Micro Florist News

Release Dates and Activities

RELEASE 10/10/96

Implemented direct Zip Code entry for Address Verification in Flora Ticket. This was a pretty significant change, and requires Structure Update.

RELEASE 10/02/96

The following change has been made to Production Tracking:

Previously, "sub-items" added in Flora-Tickets (when selecting "More Items.."), were not being included in Production Tracking. The idea was, that sub-items were subset of the Order, thus only the main order was being tracked.

Now, by popular demand, ALL sub-items are also being included in Production Tracking, thus when doing Production Tracking, all Sub-Items must also be "checked in", and stamped by Designers.

RELEASE 09/14/96 - ** IMPORTANT NOTICE **

1) You must go to Station Setup in Flora-Ticket and set the Service Charge TAXABLE status on EVERY Flora-Ticket station. This is absolutely necessary, since now the Delivery Charge and Service charge Taxable defaults have been separated, and Service Charge Taxable status will default to "NO", unless you change it.

2) You can also setup each station to ask the Operator whether or not, the Service Charge is Taxable (separate from Delivery Charge).

3) When Division Filtering is Turned On, the Assigned vs. Sold Division Selection Menu has been enhanced, and the following selection has been added to this menu:

Ignore the Assigned Division, Select Sold Division

RELEASE 09/12/96

1) Improved the Ctrl-R (Auto-Repeat) function for Wire-Out orders. The new release now assigns Priority, and the Sending Florist Code.

2) The Credit Card Authorization verification has been adjusted to handle the Year 2000.

3) The key combination Alt-Tab in Search Engine (for re-setting of FLAGGED records), has been changed to Ctrl-Home. The reason for the change was that Alt-Tab is also used in Windows for switching between screens.

RELEASE 09/06/96

1) Enhanced the Combined Ticket.

2) When adding orders in Flora-Ticket, the system now prompts to Print Receipts, even if the "Prompt to Print Orders" is turned off.

3) The Credit Card slip had some extra characters, when the card was swiped. These have been eliminated. Also, when "Confirmation" was set to OFF, the credit card numbers sometimes overflow into the Expiration Date field. This problem has been corrected.

4) System has been modified for optimum Multi-Station Loading on the Server. Modules modified include; The Search Engine, the Main Cash Register loop, the Main Transactions Loop, and the Florist Directory Look up Loop.

RELEASE 07/12/96 - "Major Changes"

This Release brings with it the FULL implementation of the Sales Allocation feature. This particular feature has taken a long time to develop, due to complexities involved in its implementation, even-though due to the smooth User Interface, it may not show it.

1) Overview

The Sales Allocation feature allows you to stamp any Sale (in MFS) or Order (in Flora-Ticket) with an Allocation Account. Allocation Accounts are retrieved by accessing the Customer/Supplier database. The same smooth look up tools available for selecting customer are also available for selecting Allocation Accounts.

2) Application

Since you can now setup Customers/Suppliers/Employees as Allocation Accounts, this feature can be used to track commissions. In our Beta Site tests, customers have used this feature for tracking Charity Sales (by Schools, Churches, etc.), and track commissions for Employees. The Standard Sales reports now provide you with the additional option to list/Print Allocated Sales.

3) Sales Allocation in Micro Florist

To enable this feature, go to Division Environment Setup, and use the Customize Functions Screen. The system will prompt you whether you want to enable this feature. Then go to Cash Register and enter a sale. You will notice that system pops up the Sales Allocation assignment window.

4) Sales Allocation in Flora-Ticket

To enable this feature, go to the Setup menu (in Flora-Ticket by pressing F1), select "Station Setup", then select 'Adv. Tracking/ Defaults" setup. The system will prompt you whether you want to enable this feature. Enter 'Y', then enter an order, and notice that the system will now prompt you with a Sales Allocation Field. Press F1 to activate Customer/Supplier Search Screen. Implemented many background changes necessary to allow concurrent sessions of Micro Florist, Flora-Ticket and ..... (stay tuned and don't touch that dial!).

RELEASE 04/25/96

By popular demand, now ALL employee password levels can leave a message for the Manager, during punch in/out. It used to be that for Level 1 employees, they could only READ messages. As a reminder, Managers can review Employee Memo, by pressing Backspace while accessing Employee profile. During Delivery Ticket access, Driver stamping of Delivery Times has now been modified such that, when entering the Completion Time, the system now defaults to the Current Time, instead of the Pickup Time.

The problem accessing the Enclosure Card messages during the Setup of Division Messages has now been resolved. The problem only occurred after the messages were already modified, and no negative consequence.

RELEASE 04/22/96

Added the ability to REPEAT Last Order's Delivery and Card message information for the current (given that the last order contained delivery information, and the current order can use it). Pressing F3 does the task, at the same place where the 'Ins' key Inserts Sender's information.

A problem with "Adding More Items" in the Flora-Ticket's Instant Edit menu that was introduced a couple of Releases ago, has now been fixed.

Added the Cashier Initials to Custom Order and Work Order tickets. Added Item qty, sales type, and to Custom Order Tickets. Added the Delivery Date to Enclosure Card's front panel.

RELEASE 04/20/96

Greatly improved the "Bad Swipe" error detection and compensation algorithms, so that SWIPED cards now get far fewer rejects due to marginal / dirty and/or untrained Operators.

RELEASE 04/02/96

When using the new "Buffered" mode in Flora-Ticket (for Multi-Session order entry under Windows-95), the F3 (modify) operation was always defaulting to the FIRST sub-sale ONLY (in a Multi-sale order). The problem has been resolved in this Release, allowing F3 to modify any

RELEASE 04/01/96

When making Finished Good items that go on the shelf/cooler (not made to a Custom Order), the User can now specify an EXISTING item (that was previously made), as the FG item, and the system will now allow that, and will adjust the Qty_on_Hand accordingly with the quantity built.

Note: In this case, the FG item's COST (Average Cost) is always the most RECENT cost of production. The system does perform cost averaging.

