These costs do not show up on
the
> price and cost data pulled from the Invoice Details table because
these
> costs are set at time of shipment (as per answerbook doc
#259.722MPS.)
>
> The boss wants to know what sales there were in a given month for
each
> customer with true prices and true costs. Has anybody figured out
how to
> get this 'impossible' data?
>
> Right now I'm thinking that Vantage is fundamentally broken.
>
> Gordon Schindell
> Almac Machine Works, Ltd.
> Edmonton, AB
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
>
>
<http://rd.yahoo.com/M=259395.3614674.4902533.1261774/D=egroupweb/S=17
050071
> 83:HM/A=1524963/R=0/SIG=12o885gmo/*http://hits.411web.com/cgi-
bin/autoredir?
> camp=556&lineid=3614674&prop=egroupweb&pos=HM>
>
> <http://us.adserver.yahoo.com/l?
M=259395.3614674.4902533.1261774/D=egroupmai
> l/S=:HM/A=1524963/rand=224636275>
>
> Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You
must have
> already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
> (1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report
Builder and
> Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.>
> (2) To search through old msg's goto:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages>
> (3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service
> <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
9
I have noticed,in version 5.2, that the Sales Gross margin Report is
very handy. The improvements from earlier Vantage versions include
information from jobs that are not yet closed. One must be good at
reporting time with good labor/burden costs, and if one does not have
a price for a purchase order, use an estimate, then when the invoice
is paid that becomes the cost factor.

Mike Gilchrist

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, Gordon Schindell <gordons@a...> wrote:
> All,
>
> It seems to me that it's impossible to create reports in Vantage
that
> accurately show sales per customer with prices and costs. What more
basic
> information could you want from an ERP? So far I'm stumped.
>
> The built-in Sales Gross Margin report does not take into account
misc
> charges, credit memos, etc. (as per answerbook doc #788MPS)
Besides, it
> doesn't sort by customer or sales gross margin, as we would like.
(The
> 'print to ascii' is unusable.)
>
> I created a series of custom reports based on the Invoice Details
table
> which DOES show extended price and total costs per customer, and
also takes
> into account credit memos, misc charges, etc. But then realized
they were
> useless because any costs added to jobs after shipment are not
recognized,
> and we do this a lot in our shop.
>
> We ship jobs when they are finished on the shop floor, and then
typically
> the last remaining labor and mtl costs are added the next day when
time
> cards and job pick lists are entered. These costs do not show up on
the
> price and cost data pulled from the Invoice Details table because
these
> costs are set at time of shipment (as per answerbook doc
#259.722MPS.)
>
> The boss wants to know what sales there were in a given month for
each
> customer with true prices and true costs. Has anybody figured out
how to
> get this 'impossible' data?
>
> Right now I'm thinking that Vantage is fundamentally broken.
>
> Gordon Schindell
> Almac Machine Works, Ltd.
> Edmonton, AB
10
Edward,

From my original message:

"The built-in Sales Gross Margin report does not take into account
misc charges, credit memos, etc. (as per answerbook doc #788MPS)
Besides, it doesn't sort by customer or sales gross margin, as we would
like.
(The 'print to ascii' is unusable.)"

If you want to see total revenue and costs per customer, you would have to
take into account miscellaneous charges, credit memos issued, etc. The
Sales Gross Margin report does not do this.

For example, if you sold someone an item for $1,000.00 plus a misc charge of
$500.00, and then issued a credit for $100.00 back, Vantage would make it
look like your revenues were $1,000.00 for that customer, rather than
$1,400.00. If you tried to write your own report out of the invdtl table,
you could pick up the misc charge and the credit, but then your costs for
the job would be out, because the cost info in the invdtl table is cast in
stone at time of shipping. Hence the dilemma.

Gord.

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward F. Fox, Jr. [mailto:efox@...]
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 9:48 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Re: Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


I may have missed something, but what is wrong with the Gross Margin Report?

