Transcript for the Customer Orders Chat for Microsoft Dynamics RMS
Product: Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS)
Topic: Customer Orders (layaways, quotes, work orders, special orders, back orders)
Date: January 8, 2009
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Layaways
Q: We’ve had a lot of frustration with the behavior of layaways not creating transaction numbers for deposits, payments, or on closing them. This makes looking up the history of those transactions awkward. Can you suggest any workarounds? Right now our approach is to run the “Tender Summary by Date” custom active report and filter for the Layaway, look up the date for the transactions without transaction number, and then search the date in the Journal Viewer. I’m considering tweaking a version of this report to add the journal table ID field, but I haven’t yet figured out if I can make a drilldown on that field to launch the Journal Viewer with just the ID.
A: Layaways will not create a transaction number; but instead will have a Layaway number. I am not sure what you are looking for; but you may want to look at the below reports that are in the Reports Library. There are also some tender summary reports there that show all transaction types.
Reports Library (login required)
Report - Layaway Payments Including Payment Date
This report displays payments on layaway, including the original deposit and amounts taken for partial and entire layaway pickups. The payment date is also displayed.
Report - Order Summary and Order Detail with Remaining Balance Calculation
These reports calculate the remaining balance on special transactions within an active report (for work orders, back orders, and layaways)
Q: We’d really like to be able to make layaway deposit payments with store credit and refund layaway deposits to store credit in a single transaction. Right now our solution is to do it in two transaction, launder the amount through a dummy tender type.
A: There is not a way to make deposits with store credit since no deposit was actually received. Therefore, your workaround is the only way to use store credit as a payment option for a Layaway. I would encourage you to enter this as a product suggestion. (login required)
Quotes
Q: What does the closing date for a quote or layaway do anyway? I've noticed that putting something on a quote "commits" the inventory just as if it were on a layaway, but the commitment isn't released when the quote expires.
A: The closing date is purely informational and can be used to filter the Layaway/Quote/Work Order reports to determine which orders need to be addressed. We do not have a way to automatically remove the order after the expiration date. I would encourage you to enter this as a product suggestion (login required). I would also encourage you to post this question in one of the RMS Customer Newsgroups as there may be other customers or partners that have some options for you. Finally, you might also want to search for this solution on our Solution Finder web site to see if any of our partners have created this type of RMS add-in.
Work orders
Q: We use the work order function of RMS to track merchandise our customers have sent us for repairs and would like to have some Web page visibility for the customer to track their status online. Is there any tool that would show work order status on the Web?
A: Currently we do not have this type of feature available. I would encourage you to enter this as a product suggestion (login required). I would also encourage you to post this question in one of the RMS Customer Newsgroups (login required) as there may be other customers or partners that have some options for you. Finally, you might also want to search for this solution on our Solution Finder web site to see if any of our partners have created this type of RMS add-in.
Product updates
Q: Installing RMS 2.0.0105 Original DC on a Vista SP1 computer. Downloaded K8949666 RMS 2.0 (SP2). Windows update automatically downloaded 2005 SQL Express SP2 KB 921896. Do I need to install anything else the ADO Patch?
A: The only thing else would be to ensure that KB 952287 has been installed; and I think this should install via Automatic updates. For information, you may want to take a look at the Automatic Update available for Microsoft Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3 issue on the Using Microsoft Dynamics RMS site.
Q: Are there any changes to the projected 2H 2010 release of 3.0? Also, how will the AD integration work, in brief?
A: I'm sorry, we are not able to discuss feature plans for upcoming releases. You can enter product suggestions here: https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/productsuggestions/productsuggestion.htm (login required).
Q: What is the latest version of RMS 2.X and will it work on Windows 2000 SP4?
A: The latest version of Microsoft Dynamics RMS is 2.0.0125 and can be obtained by any customer who subscribes to a maintenance plan by calling technical support at 888-477-7877. Yes, it will work on Windows Server 2000 SP4.
Q: Did Microsoft resolve the issue with SP3 and Windows Update or do I need to continue to add the patch to all of my machines as I deploy them?
A: Automatic Updates now covers this issue. See Using Microsoft Dynamics RMS for info.
Payments
Q: After doing inventory, I found a Gift Card (voucher) that was used but still had an amount associated with it. We assumed the cashier rang the sale as cash versus GC. How can I edit the GC value to zero and not affect sales value?
A: You can manually adjust the balance for a voucher by running the following SQL Statement:
UPDATE Voucher SET Balance = X WHERE Number = Y
(where X equals the new balance and Y equals the voucher number)
IMPORTANT - We strongly recommend that you make a backup of your database prior to running this SQL script.
Q: We use vouchers for gift cards. If we check the box to allow multiple entries for the “gift card” tender (of type voucher), then it seems you can swipe the same card over and over without complaint from the system. It never checks if the sum of those payment is over the limit of the voucher. Is there a fix in the works for this bug?
A: Please report this to tech support as a bug. If the bug already exists, the support engineer will add your information to the existing bug.
Editor’s note: In the meantime, you can avoid the issue by not allowing multiple entries for the tender type.
Hardware
Q: Is there a way to get the pole display to update displayed total when multiple tenders are entered?