RELEASE 03/25/96

Some shops with "Multi-Shop" Mercury setup, were experiencing problems with their REC message transmissions. The problem was worked out with Floral Network, and the fix is incorporated into this Release.

Under Windows-95, the system was generating temporary .CDX files in the \sms\comm directory (while orders being pulled from the Host). This Release cleans up all such files, during the File Maintenance routines.

The "Optimized Supplier Access" Dialogue box has been removed for systems with total Customer/Supplier records of less than 5000. For this size database, optimization is NOT necessary, and virtually makes no difference in Access Time.

Implemented a NEW "Buffered" approach for Customer Additions in Flora-Ticket, which facilitates "Multi-Session" order entry on the HOST, while Order Processing is active in the BACKGROUND. Obviously this ONLY applies to Multi-Tasking environments such as Windows-95. Work Order Tickets now show "Item #n OF m". The "OF m" portion has been added in this Release.

Pickup orders with multiple items, now show "BLANK" date for the DUE DATE of Subsale Items (on Flora-Ticket screen). Previously the ORDER DATE was inserted into that field. However, the WORK TICKET will actually say: "See NEXT order...", instead of showing the BLANK date.

RELEASE 03/15/96

Major improvements made to the Enclosure Card Editor. First, the "Message Look up Tables" are now made available, at any time by pressing the F1 key (before the Look Up tables came up ONLY when the message area was EMPTY). Additional BLANK lines are now being added to the end of these Canned Messages, so that editing becomes smoother. Problem was resolved with "Adding New Lines" to the original Enclosure Card messages of Incoming Mercury orders.

RELEASE 03/14/96

Problem with PRINTING INVOICES was resolved on systems are still running Fox 2.5 compiler. The system maintains FULL BACKWARD compatibility with Fox 25 systems.

Added the appropriate "PAPER CUT" code to the Receipt Printing module, so that now, if your Receipt Printer has the AUTOMATIC CUTTER, the system will then CUT the paper automatically. The CUT "Control Code" is hard-coded into the software, and it supports the Star Micronics standard. Added the Invoice Number included in Payment Description to the "Customer Purchases/Payments Summary" Report. So, now you can track INVOICE NUMBERS by simply printing this report.

RELEASE 02/20/96

Pressing F6 in Delivery Ticket Database access now produces SERIES of Delivery Tickets that "look" exactly like STANDARD Delivery Tickets (instead of the previous REPORT FORMAT).

The Reporting of REC messages (Called-in FTD Wire-ins) via Mercury had a problem running on Mercury Systems configured as MULTI-SHOP systems. Problem corrected in this release. Also, the User Interface with respect to RE-TRANSMIT of REC messages has been enhanced.

When printing Invoices, the system now PROMPTS the User to authorize the RESETTING (or overriding) the of Central Invoice_No counter. Prior to this enhancement, the Invoice_No Counter was automatically RESET to the LAST Invoice_No entered (FORCED) by the User. The User now has the option to reprint an old Invoice_No, without resetting the counter.

A new utility called "Customer Balance Verification" utility has been added under Services Menu-> Customer Management/Reports -> Purchases / and Payment. This utility tracks ACTUAL purchases vs. Payments/Adjustments and produces a Trial Balance Work sheet for your review. This utility does NOT track INDIVIDUAL Finance Charges.

 RELEASE 02/06/96

Added "Optimized Supplier Access" during Supplier selection for Line-Account "Transfer To" and "Transfer From" operations. Also, corrected a prior INDEXING problem, on "some" systems (since Release 01/22/96), occasionally giving the "Can't find SUP Account" message.

RELEASE 02/05/96

Added the "Invoice_No Tracking Utility" directly on to the "Print Invoice / Receipt" selection of the Cash Register menu. This utility was (and still is) also available under "Customer Management/Reports". With this enhancement, you can locate ANY Invoice_No for Sales/Payment, BEFORE you generate more.

The maintenance of the "Invoice_No Counter" across the Network has now been enhanced to better keep track of simultaneous Invoice Printing on more than one station, at a time. With this enhancement, the possibility of REPEATING Invoice_No's have been TOTALLY eliminated. Also, the system now prompts the Operator, whether or not, s/he would like to OVERRIDE (or Update) the Internal Invoice_No Counter, when printing Invoices for "Group Of Customers".

On Remote-Link Host(s), the system now gives the Operator the option to bypass the "Resource File Preparation/Compression" during System Start up.

The "Aging Consistency Routines" have now been enhanced to better handle any inconsistencies in Customer Aged Balances. Also, to insure that the AGING is being performed on the CORRECT number of customers, The system now displays THE QUANTITY OF CUSTOMERS BEING AGED (i.e.; to make sure that at least 27 days have passed, since the last aging was done).

Release 01/22/96

Added the "Delivery Date" to INVOICES, after the name of the recipient.

The "Track specific Invoice No." utility is now made available under the "Print Invoices / Receipts" selection of the Cash Register menu. This powerful utility, tracks both Sales, as well as Payments made by ANY customer, for the specified INVOICE number.

For Direct Connection of Cash Drawers to COM ports, the MFS now allows you to specify the COM port (default is COM2:). In order to specify another COM port, simply put in Cash Register Receipt Printer field in the Auto-Switching specification, where n specifies COM1, COM2, COM3, or COM4.

Completed Instant Help coverage for all First Level Main Menu selections of the Micro Florist Main menu.

Implemented OPTIMIZED Supplier Access for Selecting Suppliers under the Supplier Transactions. Shops with extremely LARGE customer databases, were experiencing DELAYS when accessing Suppliers. The NEW optimized access, reduces the delay to almost ZERO. For details, please refer to Supplier Transactions in SGT's "Transactions" chapter. The Automatic Repair utility has been expanded to fix additional problems, specifically the "Index Does Not Match..." problem in Flora-Ticket.

