Spring 2005 Issue

News From the Kore

Welcome to the Spring 2005 Edition of News From the Kore

Kore Team News

It that time of year again, Baseball Season (or as some other people know it... Spring).

Recently some of the Kore Team members got together in order to Celebrate Keith's birthday and to kickoff the new baseball season. We went down to beautiful downtown San Diego, and while we were there we thought it would be great to visit our wonderful new baseball only ballpark called PETCO Park.

Everyone was supposed to wear Padres gear, but as you can see it's clear based on the shirts in the picture below that not everyone is a true Padres fan (and we also have one die hard hockey fan!). For the record, here are the favorite teams for everyone at Kore. As you can see we have some rivalries here (Padres vs. Dodgers and Yankees vs. Red Sox). This often makes for some lively water cooler discussions. No matter, at the end of the day we all get along just fine anyway.

If you are following baseball you know the Padres did not get off to a great start. But the season is young and we'll keep the faith (as true fans do).

Members above are from left to right Front row: Rishi Persad, Keith Lambert, Jeremy Segal. Second row: Ken Dickinson, Rob Morrison, Chuck Verran, Andy Blanchard, Paul Trebbien. Back row: John Bosley, Eric Yarborough,  Mark Dobransky, Paul Bressler.

Other Kore Team members not pictured are: Bob Bottomley, Frank Busalacchi, Michelle Durbin (she took the picture), and Frank Kertai.

Kore Holiday  Schedule

The Kore Offices are scheduled to be closed on the upcoming holidays so that we can spend time with our friends and family.
 

• Monday, May 30th - Memorial Day

• Monday, July 4th - Independence Day 

Kore would be happy to provide holiday services or support if needed. Please call us in advance at 866-700-KORE (5673) to schedule support.

Client Corner - Ode to Larry by Pam Besser Eaton of Mid-West Metal Products

Here is our first Client submitted article to News from the Kore. If you are interested in sharing an interesting story, article, or case study please send an e-mail to Keith at kore_newsletter@koretech.com.

This is Pam's story about the Valentine's Day poem she submitted to the "Love Lines" contest that appeared in her local newspaper. I think you will enjoy both the story and the poem. Nice work Pam! Here's her story:

Her Story

Her Poem

With careful consideration and the risk of embarrassing my husband I wrote a poem to him to be published to the "Muncie" world on Valentine's Day. I was so surprised and pleased when I received the phone call that my poem had taken 1st prize. Actually I think this is the first contest I've ever participated in and for me to win, let me tell you I was excited to say the least. I didn't keep the paper with the actual contest information and list of prizes, but surely as much as it was advertised for days the prizes must have included a dinner. Right? It's Valentine's Day, you know, candy, flowers and dinner. I was so excited after I read my poem to my husband to inform him of my accomplishments I couldn't wait to tell the kids and my close friends. So the list of prizes I conjured up (assumed--I know what that means!) was a box of candy, roses, dinner (somewhere), a night at the Signature Inn and a diamond necklace... YES! My imaginary bubble was pretty large at that point. The next day I called and spoke with a lady at the Star Press office. I had talked with earlier and she said she thought my poem was very sweet but they didn't really get too many to choose from this year. Well let me tell you, the bubble is now much smaller than it was a few seconds ago. I'm thinking at this point, oh GREAT, I won by default. I was told to go to the office and pick up my goodies. Now I'm thinking (assuming again) there might be a little fanfare here. So I'm all smiles and ask for the person I was told to see. She is very sweet, shakes my hand and congratulates me and said I'll go get your things. She returns and explains this is this and this is that and she thanks me for entering the contest. I said ok and walked out. I'm thinking was that it? My bubble is just about flat at that point but does have some air left. I get to my car and look at the prizes. There is a box of yummy candy (and it was), a certificate for a dozen roses, a certificate for one night's stay at the Signature Inn for a standard room, and the "diamond necklace". I opened the box and at first I thought the pendant must be underneath the black velvet holder. Then I realize NO it's not, there is "something" on the chain. Here's the part where you can "assume".  I get back to my office and call the florist about the roses. Here again I'm thinking roses, vase, arranged "sort of". Not so. If I want them delivered I have to pay for the delivery or I can just pick them up. Do you get the picture here? The air is completely gone from my imaginary bubble. Totally flat. I've explained what I assumed as a winner of Valentine's Day Love Notes Contest (that was repeatedly advertised): candy, roses, "dinner", and a romantic room . My point in all this is there was NO DINNER included. My opinion and suggestion for future contests such as this is that they might try to spring for the DINNER and SKIP the "diamond necklace" However it was a diamond... I assume!

