Apollo

Apollo was designed as a Business Management program featuring Sales Order Processing, Stock Control, Invoicing and Purchasing

Apollo is based on the highly acclaimed Microsoft Access database and has been designed to be extremely user friendly most choices are from clearly marked Menus or Buttons.

Rather than start with a bookkeeping program that might have a stock control module tacked on to it Apollo puts emphasis on the daily jobs that have to be done before any cash comes in.

Apollo is not intended to be a accounting package, however it does have its own Sales and Purchase Ledgers to which all transactions are posted, and as such it can provide all the information that your accountant may require.

Using Apollo you can keep all your Prospects, Customers, Suppliers, Products, Categories etc. together in one program. You can enter Quotations, Sales Orders, produce Delivery Notes, Sales Invoices, Credit Notes, Purchase Orders and Statements. A large range of pre-formatted reports covering Sales, Purchases, Stock etc.

Modifications to the program are possible - contact Practical Software to discuss your requirements.

If you have installed Apollo from a magazine cover disk or from another source it will be restricted to a seven day trial period during which time all aspects of the program will be fully operational, payment of the registration fee of £50 will remove the 7 day restriction and Register the program to you.

To operate a Drop Down list control from the keyboard, use Alt and Down Arrow keys or simply type in the first character or two.

To move from one entry field to another use the Tab key, the Enter key may also be used in most cases however this will sometimes have unpredictable results.

It is possible to do almost everything from the keyboard although it is a lot simpler to use the Mouse in conjunction with the keyboard.

If you enter data in error and you want to start again simply press the Escape key twice.

Before you can start using Apollo you must enter some data, you will need at least one Category, One Supplier and One Employee/Agent. Before you enter a Sales Order you will need to enter at least one Customer and at least one Product.

Apollo can be used to create Price Lists, Purchase Orders, Quotations, Sales Orders, Delivery Notes, Sales Invoices etc without actually using Stock Control, If Stock Control is required then careful attention should be paid to Booking in Stock, it is not necessary to create Purchase Orders in order to book stock in, it is entirely up to you as to how tightly you wish to operate the program.

Categories describe groups of products, for example if you sold computer parts you might have a categories for Cases, Mainboards, Disk Drives etc. of you don’t want to use Categories simply enter one called General and assign all your products to it.

The Front Screen displays three buttons, each of which takes you to a different menu.

The Data Input Functions button takes you to the Data Input Menu, which displays various options to do with entering data such as Customers, Products, Categories etc. This is also where Sales Quotations, Sales and Purchase Orders are entered.

The Administration and Reports button takes you to a menu which displays a wide variety of reporting options and administrative functions such as Invoice printing and payment control.

The Program Configuration button takes you via a password screen (initially set as client) to the Program Options menu where you can select various screens that enable you to enter static program configuration data such as your company name and address etc.

The customer screen lets you enter details of your customers name and address etc. simply Tab between fields and enter details as required.

Apollo can cater for three Selling Prices, Price Band A, B, C. These might for example represent Retail, Wholesale and Distributor. New Customers are Automatically assigned to Price Band A, you may change this as required. When you create a Sales Order the Selling Price displayed is based on the preset Price Band for the selected Customer.

One field that perhaps needs some explanation is the DELIVERY CHARGE field, this may be used to enter a default deliver charge for this customer as you may know that you will always need to make a charge.

Clicking the COPY ADDRESSES.... Button copies the customers main address to the INVOICE and DELIVERY address fields where they may be edited if required.

The CONTACTS button displays and allows entry of details of contacts relating to this customer.

The MAIL MERGE button creates a .TXT comma delimited file that may be used in conjunction with MS-WORD as a data source file when creating mail-merged letters.

The SALES HISTORY button opens a window which displays a history of previous orders and details placed by this customer to date.

The LETTERS button display a browse window from which you can choose any one of the letters sent to this customer for display in MS-WORD

To enter a New Supplier click the New Record button and enter the name and address.

You must have at least one Supplier on the system before you can enter Products.

The Categories screen lets you enter and display the categories that relate to your range of Products.

To enter a New Category you only need to enter a name, you may add a description of the category if you wish.

The Products screen is where the details of your products should be entered, whether or notyou are using stock control, as with the previous screen most of the entries need little explanation.

To create a new product entry, enter the Product Code, this may be any combination of letters and/or numbers, do not use punctuation characters such as full stops, commas etc.

Enter the Quantity Per Unit, this will often be 1 or could be for example Box of 12.

Click the Reveal Button and enter the Cost Price (The Average Cost field will be filled in automatically)

Apollo can cater for three selling Prices, Price Band A, B, C. These might for example represent Retail, Wholesale and Distributor.

Enter the Selling Price for Price Band A, B and C as required. When you create a Sales Order the Selling Price displayed is based on the preset Price Band for the selected Customer.

Min Margin Enter the minimum percentage margin that you wish to make on this product, for example 10% (just enter10), If when you are creating a Sales Order, you edit the price to level where the margin falls below 10% a message will be displayed.