Release 01/10/96

When entering the Recipient Information in Flora-Ticket, you can now access the entire Delivery Database, and select the recipient directly from the Server files. If the Recipient's last name is still blank, then the system will prompt the User to enter it, and it will then park itself on the CLOSEST name in the database. Pressing Enter will select the recipient, and will automatically insert the company name, address, phone numbers, and even the Delivery Notes into the current order. It also displays the OLD card message, and prompts the User whether or not, he/she wants to copy the message into the current order.

A new switch has been added to the Billing Specification Criteria, as follows: Prior to this change, the system printed the Aged Balances (30 Day, 60 day, 90 Day balances, as they became AFTER the aging was done. Since aging was done for the duration of the coming month, the "Current Balance" was shown as the NEW 30 day Balance, and so forth. This in fact exaggerated the Aged Balance status (at least for the first couple of weeks of the month), even though by the time the customers actually received the Statement, and were ready to pay it, the Aged Balance status, was (or became) indeed true. Most of the MFS Users originally asked for this, since it encouraged the customers to pay sooner.

However, we have been receiving requests from some of our new Users, that they would like to have an option, on this matter, depending on the Customer Type. So, in order to make everybody happy, the system now asks:

Show 30 Day, 60 Day, ... Balances as they were prior to the Last Aging ?   The default has been changed to "Yes", which in fact will show the NEW "30 Day Balance" (after aging), as the "Current Balance" (prior to aging). Depending on your point of view, this may be under-stating, or exaggerating the Aged Balance Status, but at least now you can decide...

Added the "Type of Order" (wire-in, delivery, etc.) and the Item # (the number) to the Work Order Ticket. Also, for Wire-In orders, when there are multiple items, the PRICE is still the TOTAL amount for the order, minus the delivery charge, but right next to it, each item's price is now displayed as well.

While in Flora-Ticket, pressing Alt-F7 will FAX the current Wire-Out order to the Filling Florist. The Fax number is initialized to the Florist's Phone Number, but you can over-ride the number with any fax number you wish. This feature is especially useful when orders are to the Wire-Service Headquarters without having to actually look up a florist from the Directory. Your system must have the Auto-Fax utility, in order for this feature to operate.

Release 01/07/96

Changed the Ctrl-F2 assignment (Show Order Status in Flora-Ticket) to the TAB key, so that it becomes a ONE finger operation. "The Order Status display operation is performed way too often for it to require a two key operation." (as stated by our customers...).

In order to speed up Production Tracking operations in Multi-User environments, we implemented Work (index) Files (the same method as the Driver's Short Cut). The Work Files are now local to each station, meaning each station can generate/update its own work files, without affecting other stations.

The Driver's Short Cut menu Work Files are now local as well. This allows a shop to have MORE than one Driver's Stations, with each Driver updating / generating his/her own work files. All Work files are now DELETED during the File Maintenance routine.

Major enhancements done to Finished Goods module. When making Finished Goods arrangements that go on the Shelf (non Custom Orders), you can now NAME your own Item_Id. This allows you to assign Item_Ids based on particular GROUPING of items. Also, you can now access such items in Flora-Ticket based on their (Inventory Item) Neighborhood.

The Flora-Ticket system now offers a Multi-Session switch that provides for smoother more robust Multi-Session Order Entry operation under Windows-95. This eliminates the need for having an extra Disk Drive for a separate Order Pad. The Switch is under Setup Menu-> Station Setup -> Order Transfer Access (second window). When enabled, orders that are being Added/Modified are first put into individual Buffer Files, and then appended to the Main order file, when Add/Modify operation is completed. In case of Unusual Shutdowns, the system will detect these Buffer Files during start up, and will allow you to append at that time.

Release 01/02/96

Increased Enclosure card lines by 3 additional lines to a total of 8 lines. Starting with this Release all Enclosure Card message entry operations (Cash Register, Delivery Ticket access, and Flora-Ticket), and printing of (Horizontal/Vertical) Enclosure cards, Combined Tickets, and Delivery Tickets) allow for 8 lines of Enclosure Card message.

 

Enclosure Card entry is now an EDIT REGION, complete with Word Wrapping, cut/paste, and line insert/delete. You can INSERT new words in the middle, and the Edit Region will push and word wrap text to open up space. Being an Edit Region you must press Tab (or Ctrl-Enter) to complete the Editing operation (same as Memo Fields).

When modifying Delivery Tickets, you can now Modify the Enclosure Card layout. So instead, when printing the Enclosure cards, the system no longer prompts you for editing the card layout. This should speed up re-printing of enclosure cards when no changes to the card message is necessary (which usually is the case). Also, when in Delivery Ticket access, you can now either print the Delivery Ticket, or the Enclosure Card (you don't have to print Delivery Tickets, in order to print the card).

Release 12/31/95

Implemented the "Order Production Tracking" utility. This utility is available under both the Cash Register menu, as well as the Flora-Ticket's Process menu.

By using this facility, a Designer can directly RETRIEVE orders that are DUE, and stamp them as Work-In-Progress. After production is completed, he/she can then stamp the (Work-In-Progress) order(s), as Complete.

While this is going on, the "Production Status" (whether production has been started, the time production started, the time production was finished, and the Designer's initials) is available to all Flora-Ticket stations, and Delivery Ticket access.

Designer's can now basically do away with the printed Work Orders and use the "Order Production Tracking" utility directly to pick the items they want to build, and keep everybody (including the Manager) informed of what is happening on his/her design counter.

The Manager can sit back at her office, and watch the production activity in the Design room.

Work orders produced during Flora-Ticket processing now include the information. Work Orders entered in Cash Register (for Cash & Carry sales) prompt you to specify whether the order is COD. This information helps you better manage PICK UP orders that are COD.

Enlarged the printing of DELIVERY DATE on Work Orders and Delivery Tickets.

Release 12/27/95

Brand new Florist Directory Translation utilities now produce both the "Main Listing", and the "Also Served By" directories for DOWNLOAD on the BBS. The "Also Served By" directories are offered at the same price, as the "Main Listings" directories, even though these files are 2-3 times larger. To reduce download time, and conserve disk space, we recommend that you download the "Also Served By" directories ONLY for those wire services that you do MOST of your Wire-out orders with. The "Main Listings" are sufficient for all Wire-in orders, and occasional wire out orders.