Edward F. Fox, Jr., CPA
Controller
Maxson Automatic Machinery Company
Phone: 401-596-0162 x110
Fax: 401-596-1050
www.maxsonautomatic.com
11
Mike,

We ship directly from jobs 90% of the time, as I expect most job shops
would. Costs are usually all in the next day after shipping, as I expect
most shops would do that don't use real-time data collection. Our
procedures must be fairly typical for the type of business we are in. What
this adds up to is that Vantage is not really suitable for the job-shop
environment, at least if you are interested in what your costs and revenues
are.


-----Original Message-----
From: Michael D. Howard [mailto:mike@...]
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 8:18 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


Hi Gordon ...

Do you allow your end items to go to inventory and then
ship them from stock .. or do you ship them off a job?

If shipping off the job, how does your company decide it
has actually finished gathering up all the costs for the job?

If shipping out of inventory, how does the impact of late
arriving costs get adjusted into the value of the on-hand
balance?

All cost elements (Burden, Labor, Material .. etc) are
able to be adjusted ... at any stage of completion .. even
after shipment.

Vantage has no mechanism by which to decide that you must be
done entering costs. It's just a big calculatin' mailbox, so
the business processes around it are the determining factor in
accurate cost analysis.

I'd offer some of my reports, but you don't sound too stumped
as to how to read data that already exists in Vantage. Seems
like you are sorta whipsawed by processes outside of Vantage.


Mike


-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon Schindell [mailto:gordons@...]
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 5:18 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: [Vantage] Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


All,

It seems to me that it's impossible to create reports in Vantage that
accurately show sales per customer with prices and costs. What more basic
information could you want from an ERP? So far I'm stumped.

The built-in Sales Gross Margin report does not take into account misc
charges, credit memos, etc. (as per answerbook doc #788MPS) Besides, it
doesn't sort by customer or sales gross margin, as we would like. (The
'print to ascii' is unusable.)

I created a series of custom reports based on the Invoice Details table
which DOES show extended price and total costs per customer, and also takes
into account credit memos, misc charges, etc. But then realized they were
useless because any costs added to jobs after shipment are not recognized,
and we do this a lot in our shop.

We ship jobs when they are finished on the shop floor, and then typically
the last remaining labor and mtl costs are added the next day when time
cards and job pick lists are entered. These costs do not show up on the
price and cost data pulled from the Invoice Details table because these
costs are set at time of shipment (as per answerbook doc #259.722MPS.)

The boss wants to know what sales there were in a given month for each
customer with true prices and true costs. Has anybody figured out how to
get this 'impossible' data?

Right now I'm thinking that Vantage is fundamentally broken.

Gordon Schindell
Almac Machine Works, Ltd.
Edmonton, AB
12
Costs applied to jobs after jobs are shipped do hit the job. If you get the
job costs from the job assembly table, it is always updated. I'm not sure
why you think this doesn't happen. We are a job shop, we ship from the job.
All costs are sometimes not in for up to a month after job completion (i.e.
A/P invoices which adjust po amount). As soon as invoices are received, the
job costs are updated automatically in vantage.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
13
There is a flag in the misc charge setup for whether or not you want it on
the Gross Margin report. I see your point on CM's.

Edward F. Fox, Jr., CPA
Controller
Maxson Automatic Machinery Company
Phone: 401-596-0162 x110
Fax: 401-596-1050
www.maxsonautomatic.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon Schindell [mailto:gordons@...]
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 3:07 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Re: Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


Edward,

>From my original message:

"The built-in Sales Gross Margin report does not take into account
misc charges, credit memos, etc. (as per answerbook doc #788MPS)
Besides, it doesn't sort by customer or sales gross margin, as we would
like.
(The 'print to ascii' is unusable.)"

If you want to see total revenue and costs per customer, you would have to
take into account miscellaneous charges, credit memos issued, etc. The
Sales Gross Margin report does not do this.

