Sage 100

I received this from a customer. My typical recommendation would be for the customer to use one of the widely available WMS solutions, however in this case they are inquiring about whether it's possible to do an inventory physical count with a scanner which would let them make the count and then come back and download the data. 

Annual physical inventory count is coming up in a month. We're looking to streamline the process and are considering the addition of barcode labels to all inventory boxes, tagged with the Sage Item #. The goal is to use handheld wireless barcode readers for data collection, similar to what you might see employees using in large retail stores.

While I'm aware that there are budget-friendly Bluetooth barcode readers that can be paired with laptops for direct data entry into spreadsheets, we are looking for a solution that allows for data collection first, followed by a download into an Excel spreadsheet. This would ideally bypass the need for real-time data entry and allow for a more flexible counting process.

I've looked into WMS solutions, but it seems like their applications offer more features than we actually need, making it a bit of an overkill for this specific task.

Has anyone here had experience with a simpler, more cost-effective solution that aligns with these requirements? Your insights would be invaluable as we finalize our approach for the upcoming inventory count.

Looking forward to your thoughts and recommendations.

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Wayne Schulz
wayne@s-consult.com
Schulz Consulting
(860) 516-8990
Moodus, CT
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Good luck on this!!!!  Had similar situation five or so years ago.  I think Doug Jenkins are Harold Westover had thoughts on custom programming, but they have since reprioritized their lives.  You have probably pointed them in Scanforce direction but they are balking at the upfront costs without even thinking of the tremendous back end savings.  IMHO, their LOSS!  I have numerous accounts using a scanner, laptop (plus cart) and Excel and they all love it.  Especially the part where they get instant feedback on the correctness of the scan.

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Jeff Schwenk
Bottomline Software, Inc.
(540) 221-4444
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My thoughts as well. In today's environment many of my customers insist on self-researching technology and self-selecting add-ons with minimal input. The Internet makes it "so easy". Until it's not. The best solution I've found is provide my feedback and stand back until asked to engage. I know the conventional wisdom is "hop in the car and deliver a $20,000 project management agreement". Unless I can tell three stories of customers exactly like them who I've helped within the past 24 months - most customers aren't buying any project management from me ( hat tip to those who actually collect a check for those engagements without being able to tell the story ).

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Wayne Schulz
wayne@s-consult.com
Schulz Consulting
(860) 516-8990
Moodus, CT
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-11-2023 15:26
From: Jeff Schwenk
Subject: Inventory count using just a wireless bar code scanner

Good luck on this!!!!  Had similar situation five or so years ago.  I think Doug Jenkins are Harold Westover had thoughts on custom programming, but they have since reprioritized their lives.  You have probably pointed them in Scanforce direction but they are balking at the upfront costs without even thinking of the tremendous back end savings.  IMHO, their LOSS!  I have numerous accounts using a scanner, laptop (plus cart) and Excel and they all love it.  Especially the part where they get instant feedback on the correctness of the scan.

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Jeff Schwenk
Bottomline Software, Inc.
(540) 221-4444
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I agree with @Jeff Schwenk on this one.  It is short sighted to ingore an industry standard warehouse automation applicaiton that is designed to interface with Sage 100 because it may inlcude features they do not want.  If they are looking for software for hand held devices that hold data and then load an excel spreadsheet at a later time, so the spreadsheet can be imported, that would be a 'non Sage related' request.  How is he going to print his bar codes?  His WMS can do that for him, too.  He will have to use the excel spreadsheet to "consolidate" the counts for import, or use Count Card Entry; where a WMS does it for him automatically.  Warehouse Automation on a buget.  If you find something like that, that works, I too would love to hear about it.  :) 

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Madeline Stefanou
RKL eSolutions, LLC
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15 years ago we used scanners from Worth Data and they are still around at https://barcodehq.com.  The units are easily programmable (including voice prompts for the user) and were always reliable.  They also have software to facilitate the data download from the scanners to Excel.  It supposed it fits a niche for do-it-yourself clients that have some technical know-how on staff.  We stopped using them when ScanForce came around because they did so much more and it was easier for us and the clients in the long run.

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Bernie Lehman
Partner
Lehman Wesley & Associates
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The physical count process is complicated, even using the Sage tools.  Trying to build your own solution to make it "easier"... good luck with that. 

The number of times I've had to troubleshoot bad counts is not small... simply because user's don't understand the basics. 

• Catch Sage data entry up to a point in time (while stopping all inventory movement).
• Freeze (which is really just a snapshot).
• Count, based on the Freeze data as the starting point (write it down, make a spreadsheet...).
• When done counting, resume normal activity...
  • ...then enter / import the count numbers and print / post the variance register anytime after that.

If they think their method will help with the count, while following the process... well... again, good luck with that.

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Kevin Moyes
Technical Systems Analyst
Munjal White Consulting Co.
Toronto ON
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Mobility for Bar Code?  I configured years ago when it was released.  Tested Physical Count Entry for ABC.   I don't recall if it can be used for Count Card Entry.

For importing into IM_PHYSICAL from spreadsheet, freezing must occur with QOH captured in the source file. 

One client imports into IM_COUNTCARDHEADER/DETAIL, because of multiple warehouses / counters and FIFO where only Quantity Counted is needed.  Freeze still must occur before updating Count Cards into Physical Count Entry.

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Bob Pfahnl
Manager - Silicon Valley
DSD Business Systems
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-16-2023 12:06
From: Kevin Moyes
Subject: Inventory count using just a wireless bar code scanner

The physical count process is complicated, even using the Sage tools.  Trying to build your own solution to make it "easier"... good luck with that. 

The number of times I've had to troubleshoot bad counts is not small... simply because user's don't understand the basics. 

• Catch Sage data entry up to a point in time (while stopping all inventory movement).
• Freeze (which is really just a snapshot).
• Count, based on the Freeze data as the starting point (write it down, make a spreadsheet...).
• When done counting, resume normal activity...
  • ...then enter / import the count numbers and print / post the variance register anytime after that.

If they think their method will help with the count, while following the process... well... again, good luck with that.

------------------------------
Kevin Moyes
Technical Systems Analyst
Munjal White Consulting Co.
Toronto ON
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