Further enhancements made to the printing of Combined Tickets. Directory Look up by City/State now allows you to mark florists as PREFERRED. It also shows the Mercury and status on the same screen (without having to TAB to it).

Further enhancements made to the Incoming Mercury order translation algorithm into Flora-Tickets. Especially pertaining to separating first name, last name and company name.

Release 12/19/95

NO MORE Ctrl-End !!. In order to TOTALLY UNIFY the Key Stroke conventions of Micro Florist's User Interface, we have made the following changes to ALL Browse windows:

A) When the Browse Window is being used for LOOK UP (no data entry inside the Browse Window), ENTER will select the record, Escape will Cancel/Exit, and Tab will move the cursor to the next field. You no longer have to use Ctrl-End (although still operational for backward compatibility).

B) When the Browse Window allows data entry, then Enter will enter the data, and Ctrl-Enter will select the record and close the Browse window (the same way, Memo fields are closed).

You can now review the Micro Florist News (this document), from with the Micro Florist (and the Flora-Ticket), by simply pressing Ctrl-Spacebar. 

Release 12/18/95

Major enhancements implemented in Florist Directory Look up as follows.

These enhancements WILL provide far greater HIT RATES than before, especially in rural areas where ZIP codes are not covered by PARENT shops.

1) All Directory Look ups can now be performed by either ZIP code search, and/or City search. If the Recipient zip code is found, then the the Operator has the option to use the standard Look up Window, or bypass that and browse the directory sorted by [State + City].

2) Whenever a BROWSE window is used to select a Florist, the information is now be automatically entered into the order.

3) Since the system can now handle Directory Look ups by City, all new directory files on the BBS will also contain the "Also Served By" florists (when provided by the Wire Service). This will cause the Directory files to be LARGER than before, but enhanced compression techniques will make the additional DOWNLOAD time, worth while.

4) System now prompts the Operator, whether the SUGGESTED zip code should be added to the Recipient Address, when the Recipient's zip code is missing. If the Operators rejects the suggested Zip code, then he/she can use the "Search By City" option to locate the Filling Florist.

5) Partial Recipient ZIP codes, automatically expand the Search Area.

Completed the INSTANT HELP (Context Sensitive Help, or Online Help) for ALL areas of Flora-Ticket. Next area to be covered will be the Main Menu Level-1 selections of the Micro Florist System itself.

Release 12/17/95

In Flora-Ticket, the Ctrl-C (Copy Order) operation now also works on ARCHIVED orders.

The INSTANT EDIT (F3), now allows you to "Add more ORDERS" to an existing order. The previous Method Of Payment is carried forward, in case the customer decides to pay the additional amount using a different Method of Payment. So, the next time a customer wants to add another order to his/her purchase, you can TAG it ON to his existing purchase, by simply pressing F3. The ONLY condition is that the order NOT be a DONE order. To add a new order to a DONE order, see the new INSTANT HELP for "Add more ORDERS" on the Instant Edit menu. 

Release 12/12/95

All Short-Cut menus now start with "Return". This will reduce key strokes when using the Short-Cut menu, since the top selection (default position) will return control back to the Search Engine.

The Cash Register Balance Utility's "Trial Balance" work sheet now contains an additional column listing "PAST" Flora-Ticket orders that were DONE (processed) during the Time Period Specified.

Release 12/07/95

When printing Flora-Tickets during processing, Subsales are now LISTED on ONE ticket (only), followed by the Main ticket that contains the Delivery information, and other details of the order. Please see the details of this TREE SAVING effort in: Sales -> Flora-Ticket ->Management ->Sales Paperwork -> Flora-Tickets

Release 12/05/95

The system now protects you even better in case disaster hits, and you need to recover from Backup. After you have recovered from Backup, and the Order Auditor has brought back all Flora-Tickets processed since last night, a new facility now ALSO recovers the new Customers that were entered prior to Crash. After you run the

Order Auditor, go to Flora-Ticket, press F1, go to Setup menu, and select "Convert Archived Orders", the system will ask whether you want to "Retrieve New Customer ?", enter "Y", and you are ready to process the orders, and be back, exactly where you were prior to the Crash. The new OnLine Help for Order Auditor covers the details when you need it.

The system now allows you to prepare the (Material Requirements Planning) report directly on the "Standby Orders Station". So, you can designate one station as the KEEPER of ALL Standby Orders (by Retrieving Standby Orders from the Host nightly), and then Print the report right on that station. This will remove the GLUT of standby orders from the Host, and at the same provides you with the information you need for the preparation of FUTURE orders.

Release 12/01/95

Major enhancements in the handling of SUB-SALES in the Flora-Ticket.

1. When displaying an order with MULTIPLE Sub-Sales, the system now lists all of the ITEMS in that order in a single window. This allows you to look at all of the items, without having to arrow up/down.
2. After you have entered the ITEM, you now have the following 3 choices: Continue, Add more items, and Modify items.

When you select the new MODIFY ITEMS, an EDIT window pops up that allows you to DIRECTLY edit ALL of the items in that order!!. You can change the Item_id, Choice_1, Choice_2, Qty, and the Price of all previous items in a single operation. When changing the Item_Id, the system HOT LINKS to the Server's Master Inventory File, and verifies your entry.

The "Modify Item" option is now available ALL THROUGH the Instant Edit operation. In other words, you could be entering the PAYMENT, and by pressing F3 you can access the "Item Modify" window and change ANY OF THE ITEMS in ONE SINGLE operation.

Release 11/25/95

When selecting Enclosure Card messages, pressing of the Up/Down arrow keys now increment/decrement the message selection number.

Added "Sort by Account_Id" to the printing of Statements (Billing).

Added Search by Trans_No to Flora-Ticket's Super Search.