VAT/Tax Rate This Entry represents the VAT or Tax Rate that applies to this product.

Re-Order level When the stock level for this product falls at or below this figure, this product will appear on the Re-Order Stock List.

Max Level This figure represents the maximum stock level for this product, for example if you set a Re-Order level of 20 for this product and a Max Level of 100 and you have 15 in stock the Re-Order Stock List will suggest that you order 85.

Bin Loc This entry may represent a storage bin location such as A11 or similar.

Discontinued If an Product Item is discontinued or is no longer available this entry should be ticked, if it is selected during the course of creating a Sales or Purchase Order a message will be displayed.

Free Stock This figure represents the level of stock that is actually available for sale, it does not take into account any that are on order, this figure is decremented each time you create a Sales Order. Note The program allows this figure to go negative in order to deal with a situation where stock may have arrived but has not been booked in.

On Order This figure represents the total of items that have been ordered on one or more Purchase Orders that have not yet been delivered and entered into stock.

Notes This field lets you enter Comments or Notes relating to this product and has no relevance elsewhere in the program.

The fields that are displayed in grey will be automatically updated when you enter stock received and when you create an order.

Picture A picture may be pasted into each stock record if required, it is important to note that pictures can vastly bloat the database if care is not taken to optimise them first, using a program like Paint Shop Pro they should be sized as closely as possible to the space on the form and then compressed to create an image file that is as small as possible.

Search Product Items may searched for by Product Code or by Description by using the yellow Drop Down Lists at thee bottom of the screen. The binoculars will let you search for any part of any record.

Purchase Order No Select the Purchase Order No to which the delivery relates.

Optional Enter the latest Cost Price (If Known) and the program will calculate a new average cost for the product, all future profit analysis will be based on the new average cost.

If you select PRINT / PREVIEW you may then print or review a report displaying stock updates between two dates and filtered by Supplier or Product.

The Sales Order Processing screen is where you enter orders as you receive them, before attempting this you must have already entered some Customers, Products, Categories and Suppliers.

Whist at first sight this screen may appear to be slightly intimidating, it is in fact very simple to use, to enter an order click the New Transaction button and select your customer by either Postcode or by Company Name. The customers details will appear, the cursor will now be in the Agent field, select Employee or Agent, then by Tabbing through the next four fields you may Choose a Delivery Method, A Carrier, a Suggested Despatch Date and A Delivery Charge as required.

The Cursor will then be in the Item Code field where you can select the required product from the drop down list.

The product details will then be displayed, clicking TAB will put the cursor in the Qty field, you may then change the quantity from the default 1. The cursor will not automatically enter the Price field however you may edit the price by putting cursor into the Price field.

Note Product Items may be selected by the Description if required by selecting from the Drop Down List labelled Select Item by Description.

When first entering the Sales Order Processing screen or after you have entered and accepted an order you can use the navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen to scroll through the existing orders. The detail section of the order is locked at this time, if you wish to make a change you can use the Modify Qty / Price / Add Item fields, after which you will need to click the Accept button.

Modify Qty To modify the quantity of a selected item make sure that the required line is select, (A black triangle will be displayed next to the selected line), Change the figure displayed in the Modify Qty box and press Enter or Tab, the Accept Now box will light up, now click Accept.

Modify Price To modify the price of a selected item make sure that the required line is select, (A black triangle will be displayed next to the selected line), Change the figure displayed in the Price box and press Enter or Tab, the Accept Now box will light up, now click Accept.

Add Item To add an item to an existing order, click the Add Item button a window inviting you to enter an Item code will be displayed, select the required code and click Confirm Add, the selected item will appear as a new line in the order.

Delete Item Items on an existing order may be deleted by selecting the line by clicking on the Record Selector at the left-hand end of the line, the whole line will turn black. Click the Delete Item Button and the line will be deleted. Note Before you can delete a line the Quantity must be Modified to 0 in order for the stock to be Incremented.

VAT Setting The VAT charge relevant to each Product Item is entered on the Products Form and is displayed on the Sales Order as a total at the bottom of the screen normally will be displayed as a figure that is added to the Net figure to give a total that includes VAT. Apollo can display VAT inclusive or exempt prices for each product if required in which case a setting in Configuration must be changed.

Suppose that you display and sell all your products at VAT inclusive prices, you can enter your product Items in Products and give the VAT inclusive prices, the Sales Order form will then display them as such but the Net, VAT and total at the bottom of the form will be adjusted accordingly, by the same token you could enter and display Exempt prices.

Whichever you choose you must enter the correct setting in the Program Configuration, Company Details form, enter X for Exclusive, I for Inclusive or E for Exempt.

This setting is displayed on the Sales Order Processing screen and may be changed for an individual order simply by ticking the appropriate box, remember to adjust the item prices accordingly.

Price Band The Price Band field will display the Price Band that has been allocated to the selected customer, this setting may be over-ridden for the current order if required.