To My Husband Larry 32 cards that represent The years of love We’ve shared. Our lives have changed And so have we, But we have persevered Our Wedding vows Said long ago, Were tested Through the years. Commitment, sacrifice, And love, Have mended any tears. Crazy wild days Of our youth, Bring a smile to my face. Do you remember The big old barn On State Road 28? Our love we’ve shared has Grown from two. To 5 grand kids that we adore. The flock we’ve got Doesn’t have to stop. We certainly welcome more. The love and care You’ve always given, Has proven so much to me. You’re my friend and lover From “this day forward” Into eternity. The 32 cards With expressions of love. One for each Valentine’s Day To let you know how much I love you Heart felt words to treasure Along the way I love you! Pam

Product News

Kourier Publisher

• Publish ACCESS reports as Microsoft Excel documents without wIntegrate

  • Easily convert existing Report Manager reports or create your own

  • Publish and send via e-mail or archive to any location

• Dynamic FAX configuration string

  • Gives more control for creating complex fax addresses and provides support for Lotus Notes

  • Use any Kourier substitution tag and KT_CONTACT dictionary items to build fax addresses

  • Example: For a contract record with the first name PETE, last name SMITH and a fax number of (858) 555-1211, create
     {CONTACT_NAME}<{F11(MCN)}@KORETECH.COM>. This will create a fax string of: PETE SMITH<8585551211@KORETECH.COM>.

KommerceServer Framework

• Optimized architecture so it's now even faster with Microsoft .NET

• Search system now includes Soundex algorithm to increase search speed and ease

• Integration with Microsoft Reporting Services

• New menu system that's easier to use and more flexible

webSalesForce

• Enhanced Product and Regional Sales Reports to display units sold in addition to sales revenue

• New Drill-Down thru sales by product catalog structure

• New Contact & Company listing by sales rep or region

• Name Check implemented  (with Soundex) to prevent duplicate contacts

• New Account Rep management page displays open projects and last communication (requires webTeam)

• Added attention & phone number to stand-alone sales order

webStoreFront

• Prevent over selling of inventory parts beyond quantity on hand, configurable by product

• Declare drop shipments and one-time drop ship charge

• Determine minimum order amount to qualify for Free shipping

• Support standard pack quantity and service charge for broken packs

• Ability to restrict customers from viewing or purchasing specific catalog items

• Support entry of Purchase Order number when using a credit card

• New UPC code field available for product information

webPortal

• Dynamic document portal pages allow viewing of published Sales Order, RMA, Shipment, and Invoice PDF documents

webServiceCenter

• New Service Reporting by shipped or returned item

• New Product Owners Listing with Bill of Material lookup

webTeam

• New Projects by Company listing

• Ability to enter actionable Project QA issues

• Enhanced object-based security with scope

Custom Solutions

Here are some other interesting DataFlo projects we have recently completed for our Clients that you might find useful for your organization. Please contact us if you are interested in finding out more about these new capabilities.

• Automated Supplier Order Confirmation e-mail and status report

• Print Multiple shippers based on a picking group code and part ship via code

• Enhanced Shipments Register to add reprinting for a date range and add data export capability

• Add data export capability to the Single Level Bill Of Material and Indented Bill Of Material reports

• New AP Invoice GL Post report that displays the Accounts, Dollars, and subsidiary Journals posted for specified AP Invoices

• Enhanced system locking process to prevent the use of a process if there are one or more users in a related process.  For example: Prevent users from Generating Invoices from Shippers if there are one or more users running the Shipment entry process.
   

For more information on any of the above products or our services, call us at 866-763-KORE (5673) or contact us at sales@koretech.com.

Tech Tip: Reduce wIntegrate Communication Errors  

By Frank Kertai

Occasionally, when using the import or export feature of wIntegrate, errors can occur in the communications process. Sometimes, pausing the processes and re-initiating the process is all it takes to resolve/overcome the communications errors encountered. At other times, the hand-shaking between the two systems just seems out of whack. One thing that may resolve this communication issue between the DataFlo server and the source/destination system is to adjust the block size transmission rate between the systems. Read the Tech Tip.

Please contact us at support@koretech.com if you would like to share one of your Tech Tips or need help solving a technical challenge. We would be happy to help you.

Paul's Corner

Spring is upon us, for my family that means baseball and lots of it. Our son, as you know, plays high school ball and now our grandson is in T-Ball. If that’s not enough we have our San Diego Padres season tickets. Most weeks it’s only 6 days a week but then we do go to some of the Padres Sunday games… What do families with 3 or 4 baseball players do?

Not much happening in my woodshop right now as just building a couple of small doors, 8 picture frames, and fixing things. I have a definite need to rearrange my shop as I've outgrown the room I have (half of a 2 car garage). I've been doing some thinking, planning and will start reorganizing it in the next couple of weeks, first with some shelves which will give me a lot more floor space once I remove a table and a work bench.

