Stock Control, 1 in stock 15 ordered????

[TraceyHand]

I don't see why not (why not download the trial and check it out?)

It all depends how often you feel you need to update your website and even then you're always going to be limited by the update speed of V8!

[BigRedKeith]

Will do, will let you know how we get on. Only 1 day left of the 30 days of Actinic so not much evaluation time left.
Keith

[RuralWeb]

IMO - big stores requiring active stock control are not suited to Actinic.

[TraceyHand]

IMO - big stores requiring active stock control are not suited to Actinic.

yeh...I said that too and I agree

[BigRedKeith]

Hi All,
Can anyone suggest an alternative application that does have genuine stock control?

Keith

[Sales@Actinic]

Hi BigRedKeith

Actinic has recently set up a new Business Servies Division, for which I am now a part of, to target larger customers that require something unique for their site or for the larger Actinic user that is now out-growing their software.

I would be happy to discuss your stock control requirements to see if there is something that we have in the pipeline that could help or develop a new feature that would.

The trouble with stock control is that everyones view on this is different and makes an out of the box development slighlty tricky and it also depends on how many orders you are receiving and how instant you require the updates. There is more than one way to skin this particular cat.

I can be contacted on the normal Actinic phone number if you would like to dicuss your requirements.

[pinbrook]

Will do, will let you know how we get on. Only 1 day left of the 30 days of Actinic so not much evaluation time left.

take a snapshot, uninstall and reinstall Actinic, hey presto another 30 days trial is yours, import your snapshot

[BigRedKeith]

take a snapshot, uninstall and reinstall Actinic, hey presto another 30 days trial is yours, import your snapshot

Thanks Jo, but i dont think that works, does it? any how Actinic would go bonkers if i tried that. Wouldnt They

Mark
I am evaluating a competitor at the moment but will certainly be back in touch to discuss the potential for future development. Give me a few days to learn their program and i will get back to you.

Keith

[TraceyHand]

Thanks Jo, but i dont think that works, does it?

Keith, it does...

[BigRedKeith]

Oh, Ok, thanks Tracey and Jo, that may well be just the solution i need to iron out these last few questions before making a final decision. I wonder how difficult it was to program the KB to not allow competitors names to appear....always a way around that one though.

Mark, i dont think the "E" company are going to take much of the top end business away from Actinic. Its a simpler program to learn to use but no where near the same level of sophistication and flexability as evidenced by me learning how to use it in a little over a day. Once again Stock Control was an issue but more so the way they managed all elements in seperate programs within the system. If you want to build more than one site its over £1500 for the developer version and no integration with QB.

Mark, the stock control we require initially can be accomplished within the current framework of Actinic, if only it worked. put your stock levels into Actinic using a .csv once a week, or when a new delivery arrives.

Orders are downloaded every 15min and the stock level from the previous download was updated within actinic ie. what we have minus what we sold = what is available to sell. As long as Actinic understands that stock levels of Cod Liver Oil capsules in 60's as a choice is not related in any way to stock levels of Cod Liver Oil capsules in 30's or 180's and the stock of these items should be managed completely seperately then that is stock management as we understand it.

I accept that, the compromise we make for having a PC based app and not a server based one is true live stock management. As we progress along the development of our site and increase our stock qty, range and product diversity, we will undoutably need to develop a more sophisticated stock management system which may well incorporate a true live stock management facility. We do however need to get the site up and running first to develop the model. I will be happy to discuss the potential for the Business Services Division to assist in "Skinning This Cat". Drop me an email at your convenience.

Keith

[TraceyHand]

if you want to keep stock up to date with Actinic, you need to update at a frequency that is impossible with the speed (lack of) that Actinic's upload provides.

I agree this is a big problem.
Even my site (which is far from huge!) takes over 10 minutes to update now and I used to run my stock control mole that often!

I'm hoping the upload speed (well, tbh, it's the checking speed rather than the upload) is something that is being looked into by Actinic because it is unacceptably slow in V8

[BigRedKeith]

I agree this is a big problem.
Even my site (which is far from huge!) takes over 10 minutes to update now and I used to run my stock control mole that often!

I'm hoping the upload speed (well, tbh, it's the checking speed rather than the upload) is something that is being looked into by Actinic because it is unacceptably slow in V8

So Maybe we should all be getting onto Mark and ensuring the next phase of Actinic works properly. The problem as i see it, and i may be wrong, once you design your site in Actinic, your reluctant to move onto an SQL/MySQL server based product because of the investment already made in Actinic.

So isnt the solution for Actinic to develop a server based product that allows all Actinic sites to migrate onto SQL/MySQL and gain the benefits of being server based. Whilst at the same time having the ability to be built on the PC with all the control and features that gives us?

I am told that is what Actinic Enterprise is working towards but how close they are is anyones guess.

but are we overlooking something, Actinic have made stock management so complicated in the existing product that it is just about unmanagable. Having to buy an add-on to the program from an outside company, just to make it do a job it was suposed to do in the first place. Its like buying a ford car and having to go to Toyota to buy all the guages and get them fitted.

Come on Actinic, we all seem to want proper stock control, the "E" people can provide it and their product is much smaller and less sophisticated than yours, shouldnt you be making it your priority to develop a solution to this and not just ask another company to build a small patch to cover a gaping hole?

Keith

[BigRedKeith]

From what I hear the Sql version of Actinic is still going to have the database on the office pc and the stock problem remains the same, plus its going to be "Enterprise" which is another big purchase to do what we've all paid for already.

The OS people also seem to do it for FREE!!

OS???? is this one i have overlooked in my trawl through the net to find a program that actually does what it says on the tin?

Keith

[Simon Bridges]

Just to throw another angle at all this. We have recently upgraded to V8business and Actinic EPOS with stock control between the busy shop and the website(soon to be busy) the most important factor, but here comes the MAJOR HIDDEN FLAW. Whilst EPOS and Ecommerce 'talk' to each other, downloaded Ecommerce orders will not adjust the stock figures in EPOS unless the individual products' in Ecommerce 'Stock Monitoring' option is swithced off. However if this option is swithched off, as it needs to be for EPOS stock to be adjusted, Ecommerce does not automatically suspend the out of stock items on the website.
I am currently having to look at the stock in Operations/Stock every few hours and 'stock Monitor' the items which have reached 0 so they are suspended whilst leaving items which have quantities available as they are.
Seriously disappointed with this flaw not bieng pointed out before investing over £3,000.
Hopefully the new Business Services Division will have a solution to this big problem.
Simon Bridges
http://www.alexreade.net