Real Time Stock Control

[Clive.Aspen]

I am using v10 business plus.

I have been testing RTSC.
I created a test product with componants attributes and choices.
I have linked this to an external spreadsheet.
The stock levels are held in the external spreadsheet.

It all works fine.
If I change stock levels in the spreadsheet, when I close it and open actinic the new stock levels appear.
When I upload actinic the new stock levels are reflected on the online store.
I cant order more than are available.
I make some test orders and download the store.
The new stock levels appear in actinic.
If I then close actinic and open the spreadsheet, the new stock levels appear there too.
So RTSC appears to be working perfectly with an external spreadsheet.

My problem is that two respected high posters on the forum have told me that RTSC will not work with an external spreadsheet.

So I'm very confused. It seems to be working fine for me, but I'm worried I may be missing something due to my ignorance.

Leehack told me

You can't combine external linking via a spreadsheet with the new real time stock control, it's one or the other

and Malbro told me

according to every one I have talked to and all the information that is available this is not supposed to work.

Lee is correct, you can only use RTSC on its own or with Actinics EPOS via their EPOS link,

So I'm very confused, these guys know much more than me and are saying it doesnt work... but it seems like it does.. I dont want to implement this and find out I've missed something obvious and that it doesnt actually work.

Can anyone give me more information on this?

[Mike Hughes]

Interesting question.

If I then close actinic and open the spreadsheet, the new stock levels appear there too.

I think this might be the key point. It sounds as if you must be using two way linking (i.e. with updating of external data enabled).

How it knows which one to update is a bit of a mystery to me. (i.e. Actinic will have an internal value that is different from the external value. Which one is right and should be copied to the other? - Edit: Actually this is probably nonsense. Reading my next paragraph I think there is no internal value - Actinic uses the external value and just makes any changes to that if allowed to).

It's a while since I looked at this, but if I remember correctly the externally linked value (such as stock) is taken from the external source. It isn't stored locally in the Actinic database.

I guess the problem comes when the RTSC system tries to sync stock levels with the actinic database. If you have external updating enabled then maybe Actinic is able to make any changes the RTSC system requests to the external source. I would guess it wouldn't be able to do this if external updating wasn't enabled and that would lead to wrong stock levels being used.

So maybe you've found a way for it to work.

Mike

Edit2: PS. Presumably another way it could work would be not to allow RTSC to sync back to the Actinic database on the PC. This is really only needed to sync stock with changes from other channels such as moto, shop, amazon, ebay and as long as that isn't a problem RTSC should run happilly on the web without syncing back.

[Clive.Aspen]

yes I am using enable updates to external data.
See attached screenshot.

[Clive.Aspen]

Thanks Olderscot for the reply.

To be honest, the more I read, the more I wonder why everyone seems to think it doesnt work.. Everything in the 'help' files suggests it will;

Enable Online Stock Control
With this option selected, stock levels of stock-controlled products are maintained in real time on the web site as online orders are received, and synchronised with stock levels on the desktop following ‘Retrieve Orders’ and ‘Publish to Web’ or ‘Refresh Website’.

Note:Automatic Stock Synchronisation cannot be used if your catalogue is linked to an external database or spreadsheet.If you wish to use Online Stock Control with External Linking, you should disable Automatic Stock Synchronisation, and Publish to Web on a regular basis to synchronise stock between the web site and the desktop.

It is possible to link products in Actinic to an external database with a permanent dynamic link. This means that any change you make to products in the external database will be immediately brought into Actinic. It is also possible to have product changes in Actinic be transferred into the external database.

All this seems to suggest that its an available design feature that works.
Am I missing something obvious?

[Mike Hughes]

I don't think you're missing anything. The people here saying it won't work are more or less just repeating the advice Actinic have given earlier.

The middle bit you've highlighted above is pretty much saying what I did in the postscript to my earlier post. If you use external linking with RTSC then turn off syncing between RTSC and the PC.

Another option you seem to have found is to enable the updating of external data which is good to know. Did you allow the RTSC to sync with the PC during the test and if so did it work OK?

i.e. say you have 10 items in stock and place an order for 8. After syncing does RTSC know you still just have 2 left for ordering or did it go back to 10 again?

Mike

[Clive.Aspen]

i.e. say you have 10 items in stock and place an order for 8. After syncing does RTSC know you still just have 2 left for ordering or did it go back to 10 again?
Mike

I made stock level for item A '10' on the spreadsheet.
Closed spreadsheet.
Openend actinic.. Stock level of A is '10'
Uploaded store.
Made order for '8' x item A.
Downloaded actinic.
Stocklevel of item A is now '2'.
Closed Actinic, open spreadsheet, stock level for item a is now '2'.