Currency The currency field displays the currency that has been selected in configuration.

Exchange You may create a Foreign Currency Sales Order by changing the Exchange Rate in the Exchange field, to display the required Monetary Symbol on the Invoice you will need to change it in Configuration.

Credit Limit If the total value of an order exceeds the preset Credit Limit for the selected Customer a warning will be displayed, you elect to continue or return to the order for adjustment.

The Administration screen provides options to preview and print Sale Invoices, Delivery Notes, Order Confirmations and reprint Previous Sale Invoices. It also provides a link to the payments screen.

Select a Sales Order from the Select Order Drop Down List, the Delivery Method, Delivery Cost, Shipper and Total Weight will be displayed (subject to them being entered on the order).

You may enter the number of parcels.

You may now elect to Preview or Print a Confirmation, a Delivery Note or a Sales Invoice, by clicking the appropriate buttons you can edit the Delivery and / or the Invoice address.

When printing a Sales Invoice you may elect to print 1/2/3 copies, by default the program will print 1.

You may wish to change the Invoice Date, to do this double Click the Invoice Date field (As with all date fields) and enter thee required date.

Once a sales Invoice has been printed the Sales Invoice No will be displayed in the Invoice No box.

Note: The Stock will be decremented when you print an Invoice.

You may elect to display individual line prices on a Sales Invoice or not, the total will always be displayed.

Work in Progress You may preview or print the details of Sales Orders that have not yet been printed, these may be limited to a selected Customer or, if an asterisk is entered in the Outstanding Orders field all Orders will be displayed.

The Quotations screen can be used to enter the details of Prospective customers and for creating Quotations.

To enter the details of a prospective customer, simply click the New Quotation button and fill in the Contact, Company Name and address Fields plus the Telephone and Fax fields if required.

To create a new Quotation you can select one of the records where you have entered a prospect, or you can click the New Quotation button and select an existing Customer.

If and when a Prospect becomes a Customer you can add them to the Customer File by clicking the Convert to Customer button.

Once a Quotation has been completed or confirmed it may be converted to an order by clicking the Download Order button, this will cause the Sales Order Processing screen to open displaying the items that were in the Quotation so that you can edit or add to it, it must then be accepted.

The Order History button displays the orders previously placed by selected Customer.

Templates Clicking the Templates button takes you to the Template Creation screen, here you can create lists of commonly used items.

For example suppose you wanted to be able to supply a customer with a particular model of computer, consisting of 676 Case, 3245 Mainboard, 767 Floppy Drive, 80g Hard Disk, Pentium 4 – 2.4 Processor, 512m Memory, CD/DVD Player etc.

You could enter these items into a template called Computer Model 123 once, and each time you needed them the template could be automatically entered into the quotation and then downloaded into a Sales Order once the quote was accepted thus saving an appreciable amount of time.

Import Template Once you have selected a customer, click the Import Template button select the required template, you will see that the template items are present in the Quotation just as if you had entered them in the usual way.

Quick Check The Quick Check screen displays a range of products based upon one or more characters of the Product Code, for example let us suppose the you were selling tyres, you might want to see all the 145s that have in stock, by simply entering 145 the program will restrict the display to match your entry.

The Stock History by Product screen displays all the movements of a selected stock item between two dates, each time a product item is sold or credited, it is posted to the Stock Movement table, this is a useful aid to traceability.

The Sales History - Customer by Product screen display all the product items either bought or credited to a selected customer between two dates. Similar in function to the Stock History by Product screen.

The Stock and Price Lists screen lets you display various reports base upon various combinations of parameters such as Price Groups, Categories and Suppliers.

The Payments Received screen displays all payments received to date. A report displaying payments received between two dates may also be displayed.

When an order is posted to the Sales Ledger table it is removed from the Work in Progress and transferred to the Sales Order History table. The Sales Order History screen displays these orders for the purpose of reference.

The Special Prices screen lets you enter Special Prices for specified items for a selected Customer, for example if customer Bloggs and Co buys Red Widgets at 25.00 each when the Price Groups A B C have them at 40.00/35.00/30.00, the program will automatically select 25.00 if that item had been entered as a special price for that customer.

The Order History and Payments screen displays information about a selected order / Invoice including Addresses, Detail items and Payments.

The Payment Control screen lets you select an invoice and make payments against it, the Method of Payment may also be selected.

The invoice will be posted to the Sales Ledger, this action will also post to the Sales History and remove the order from the Work in Progress.

Selecting the Statements option takes you to a date and Customer selection screen where you can decide whether to preview or print a statement, you may also select Batch or Single printing.

Restore Database This form lets you delete all Transactional Data so that when you are ready to enter real live data you can start with a clean empty Database. After deleting Transactional Data you may choose whether to delete any of the other files.

If you require further assistance with the operation of this product please telephone our Helpline on +44 (0)1604 877331 0r fax +44(0)1604877332 or email to info@psoftuk.com