For example, if you sold someone an item for $1,000.00 plus a misc charge of
$500.00, and then issued a credit for $100.00 back, Vantage would make it
look like your revenues were $1,000.00 for that customer, rather than
$1,400.00. If you tried to write your own report out of the invdtl table,
you could pick up the misc charge and the credit, but then your costs for
the job would be out, because the cost info in the invdtl table is cast in
stone at time of shipping. Hence the dilemma.

Gord.

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward F. Fox, Jr. [mailto:efox@...]
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 9:48 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Re: Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


I may have missed something, but what is wrong with the Gross Margin Report?

Edward F. Fox, Jr., CPA
Controller
Maxson Automatic Machinery Company
Phone: 401-596-0162 x110
Fax: 401-596-1050
www.maxsonautomatic.com



Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
14
John, thanks for this. I'm going to try re-building cost and revenue
reports using jobasmbl table as per below...

-----Original Message-----
From: johnahannaford [mailto:johnh@...]
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 9:01 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Re: Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


Doesn't seem all that hard, unless I'm misunderstanding your
requirement.

1. Get the required job cost data - jobasmbl has the current
summaries - create a unit cost from that, per job number.
2. Get the required invoice information, create a unit revenue per SO
line from that, reference the packing slip.
3. Join the cost and revenue data on the lot information in the
packing slip if you ship from inventory, or the job number if you
ship from the job. We're inventory based, so we use the job number as
the lot number to make this connection simple. It's even more obvious
if you ship from the job.

We don't typically slice it at the SO line level, more usually it's a
customer/part/month view, but there's no reason you couldn't as long
as the invoice export contains the fields. I use my own Progress
applets to get the data and manipulate it from a menu choice, but you
could use the export utility, or an ODBC connection to feed tables
that could be used in Crystal or Access as well.

The reporting has been the easy part. Getting production to enter the
cost data correctly (or at all) is the real test.

regards,
John
15
How often do you run Capture COS/Activity? To my understanding, once
you run this, costs are frozen and any costs applied to the job do not
update cost of sales.

Kathy Schmidt
MIS Administrator
The Freeman Company
kathyschmidt@...

Ph: 605-665-7456
Fx: 605-665-7882



-----Original Message-----
From: sarah.vareschi@... [mailto:sarah.vareschi@...]

Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 1:18 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


Costs applied to jobs after jobs are shipped do hit the job. If you get
the job costs from the job assembly table, it is always updated. I'm
not sure why you think this doesn't happen. We are a job shop, we ship
from the job. All costs are sometimes not in for up to a month after job
completion (i.e. A/P invoices which adjust po amount). As soon as
invoices are received, the job costs are updated automatically in
vantage.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must
have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder
and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
16
We run this once a month. I know that costs still get updated to a job
(jobAssmbl table) after this is run, i.e. through A/P invoice entry. All of
our analysis reports are written from this table, so that's the only thing I
can vouch for.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
17
Gordon,

What reporting tool are you using?

John

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, Gordon Schindell <gordons@a...> wrote:
> John, thanks for this. I'm going to try re-building cost and
revenue
> reports using jobasmbl table as per below...
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: johnahannaford [mailto:johnh@p...]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 9:01 AM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Vantage] Re: Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?
>
>
> Doesn't seem all that hard, unless I'm misunderstanding your
> requirement.
>
> 1. Get the required job cost data - jobasmbl has the current
> summaries - create a unit cost from that, per job number.
> 2. Get the required invoice information, create a unit revenue per
SO
> line from that, reference the packing slip.
> 3. Join the cost and revenue data on the lot information in the
> packing slip if you ship from inventory, or the job number if you
> ship from the job. We're inventory based, so we use the job number
as
> the lot number to make this connection simple. It's even more
obvious
> if you ship from the job.
>
> We don't typically slice it at the SO line level, more usually it's
a
> customer/part/month view, but there's no reason you couldn't as
long
> as the invoice export contains the fields. I use my own Progress
> applets to get the data and manipulate it from a menu choice, but
you
> could use the export utility, or an ODBC connection to feed tables
> that could be used in Crystal or Access as well.
>
> The reporting has been the easy part. Getting production to enter
the
> cost data correctly (or at all) is the real test.
>
> regards,
> John
18
Thanks, Sara, I wasn't using JobAsmbl table, but rather InvDtl. Will try
re-writing reports.

