invoicing

[alexrpaul]

When we despatch a parcel we also send the invoice in with the goods. The system as it is only allows the invoice to print after the goods have been both marked as paid for and also shipped.
This makes it very hard to track goods because in fact we print the packing list and credit card info, then we take the money, then print an invoice to go in the parcel and then when the parcel has gone the packing list comes back to the office and we treat the goods as shipped!! In order to take the goods through the system "properly" we would have to have the order move from pending to completed only after it has gone and we have marked the item as shipped in the actinic system. We would also have to be able to print an invoice before we select the items and mark them as shipped!!

Is there any way around this or could a bespoce alteration be made to allow us to do this?

Sorry for the length of the question!!

Alex Paul

[Jan]

In order to take the goods through the system "properly" we would have to have the order move from pending to completed only after it has gone and we have marked the item as shipped in the actinic system. We would also have to be able to print an invoice before we select the items and mark them as shipped!!

I think that you can do this at the moment. You can print or reprint invoices and packing lists at any point, the information shown on the data such as the payment status and shipped date will be incorrect if you haven't shipped or taken payment when you print the invoice this your problem.

It might be helpful if you could list exactly how you want to work possibly highlighting the areas that are not possible now.

BTW do you print the packing list or the data entry report because you say packing list but the credit card details are not on there?

Regards,

[alexrpaul]

details

At the moment we print out packing list and CC details first. Then if the order looks like it will not be a problem (we carry a huge range of over 2-3000 items not including size variations so some things are out of stock at any one time) we take the money via PDQ.
If you then tell the system the money has been taken and then select print outstanding invoices it will say no valid invoices outstanding. Ideally we would like it to print the invoices for the orders we have taken the money for so they can go in with the goods. Then when the order has been shipped (not necessarily that day, maybe 1-5 days later) the packing list comes back upstairs and we would then like to tell the system that the items are shipped and have them move to the completed section.
This way when someone asks about order status we can either bring it up and see the problem eg we have no large masks in stock or say it is with despatch will be a few days or hopefully the order has gone.
I hope this explains the problem. Any help would be really appreciated.

Alex

[Jan]

Re: details

Originally posted by alexrpaul
If you then tell the system the money has been taken and then select print outstanding invoices it will say no valid invoices outstanding.
Alex

This seems to be the main problem with the system for you - you need to mark them as shipped to get the invoices to print but you can't mark them as shipped because you need to get the status.

You could get around this by using a custom report that basically uses the same criteria as catalog does expect that it ignore the shipping status. The shipping status is not included on the invoice so the content will be correct.

Another way around this would be to print invoices by selecting the orders you want to print the invoices for and then right clicking and choosing reprint invoice, doing it this way allows you to print unshipped orders.

Regards,

[BracketBasher]

Im having the same problem.

Its not really an issue but it would help if I could print invoices for any order as it comes in to pending.

I send invoices out with my products to save on postage so obviously the invoice must be in the package before the package is shipped.

What is the field in the report that i need to remove in order to get this to work as I suggest?? Is there a way I can solve this using crystal or do I need to get a separate custom report?

This will save me about 30 secs per order which will add up. especially as im running my business in the evenings when the post office will shut soon after i get home.

Thanks for your help!

[cdicken]

Here's something to try.

In your 'Actinic Ecommerce v6' folder, rename 'orders.rpt' to 'orders_orig.rpt' and rename 'Invoices.rpt' to 'orders.rpt'. That way, whenever you print the 'Outstanding Packing Lists', it will actually produce an invoice.

One slight hiccup, however, is that it will mark the 'Quantity Shipped' as '0'.

[chrisbrown]

This is the V5 forum Chris

[cdicken]

Doh!

Better make that 'Actinic Ecommerce v5' then.

[Howard]

All you need to do is Click on Reprint Invoices instead of Outstanding Invoices in the Reports list

[Jan]

Is the problem that you want to print the invoices before the items are shipped but want the orders to be shown as shipped?

If so the simplest way to do this is to change the invoice to show quantity ordered rather than quantity shipped. You would need to use Crystal reports to do this or ask a consultant to do this for you. It is a really simple thing to change and so I would expect that you would pay < £50 for this change.

If you don't mind shipping the items and then printing the invoice but would like to save time take a look at my automation products, they will download your orders for you, mark them as shipped and print out the packing list and invoice for you, which is (IMHO) a big time saver. If you have orders for items that are not in stock you can then just unship them in Actinic. More details and free trials are available at

http://www.mole-end.biz/acatalog/Actinic_Moles.html and
http://www.mole-end.biz/acatalog/Act...rocessors.html

With regard to the original question from last year we have work with Leon Paul to develop a new order processing interface which is currently in beta test and will be release in mid September, I have attached a screenshot which should give you an idea of what it can do.