Kore Technologies attended the 2005 International Spectrum conference this year. I had a lot of fun visiting with some of my Customers, former DataWorks/Epicor employees, and visiting all of the vendors and talking about their products and ours. I really look forward to next year’s event in Irvine, CA and hope to see you there.

DataFlo accounting: have you ever run the General Ledger Detail report and found a "Summary GJ NOF" type message? Here’s the gist of how the report works for each account and why the report added that line.

• For each account, the report gets the ending balance of the prior period (or the beginning account balance if the report is run beginning for period 1), prints it, and then uses this number as a running balance.
• Now as each journal entry for the account is printed the running balance is updated with the debit/credit entry
• At the end of the Period, the running balance is compared to the ending balance on the GL account record, if they differ then the report adds a line to the report with the difference to bring the report into balance--that’s the Summary GJ NOF line.

There are several reasons for the Summary GJ NOF line including: 1) the GL record is wrong/corrupted; 2) a journal is actually missing; 3) one of the cross references is missing; or 4) the Account was defined without the D/C field which tells the Posting/Reporting program how to treat the numbers related to this account. For the first 3, I would suggest that your Support person examine and correct the situation. For the missing D/C field, you may be able to correct this situation yourself without too much trouble. Here is an example from my friend Ana that corrected the issue on her system:

• We looked at the GL Inquiry screen and found all entries were there, in this case it was an Expense account and we could see all "hits" were Credits. Why, as they should be Debits?
• We looked at the Chart of Accounts Entry screen and noticed the Debit/Credit balance field was blank. This field defines whether the Account carries a normal balance as a debit or a credit. Additionally, this field determines the way the numbers from a journal will post. For example, if the amount on the journal is a debit and the account’s D/C field is a “D” then the entry is added to the period.
• We entered a D in the D/C field which I knew would correct her numbers as the file-time processing will notice a change in the D/C field and multiply all of the balances in each period/YTD field by a negative 1. In our case, this corrected those Credit balances on the Expense account – showed all Debits.
• Next we ran the GL Detail report and found the GJ NOF message no longer showing up.

Note, in DataFlo the Post Journals program checks the D/C field for a D when deciding to add or subtract the journal entry. If it's not a D then the account is assumed to hold a normal Credit Balance and the journal’s Debit entry would be subtracted. In the GL Detail Report it has just the opposite logic. That is, it checks the Account’s D/C field for a C, and if it's not a C then the normal balance is assumed to be a Debit and numbers from the journals update the running balance appropriately.

Did I ever mention that the DataFlo Tech Support staff used to call me “Mr. General Ledger”? Please feel free to contact me here at Kore Technologies if I can ever be of assistance.

Quick Tip for DataFlo Programmers: How about fixing the Chart of Accounts Entry screen to prevent the above issue from happening for your accounting staff. You can simply modify the PROC that calls the screen to include an “M” in the screen options which means “Force input of the fields that have a minimum length specified in the Screen Definition Elements”. The Debit/Credit field does have a minimum length required so now any new Accounts entered will not allow the screen to file without entries in those required fields. See the Q&A’s to find out about the other Preview Screen Options available.

Please remember, “Great Service to your Customer is always rewarded”.

Paul’s Questions and Answers

I always enjoy answering your questions!  So everyone, if there’s a question you have on how something works, e-mail it to me at pault@koretech.com.  I hope you find these tips useful:

Question:  Where can I find documentation about the Preview Screen Options?

Answer: The Preview Screen Options are listed in the DataFlo Developers Guide under the “Execution Options” section. Another place to look them up is on your system, if you go to TCL and execute the following command:

 > SUBHELP PV.CALL

Note, it seems to me that the subhelp info is missing for PV.CALL on some older PREVIEW releases

Question:  I have the Kourier Publisher and we’ve moved from Optio for our electronic forms to the Kourier Forms Manager. The forms print perfect but the PDFs attached in the e-mails all have the printed data indented about 1 ½ inches. What causes this?

Answer: In the Publication definition, when you switched the ‘Conversion Mode’ from Optio to Kourier you may have set the Remove First Form Feed field to Y. Change it to N and the PDFs will correctly line up the data with the form. This will allow the escape sequence sent to the printer to execute instead of being stored in your PDF document.

Question:  When printing a PDF document with lots of text and a few graphics, the text displays fine on the screen but when printed it seems to have been formatted in an odd manner (i.e., unreadable), any suggestions?

Answer: In the Adobe PDF Reader, when you choose to print go to the ‘Advanced’ print setups and look for a check-box labeled “Print as Image”, check this box to see if that corrects the issue. Note, this did not seem to be a problem on the 6.0 release of Adobe Reader.

If you have any questions or comments about our newsletter, please send an email to kore_newsletter@koretech.com. We want your feedback.

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