-----Original Message-----
From: sarah.vareschi@... [mailto:sarah.vareschi@...]
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 1:18 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


Costs applied to jobs after jobs are shipped do hit the job. If you get the
job costs from the job assembly table, it is always updated. I'm not sure
why you think this doesn't happen. We are a job shop, we ship from the job.
All costs are sometimes not in for up to a month after job completion (i.e.
A/P invoices which adjust po amount). As soon as invoices are received, the
job costs are updated automatically in vantage.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
19
Thanks, Edward, I checked our misc charges, and this wasn't set up
consistently.

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward F. Fox, Jr. [mailto:efox@...]
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 1:20 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Re: Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


There is a flag in the misc charge setup for whether or not you want it on
the Gross Margin report. I see your point on CM's.

Edward F. Fox, Jr., CPA
Controller
Maxson Automatic Machinery Company
Phone: 401-596-0162 x110
Fax: 401-596-1050
www.maxsonautomatic.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon Schindell [mailto:gordons@...]
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 3:07 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Re: Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


Edward,

>From my original message:

"The built-in Sales Gross Margin report does not take into account
misc charges, credit memos, etc. (as per answerbook doc #788MPS)
Besides, it doesn't sort by customer or sales gross margin, as we would
like.
(The 'print to ascii' is unusable.)"

If you want to see total revenue and costs per customer, you would have to
take into account miscellaneous charges, credit memos issued, etc. The
Sales Gross Margin report does not do this.

For example, if you sold someone an item for $1,000.00 plus a misc charge of
$500.00, and then issued a credit for $100.00 back, Vantage would make it
look like your revenues were $1,000.00 for that customer, rather than
$1,400.00. If you tried to write your own report out of the invdtl table,
you could pick up the misc charge and the credit, but then your costs for
the job would be out, because the cost info in the invdtl table is cast in
stone at time of shipping. Hence the dilemma.

Gord.

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward F. Fox, Jr. [mailto:efox@...]
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 9:48 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Re: Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


I may have missed something, but what is wrong with the Gross Margin Report?

Edward F. Fox, Jr., CPA
Controller
Maxson Automatic Machinery Company
Phone: 401-596-0162 x110
Fax: 401-596-1050
www.maxsonautomatic.com



Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/




Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
20
John,

I'll try using Report Builder first. Think I'll have to go to Crystal for
this?

Gord

-----Original Message-----
From: johnahannaford [mailto:johnh@...]
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 2:05 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Re: Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?


Gordon,

What reporting tool are you using?

John

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, Gordon Schindell <gordons@a...> wrote:
> John, thanks for this. I'm going to try re-building cost and
revenue
> reports using jobasmbl table as per below...
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: johnahannaford [mailto:johnh@p...]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 9:01 AM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Vantage] Re: Sales and costs impossible to get in Vantage?
>
>
> Doesn't seem all that hard, unless I'm misunderstanding your
> requirement.
>
> 1. Get the required job cost data - jobasmbl has the current
> summaries - create a unit cost from that, per job number.
> 2. Get the required invoice information, create a unit revenue per
SO
> line from that, reference the packing slip.
> 3. Join the cost and revenue data on the lot information in the
> packing slip if you ship from inventory, or the job number if you
> ship from the job. We're inventory based, so we use the job number
as
> the lot number to make this connection simple. It's even more
obvious
> if you ship from the job.
>
> We don't typically slice it at the SO line level, more usually it's
a
> customer/part/month view, but there's no reason you couldn't as
long
> as the invoice export contains the fields. I use my own Progress
> applets to get the data and manipulate it from a menu choice, but
you
> could use the export utility, or an ODBC connection to feed tables
> that could be used in Crystal or Access as well.
>
> The reporting has been the easy part. Getting production to enter
the
> cost data correctly (or at all) is the real test.
>
> regards,
> John



Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/