Release 11/24/95

Implemented "Delivery Co. Verification" and "Delivery Co. Lookup" to Flora-Ticket order entry. The system now accesses the ACCOUNT database on the (Host/Server) and verifies that the Delivery Company (Driver) selected actually exists in the Host/Server's Balance Sheet. When entering the Delivery Co., you can also press the F1 key and select the Delivery Co. (Driver) from the LIST.

Implemented Customer's "Credit Card Account Verification and , both in Flora-Ticket and Micro Florist. The system now accesses the ACCOUNT database on the (Host/Server) and verifies that the Credit Card Account that is being entered for the Customer's (on file) Credit Card No., actually exists in the Host/Server's Balance Sheet. When entering the 2 character Account_Id (MC, AE, etc.), you can also press the F2 key and LOOKUP the available Credit Card Accounts from the LIST.

Implemented "Online context sensitive help". You can now press the Right Mouse Click (or Alt-F1), to obtain Online Help. We have just started adding online help screens, and we will be adding more screens everyday. The Online Help facility has a Quick Help window, followed by automatic linkage to SGT slides / text (on selected subjects). Downloading new releases will automatically update your Online Help screens.

Release 11/18/95

Enhanced Printer Configuration setup. Removed the LPT assignments from this page, since that is now the function of the Printer Auto-Switching page. Also changed the Printer Grouping as follows. The Main Printer group now prints ALL print jobs except the following. The Receipt printers continue to be the Group#2. The Group#3 is now assigned to CARD printers (Enclosure cards, Occasion cards, VIP cards, etc.). This makes more logical sense, since the CARD printers some times have to be a different brand, in order to handle the THICK card stock.

Added the Combined Payroll Report to the list of reports now available under the F8 key, when selecting employees for payroll. This report tabulates all Federal tax, State tax, and other Deductions per employee for a specific Time Interval. 

Release 11/11/95

Added the "Quick Lookup" facility to the "Supplier Transactions" menu. Shops with extra LARGE customer databases, were experiencing long delays while selecting a Supplier. With the "Quick Lookup" facility, the supplier list is presented almost instantaneously for QUICK supplier selection. Please review SGT's "Supplier Transactions" for further details.

Release 11/10/95

Micro Florist introduces: The Auto-Select utility. The Auto-Select utility, helps you manage your Wire Services by allowing you to setup your "Wire Service Usage" QUOTA for your wireout orders, and then it will propose the wire service that needs to be used, to fill that QUOTA. This is a very important feature, since florists are usually penalized for not meeting minimum sending requirements, or fail to qualify for SENDING BONUSES, if a certain volume of wireout orders is not met. The Auto-Select works globally, by keeping track of posted wire orders on the Server, and it is implemented both in Flora-Ticket, as well as the Cash Register modules.

Please review:

Sales -> Sales Management -> Wire Services -> The Auto-Select For more details.

Two new stamps have been introduced in the Delivery Ticket database. These stamps are the and the REPORTED stamps. Starting with this release, the Mercury REC message XMITs (reads Transmits), are kept track of by using the XMIT stamp. The Auto-Reconcile will now keep track of the Reported orders via the REPORTED stamp. You can now see these stamps in the Delivery Tickets screen, and you can manipulate them using the Short-Cut menu. You can also FILTER for these stamps during the Wire Service Management selection screen (for Wire Service REPORTS, and Wire Service Reconcile functions).

Release 11/08/95

A very important enhancement in the Cash Register system. You can now RETURN TO SALES ENTRY, during the Method Of Payment process, all the way to the question "Like to Void this sale?", by simply pressing the Escape key. So, now its NOT done, until its done!. Lets assume you have entered all the items, have pressed F10, and you are entering Method of Payment. All of a sudden, the customer changes her mind and wants to either ADD or TAKE OUT an item. Now, all you have to do is to press ESCAPE, and you are back in Sales Entry....

Release 11/07/95

Starting with this release Micro Florist's PASSWORD PROTECTION scheme has been CHANGED in a big way. If you are using the Password Protection, you need to carefully review the detailed description of these changes BEFORE you go back on-line. The subject has been fully covered under: System -> Setup MFS -> Configure -> Password Protection. To summarize the changes, a new level of SUPERVISOR has been added to the previous 3 levels, making total of 4 access levels.

The SUPERVISOR is a trusted employee, who will Balance Cash Register, Enter (most of the) every day transactions, and basically run the shop in the absence of the Manager. BUT, the Supervisor will not have access to the BIG financial picture, and can not perform SENSITIVE operations. Please see details....

Full implementation of Mercury's Flowers After Hours (FAH) conversion. Please review Sales -> Flora Ticket -> Wire Orders -> Mercury Wire-Ins for detailed information.

You can now modify Advertisement Sources directly prior to printing the "Advertisement Yield Tracking" report. After you select: Sales Information -> Adv. Yield Tracking The system will open a Browse window allowing you to directly change the Advertisement Source Descriptions.

Removed the PROPER function for printing of Labels and during the Mail Merge file generations. The PROPER function used to CAPITALIZE the first letter of each field, and convert the remainder to LOWER CASE. This caused problems with names such as D'Angelo, O'Brien etc. As a result, the system now generates the above output using all CAPs.

Release 10/28/95

The utility now allows you setup the printer auto-switching and FULLY test the network printer sharing configuration, before you even start the Micro Florist system. Please review: System -> The Computer -> Networks -> NetTest / PrtTest Utilities.

When listing Cross-Tabulation of items sold, you can now specify either REVENUE or COGS (Cost of Goods Sold). The system will then list the amount charged from the customer, OR the Cost of the Item respectively.

When entering Inventory Purchase Transactions, the system now allows you to modify the AVERAGE COST that is calculated by the system. This is the amount that is posted to the Inventory Database as the ITEM's cost. You can now OVERRIDE this amount and put in ANY value that you like. Please note that alteration of this amount will effect the BALANCE SHEET.