A: There is not a way that I know of to do this. If you would like to submit a suggestion about how this can be improved, please use one of the following links:
on CustomerSource (login required)
on PartnerSource (login required)
Q: We use the Ingenico i6500 series signature capture units. We don't have the normal functions you see at places like Target or Home Depot with these machines. There is no place for customers to pick "debit/credit" or see "your total is". We had a programmer look at this and the response from Microsoft was - Basically you the ISV are trying to build a wrapper on top of the base functionality of RMS, wherein RMS is trying to post/populate the credit/debit card information in the Credit/Debit Card Tender screen and therefore this is why the product is treating these swiped entries as Manual Entry which is By Design since the base Business Logic was bypassed and the properties are not publicly consumable.
A: We have an incident logged for this issue, but it has been marked By Design, meaning no further action by Microsoft is anticipated.
Q: Is there a recommended solution for signature capture hardware?
A: There is a Hardware Compatibility List for RMS. If you are looking for additional recommendations, you may want to post your question in the public discussion board to see what others are using.
Q: The previous question is a great one. Signature capture is critical for my organization. Where is the updated HCL?
A: We post updates to the HCL when we receive information from the hardware manufacturers.
Q: I want to use the Pole Display to insert text into my DVR. Do I need generic text OPOS driver? Where can I find docs on what is written to the Pole and when?l
A: I am unable to find anything on this; but I think there are third-party products available. You may want to take a look at the Solution Finder to see if there is a third- party product that does this. You will want to filter on Works With - Retail Management System. You can also post your question to the public discussion board to see if anyone is doing this.
Q: I just applied Hotfix 2.0.0114, noting that one of the fixes in Hotfix 5 (2.0.0111) was: Error message when you have debit card pin pads enabled in Microsoft Dynamics RMS Store Operations: "Error #-2147467259 Database connection lost." The problem is still happening though. I am running the 1000 model PIN pads and this is chronic in stores with excellent connectivity and I've configured the database per the white papers. I haven't found any solution to this yet and I'm still getting the error.
A: The response to your problem is complex. Please contact Support with this issue.
Other
Q: I recently upgraded to QuickBooks 2009 and posting closed batches in RMS is not working anymore (error about transactions not being in balance). RMS support said that something changed in the new version, and that a workaround is available. Do you know it?
A: We have done high level testing of RMS with QuickBooks 2009 and everything works fine. If you are facing any issue, please open an incident with Support with detailed steps for reproducing the issue.
Q: I have customers using various Price Levels. When giving a customer a discount on the POS using Shift F3 (Discounts), I would like the default discount method to be Discount from Retail Price. Is there any way to configure this?
A: There is not a way that I know of to change the default discount method. If you would like to submit a suggestion about how this can be improved, please use one of the following links:
on CustomerSource (login required)
on PartnerSource (login required)
Q: Once a day I receive an error on our second register when the system is trying to post a transaction. On cash tender, the error is 2147217865, and on debit card tender, I have a different error number. I am running SQL 2000 Special Edition because my database is over 5GB.
A: I would recommend that you take a look at Knowledge Base article 930301: Common errors and troubleshooting steps for network connectivity problems in Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System Store Operations or in Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System Headquarters (login required).
It's interesting that it only happens once a day; and you may want to try and determine if there is any commonality with the transactions. You could also check to see if there are any scheduled tasks, such as a backup, if the errors occur around the same time each day.
Q: In Headquarters, is there a way to acknowledge multiple worksheets at one time?
A: Unfortunately not.
Q: Is there any work on an RMS-NAV integration?
A: There are several ISVs that have developed integration solutions for RMS and NAV. This information can be found within Solutions Finder via Partner Solutions Profilet (login required).
Q: Are there any recommended add-ins that would do an inactivity auto logout (F9) on the POS screen?
A: There are none that come to mind; but I think I've heard of one doing something like this. If you haven't already done so you may want to take a look at the Solution Finder to see if there is a third- party product that does this. You will want to filter on Works With - Retail Management System. You can also post your question in one of the public Online Technical Communities to see if anyone there knows of one.
Editor’s note: You can also set up Windows with a password-protected screensaver. The cashier won’t be logged out of Store Operations POS, but only people who know the password will have access to the system. For more information, see Windows Help and Support, available from the Start menu.
Q: I was trying to write a Query from System Administrator (i.e., “select * from item where ExtendedDescription <>''), and I get an error about not being able to use where clause on ntext fields. Any solution or workaround? I need all items with something in ExtendedDescription.
A: Will the following query work?
SELECT ExtendedDescription FROM Item WHERE LEN(CONVERT(nvarchar, ExtendedDescription)) > 0
Q: How do I get daily customer count by day like we have on the Z report? I can’t find this report in the Reports Library.
A: You could add the Batch.CustomerCount field to the Batch List report. To do this all you have to do is open the Batch List Report in Notepad and paste the following column into the report. Then save the report as "Custom - Batch List with Customer Count.qrp", restart Store Operations Manager, and run the report from Report | Custom.
Begin Column
FieldName = "Batch.CustomerCount"
DrillDownFieldName = ""
DrillDownReportName = ""
Title = "Customer Count"
VBDataType = vbLong
Formula = ""
ColHidden = False
ColNotDisplayable = False
FilterDisabled = False
ColWidth = 1290
GroupMethod = groupmethodSum
ColFormat = ""
End Column