Opened new browser, tried to order '3' x item A.
Cannot order, red message appears saying on 2 in stock.

So in answer to your question, no, after synching, stock level stayed at '2'

The people here saying it won't work are more or less just repeating the advice Actinic have given earlier.

Thats even more worrying, if Actinic say this shouldnt be possible !?

[Mike Hughes]

Thats even more worrying, if Actinic say this shouldnt be possible !?

Actinic's advice was pre-implementation. They may have changed something during the design phase or realised afterwards that it would work in certain circumstances. Not necessarily anything to worry about.

The test you describe didn't allow the RTSC to sync with Actinic. RTSC will synchronise automatically with the desktop at a set period so it knows if any Mail Order / Telephone Orders (for example) have changed any stock levels.

To test this you'll need to enable automatic syncing, order the 8 units, give RTSC time to synchronise automatically and then try ordering another 8. Don't do an order download during this period.

Mike

[Clive.Aspen]

The test you describe didn't allow the RTSC to sync with Actinic. RTSC will synchronise automatically with the desktop at a set period so it knows if any Mail Order / Telephone Orders (for example) have changed any stock levels.

To test this you'll need to enable automatic syncing, order the 8 units, give RTSC time to synchronise automatically and then try ordering another 8. Don't do an order download during this period.
Mike

But the actinic help says;
If you wish to use Online Stock Control with External Linking, you should disable Automatic Stock Synchronisation.

So I'm not using it.
Or planning to use it either, as I dont do telephone orders, offline orders etc.. I only take orders on the website.

I can see that the actinic help is saying that RTSC wont work with external data and auto-synching...

But if I dont enable that and only make orders online...Is this why it could work for me ?

[Mike Hughes]

Yes, you're using it as Actinic says so you should have no problem.

I was just interested in whether it would work using Auto Synchronisation if you have external linking working with external updating enabled. This is really just to explore the posibilities as some people (including me) will want to use RTSC together with moto orders and external linking.

The safest thing though is to do it the way you are doing it with auto synchronisation turned off. It works, Actinic say it will work, and you should have no problems with it.

Mike

[Clive.Aspen]

Ok Thanks...

To test this you'll need to enable automatic syncing, order the 8 units, give RTSC time to synchronise automatically and then try ordering another 8. Don't do an order download during this period.

Mike

I tried this out. I enabled auto synching every 60 secs.

The stock level changes appeared in actinic, without doing a download.
and I wasnt able to order another 8, the out of stock message appeared.

[Mike Hughes]

Excellent. Thanks for this.

It does raise a couple of new questions about the details of how RTSC copes with external linking and auto sync (such as whether you have to have external updating enabled?, what happens if you don't?, etc) but we can look at these later.

The good news is that RTSC definitely can be used with external linking. Just keep Auto Sync disabled as recommended by Actinic.

That's good to know.

Mike

[brucet]

Just to confirm, you can use external linking in conjunction with Real Time Stock control, but not with Auto Sync.

I realise it would be ideal if you could, but we weren't able to make it happen. It is because Auto Sync uses the Actinic Sync Server - it effectively works like an additional user in a multi-user system. But external linking uses ODBC, which bypasses the Sync Server. Using the two together, there would be no record locking, with consequent risk of data corruption.

[Clive.Aspen]

Thanks guys for confirming all this.

I wasnt going crazy

[Clive.Aspen]

Just to confirm, you can use external linking in conjunction with Real Time Stock control, but not with Auto Sync.

I realise it would be ideal if you could, but we weren't able to make it happen. It is because Auto Sync uses the Actinic Sync Server - it effectively works like an additional user in a multi-user system. But external linking uses ODBC, which bypasses the Sync Server. Using the two together, there would be no record locking, with consequent risk of data corruption.

I understand this, that I can use RTSC with external linking to a spreadsheet if I have auto sync turned off.

But what about if I change to a multi user system... Actinic help says this;

In single user mode you can also link to a spreadsheet, but spreadsheets cannot be used with external linking when running Actinic Business Plus or Actinic Enterprise with multiple users.

Would I be able to have multi users and RTSC if I link to a database.. like a seperate access database ? (instead of a spreadsheet)

[brucet]

Unfortunately not. External linking with a database is compatible with multi-user mode, but not with stock auto sync.

Sorry it's complicated, it's all for technical reasons. External linking was added to Actinic first, followed some time later by multi-user and then auto-sync. The earlier features were not developed with the later ones in mind, so there are certain incompatibilities which are irreconcilable ATM.