When listing "General Ledger" under Past Transactions, you now have the "Trial Balance" option added to the "Chart of Accounts", and "Specific Account" choices. The "Trial Balance" uses ARCHIVED BALANCE SHEET as the starting balances for a given period, and it will then verify that each account is in BALANCE by using the following formula: Prior Balance + Net To Acc for Period = Current Balance It will then print a SUMMARY REPORT showing any DISCREPANCIES that

there may be. The system also allows you to MODIFY the current BALANCE of any account with a discrepancy, based on the above calculations.

Release 10/27/95

Added FAX and Mobile phone numbers to the CUSTOMER PROFILE.

NetTest utility is NOW AVAILABLE for testing your Network's performance. Please see System -> The Computer -> Networks -> NetTest/PrtTest Utils. for complete details.

New Release of the COMET.BIN now insures that Remote Link connections are made regardless of System speed. It also supports wider range of COMPATIBLE modems.

For multi-user configurations, the system now displays the Network station Id for each SATELLITE station on the lower left hand corner of the screen. System automatically insures that this ID number is unique for each station (per session). However the stations Id will be repeated, if the Operator CLOSES one station as the LAST station, while other stations are still on the network. Having multiple stations with the same Station Id will cause "Sharing Violation" errors. You can now verify that this number is indeed unique, if the network is producing "Sharing Violation" errors.

Release 10/20/95

Implemented VIP Membership Card printing module. The VIP Membership cards are Credit Card type plastic cards that are affixed on a 3 1/2" X 9 7/8" paper carrier that fit into a standard Size 10 windowed envelop. Please call at 1-800-296-3676 for samples and pricing. Please see "VIP Membership Cards" under SGT's Management -> Marketing -> Customer Marketing -> VIP Marketing. section for details on printing and Message setup.

Added Customer's 2nd phone number to Delivery Ticket Type-1 (for Account sales). So, now in case of problems with an order, you can call the customer at work. Added the Occasion Code to the periodic Wire Reports (mainly to please Wire Service companies).

Release 10/15/95

Enhanced the Cash Register Balance utility by adding the "Trial Balance Work sheet" to the "Balance Cash Register" selection in the Cash Register menu. This important enhancement uses the existing utility for "Voucher Verification" purposes, and allows you to establish the "ACTUAL" balances. This information (the Actual Balances) plus the Archived Balance Sheet data (Previous Balances), is then fed into the "Trial Balance Work sheet" to perform the Balancing Calculations, and print the detailed balancing status. Please review Sales -> Sales Management -> Balancing section of the SGT for the new Balancing Procedure.

The system now supports "FORCED AUTHORIZATIONS" at the station level. In situations where you need to obtain VERBAL approvals, now you can FORCE the transaction into the BATCH for settlement. When entering the Credit Card number, pressing F1 will tag the transaction as FORCED (in which case you MUST enter the verbal authorization number). Depending on your "Processor", the system may, or may not dial the bank.

Implemented "AUTOMATIC" Credit Card Authorizations for Payments On Account, when customers use credit cards to make their payments. To use this feature, use Customer Transactions, then bring up the Short-Cut menu (Press TAB), and select "Payment". The system lists the available accounts by pressing F1. If a Credit Card account is selected, then the system will activate the Flora-Credit system, and obtains the authorization all in one shot!. Please note that by using this feature, you can also enter a NEGATIVE amount, and directly credit Customer's In-House Account, by charging his/her Credit Card (advance purchases/Pre-approvals).

Implemented "AUTOMATIC" credit card VOIDS, when deleting a Credit Card sales. When you use "Locate/Delete Sales" to delete a sale, you no longer have to go to Flora-Credit Access to separately void the Flora-Credit Transaction for that sale. The system now recognizes such transactions, and after informing you of its intentions, it will DIRECTLY access the Flora-Credit module and will void the credit card transaction for you. Please note that VOID in this case is a CREDIT transaction, and NOT a DELETION.

When entering credit card sales in Cash Register, the system now displays the Declined Response, if and when the transaction is declined by the bank. (Flora-Ticket system already displays this message in the MESSAGE area, on the top line of a Flora-Ticket order).

Added Teleflora to the Auto-Reconcile's list of supported wire services. This addition completes our goal of supporting all of the MAJOR wire services for Automatic Reconciliation. This list now includes FTD, AFS, REDBOOK, CARIK, and last but not least TELEFLORA.

Release 10/08/95

Starting with this update, the system generates an ARCHIVED copy of the Balance Sheet during the "Close Shop With Backup" process. When using the Balance Sheet selection on the Financials Menu, the system allows you to select either the CURRENT, or an ARCHIVED Balance Sheet. When selecting ARCHIVED Balance Sheet, the system allows you to specify the Year, and the Month, and then it will list the files within that period, for your selection. For more details, please read the Balance Sheet section under Financial Management.

Release 10/07/95

** IMPORTANT NOTICE ***

Foxpro 2.6 runtime module is now available for download. This is the LATEST version of Foxpro that has been released by Microsoft. MicroCode has obtained the License for this important release, and has made it available to ALL registered users of the Micro Florist system FREE OF CHARGE. The Foxpro 2.6 is RECOMMENDED for use under Windows-95.

This file can be downloaded using the "Latest Micro Florist Release" menu on the Micro Florist OnLine BBS. Customers who have purchased the Micro Florist system after 10/07/95, need not download this file, since their system already contains this release.  

In Flora-Ticket, wire-in orders now start with the Florist information, before asking for Delivery Dates. Delivery Tickets (type 1) now contain the entire Enclosure Card Message, for shops that continue to hand-write the cards.  

Added "Re-Print Status Report" to the Flora-Ticket access menu. This feature allows you to Print the "Flora-Ticket Processing Status Report", for the LAST processing cycle, in case there was a problem, and you had not ask for a report to be printed, DURING the processing.

Added TWO additional employee status of "Head of Household", and "Married Filing Separately", to the Federal and State Income tax tables. Also, streamlined the Tax Table interface by implementing a new Tax Table Menu.

Implemented "Floating Work Week" for purposes of Overtime calculations. Previously Micro Florist week always ended on Sunday nights, and work week began on Monday mornings. Now, you can synchronize this, with your payroll cycle by specifying the "Setup Overtime Cycle" in the Tax-Table menu. You can now specify any DAY OF THE WEEK to be the beginning of the Work Week.

Upgraded Hardlock status checking for Win95, by adding the Virtual Port driver file "Hardlock.vxd" to the c:\windows\system directory. The Update utility automatically copies this file to the above directory, UNLESS your windows directory is not c:\windows. In that case, you need to manually copy this file from the c:\sms directory to the \win95\system directory.

Release 09/29/95

Enhanced the sending and receiving of (network) MESSAGES in Flora-Ticket as follows:

1. Messages are now QUEUED UP in buffer, allowing the system to maintain UNLIMITED number of incoming MESSAGES per station.
2. The target DISK drive is now "STICKY", meaning the last one used will be kept in memory, to be used for future messages.
3. Each message now shows the SENDING station number , and the Operator's Initials. Massaging can now be used in large network setups, to signal the Host Operator (or the Wire Station Operator) that a HOT wire-out order has just been sent to the Host, and it is important for him/her to act on it.

When obtaining General Ledger Reports (available under Transactions -> Past Transactions -> General Ledger menus), the system now allows you to also specify the "Entered Since" date. This is extremely useful, when adjustments to a certain period (for example 4/1/95 to 5/1/95) are made later on (for example on 5/15/95), you want to be able to list ONLY the adjustments that were made, afterward.

In case you would specify the period as 4/1/95 to 5/1/95, but then specify the "Entered Since" date as 6/10/95. This will then list ONLY the transactions that were made OUTSIDE of the period itself.

When sending out-going Mercury orders via mercury, the system now reminds the operator that s/he should wait 3-4 minutes until the Mercury finishes transmission, and verifications become available.

In Sales Information -> Items Sold reports you can now GROUP item categories and obtain a CROSS TABULATION report on the groups of items.

The system allows you to specify the grouping by the first 1 character, first 2 characters, first 3 characters, and the first 4 characters. For example, if you specify the first 4 characters, then the system will group items by their first 4 characters, and will then treat the last 4 characters as WILD CARDS.

Items such as ROSE1234, ROSE2345, 2 will all list as ROSE____ and the row will provide you with daily (or monthly) sales totals for ALL items that start with ROSE. If you specify the first 1 character, the system will then list each row starting with A______, B_______, C_______, *_______, !_______, . which is really the same as the PRICING GUIDELINES grouping.

Customer profile now shows the DIVISION number in which the customer was originally added under.

Release 09/22/95

Done orders that were stamped Filled prior to processing, now show as "Done" displayed with White on RED background (as opposed on White on the standard background). The pressing of F2 (or Ctrl-F2) for status update, now show the following:

If Posted, it will show [Posted:950912-232234], showing the Micro Florist's Transaction number. * If not yet stamped [On Delivery] or [Delivery Completed], it will show as [In Production]. * If the Driver has pressed F9 in Delivery Ticket access, once, it will show [On Delivery] 12:23 PM- MC. Where 12:23 is the time the item was TAKEN OUT for delivery, and MC is the Driver's initials.

If the Driver has pressed F9 in Delivery Ticket access, twice, it will show [ Completed] 02:30 MC. Where 02:30 is the time the Delivery was ACTUALLY made. The MC is the Driver's initials.

When taking Cash & Carry sale, the Default of stamping the order Filled, has been changed to "No". Based on your inputs, its better to be safe, and print the extra paperwork, than not to print the paperwork, when needed.

MFS Release 09/21/95

The Cash Register system now prints the "regular" Work order ticket. In other words, the item does not have to be a Custom order, for it to print the Work Order. If, Work Order printing is enabled in Customized Functions, the system will prompt the Cashier for the printing of Work orders. For Cash/Carry sales, the system allows the Cashier to specify the Pickup time and date, and enter any relevant notes.

When in Delivery Ticket access, the Driver can now specify the ACTUAL TIME an item was taken out for delivery, or the delivery was completed. When pressing the F9 key, for the first time, the Driver can specify the ACTUAL time the item was taken out for delivery. The second time F9 is press (upon his return), he can specify the actual time the delivery was ACTUALLY made. The system also allows the Driver to enter his/her initials, with each time stamp. The Actual Delivery Time, is now also displayed in the Flora-Ticket, when the cashier looks at Delivery Ticket status.

The UPDATE facility now accepts any DISK drive for download of updates. You can specify your Host/Server's disk_id directly, and the system will automatically use the \UPDATE directory on that disk, to deposit and read the update files. If the \UPDATE directory is not present, the system will automatically create one. (You are no longer limited to drive U:, you can now use C: on the Host, and S: or H: on each satellite station directly).

MFS Release 09/16/95

During the Instant Edit, the Flora-Ticket system will now prompt for "Any More Items ?". For example, you have selected an item, and are entering the Card Message. The customer asks you to add Balloons to the order. You press the Home key, and select "Item Selection" from the Instant Edit menu. The system will then allow you to add the additional item, and will then return you back to the same place, as you were, before you pressed the Home key.

The system now allows you to SORT the Balance Sheet by "Account Balance" or by "Account Id".

You can now setup Customer Defaults in Micro Florist (as well as the Flora-Ticket). Customer defaults include; Primary Type, Credit Limit, Auto-Finance Charge, Due Date, etc. You can setup Customer defaults using Division Setup -> Business Setup and then select "Customer Types/Defaults". Added the name of the Sender to the "Processing Status Report".

MFS Release 09/15/95

Problem Management/Tracking is now also available in Delivery Ticket access, under Driver's Short-Cut menu.

So now, if a Driver come back with a Problem Delivery, he can immediately open a Problem Folder on that Ticket. For slides, please see: Cash Register -> Delivery Tickets -> Order Status Tracking.

MFS Release 09/14/95

Implemented the Flora-Ticket "SUSPEND STATE". When in the main screen of Flora-Ticket pressing the ESCAPE key will now, temporarily disconnect the station from the Host/Server files, and will put it into a "SUSPEND" (sleep) mode.

In this mode, the system uses minimum amount of system resources, and processor time, which makes it an ideal state for a "Background window" in windows environment. In other words, before you use another window, it is a good idea to put the Ticket station to SLEEP (suspend it), and then start another application. All you have to do, is to press ESC.

MFS Release 09/11/95

Started fine-tuning of MFS under Windows-95. Please see the new Windows-95 menu, under Setup -> Computers -> Network. Please view some of the test results included in the Overview section.

Since Win95 now accommodates LPT1: through LPT9:, This Release provides support for all of these ADDITIONAL ports in Printer Auto-Switching. This is a HUGE improvement in PORT availability. It basically removes any FUNCTIONAL limitation there was in having enough ports to allocate to various print jobs. Buffalo Boxes are now officially DEAD!!.

Remote-Link enhancements

MFS Release 09/09/95

During Processing of Flora-Tickets, pressing ANY KEY will now terminate the processing cycle. So now, if you have setup your maximum number of orders processed per cycle to 9999 (like some do!), and then you realize you have chosen a wrong printing option!!, you can now CANCEL the processing by simply touching the keyboard.

You can now CANCEL the printing of reports by pressing Ctrl-Q. This is listed in the "Hot Key Menu", and you can see it by pressing Ctrl-F1 key combination. So, if you have started a LONG report, and have changed your mind, simply press Ctrl-Q, and the system will TURN OFF the printing. One thing you must remember though, is that the STUFF already sent to the printer (or the Print Manager, or Network Queue), is out of Micro Florist's control. You need to deal with those issues directly.

Pressing of the "Ins" key to INSERT city, state, and zip, while entering Customers, now requires operator conformation.

Added the "A" option to the File Maintenance menu. This is a VERY powerful Database file Structure evaluation and FIX utility. It evaluates and fixes ALL the data files in the CURRENT company, as well as ALL the data files located in the Flora-Ticket directories. DO NOT run the FIX utility from the DOS prompt (it can damage files). 

In case of inconsistency errors, the system halts the processing of Flora-Ticket orders.

MFS Release 09/02/95

The Flora-Link (Mercury Interface) now allows the operator to SELECT whether or not s/he likes to Create a new Wire-In order for Mercury Re-Transmissions. Previously, the system automatically discarded all Automatic Re-trans, and appended all Manual Re-Trans as new orders. Now, the Operator decides which orders are kept, or discarded.

The STANDALONE Update utility has been enhanced to ALSO download all the SGT updates, as well as installing them, while the Micro Florist update is being installed. This utility will also show you the LATEST Micro Florist news, as soon as the SGT updates have been installed. Also, to further facilitate updates, this utility will automatically create a U: drive, if U: drive is specified as the UPDATE media, but it has not been created via NETWORK assignments. In this case, a local sub-directory \UPDATE is created and then the U: drive is assigned to this directory via the --> SUBST U: C:\UPDATE command.

MFS Release 09/01/95

Starting with this Release, ALL division Environment Setup is now LOCAL to each SATELLITE station. To maintain continuity of operations, you must review the Division Environment Setup of each and every SATELLITE station.

This new enhancement now allows you to setup each station differently with respect to sound, password protection, cashier security, backup drive, freeze status, drawer setup, printing of sales paperwork, invoicing during sale, generic vs. custom forms, etc., etc. Each station can now be FULLY CUSTOMIZED to perform within a narrowly defined functional environment. One station can be password protected, and print the short delivery form, while another station is not.

The Environment Setup is now LOCAL, while the Business Setup remains GLOBAL. In other words, company name, sales tax, aging, etc., will continue to be maintained on the Server Drive. In order to maintain consistency with this definition, we had to move the "information Retention" section from Environment Setup to Business Setup. Since "Information Retention" is a GLOBAL requirement.

WHAT TO DO ? Now that the system reads the Environment Setup from its LOCAL file, basically, your Host/Server will NOT CHANGE. On Satellite stations, you have the following two choices:

1. Go to each Satellite station, go to the Setup menu, select Division, select Division Environment, and simply review the setup.
2. From the same Division Setup menu, select Copy Division selection bar, and then copy the Server's Division setup to the local Satellite.

When installing Directory Updates, the system will now AUTOMATICALLY determine the status of existing Directory files, and will purge or keep them accordingly. As a result, the system will no longer ask, whether you want to keep or purge existing directories, during the install process.

Completed the STAND-ALONE Update Utility. You can now access the BBS, download, and install MFS Updates, by typing UPDATE from the DOS prompt. This enhancement eliminates the need to START the Micro Florist in the LOCAL mode, to install updates.

The Update Module also has the capability to UPDATE other stations on the Network (given that they are available as Servers). Further more, this utility accepts COMMAND LINE parameters to operate directly from DOS (or within a BATCH file), to COMPLETELY automate the update process. Please type UPDATE from c:\sms\ prompt to activate.

For wire-out orders that DO NOT have ZIP codes, the system still finds a BEST GUESS but now it inserts a "?" after the zipcode, so that you would know, that the zipcode was NOT part of the original order, and that it was a BEST GUESS by the system. Zipcodes are necessary for locating Florists in the Directory. 

Removed Password Level 1 (Employee level) limitations in accessing the "Payment on Account" selection in the Customer Short-Cut menu. The argument is that an Assigned Cashier should be able to obtain payment from customers, and enter the transaction. This level of access is consistent with MFS Password Protection principal, since during this transaction entry, no OTHER account balances, and financial information is made available to the Cashier.

Enhanced the Printing of Delivery Tickets as follows:The "Delivery Pool" style itemizes one ITEM per line (up to the first 8 items sold). The system places an * by the item sold as a delivery sale. The Item description on this ticket contains the first 60 characters of the original item description. The "In-House" style now adds an additional 20 characters of the Item Description for each item sold, to the item Check List.

This page last updated on: 04/26/98 10:28 PM