Software System		NewLines nl-Boss v3.9.4
Developed in		C# (Visual Studio 2005) .NET3.5 framework
Database Back-End		MS SQL 2005
Minimum System Requirements		Windows XP Pro
		Pentium III 800
		2000Mb RAM  (Server version) 512Mb RAM  (Client version)

What is nl-Boss ?

nl-Boss (NewLines Business Organisation Software System) v3.9.4 is essentially a thorough data warehousing and wholesale/retail management system that puts you in the driving seat allowing you to assert full control over your business. It handles full administration over your inventory, purchases and sales together with an extensive POS module.

Designed and developed with cutting-edge technology and tools that are the very latest naturally gave us the advantage of developing a system which is classified as a ‘standard Microsoft type’ product, looking very similar to Microsoft Office 2007, with the same type of functionality and ease-of-use.

The system fully supports standard POS peripherals such as cash drawers, bar-code scanners, receipt printers, customer display units, MSR’s etc...

General Features

Every screen and listing available provides the users with incredible features and add-ons. It is possible to sort, filter and group any field. The user may also modify the look, number of, and  positioning of fields. Also, the user may alter any column display format by choosing from the systems’ available format choices. Once done manipulating and setting, through profiles, every user may save the screen information just the way they want it. Once they log-off and in again, all the modified screens will retain the selected settings unless the user resorts to resetting to system default.   

The layout and choice of fields within the major documents (e.g. cash sale, invoice, consignment etc…) can all be decided by the user. In addition, thanks to our profiles, different users within the same company may retain various templates per document if he/she so wishes. This allows for much more flexibility and our system adapting to your environment rather than you having to adapt to nl-Boss.

Incorporates software to run on touch-type screens. For example, the cash Sale layout will be user-designed by accessing nl-Boss’s in-built Touch Screen Designer. Furthermore, through the MSR’s, your users will enter the system by swiping pre-defined magnetic access cards.

Intense, powerful built –in search engine. Again, within every screen , the user may look for data by using our search engine. Every field and logical operator is at the users’ disposal. In addition, complicated and nested searches are easy to perform.

Multi-location. Inventory can be transferred from one location to another and stock control and costing is performed by location if so desired.

Multi-currency. Nl-Boss works with all currencies and suppliers with different currencies can be created and maintained.

Data Export. Export any screen to industry standard format PDF, XLS, HTML, XML, CSV, TXT. Nl-Boss is an open system and your data can be exported with ease.

Create your own report using all the fields available from every screen. The layout and positioning is all user-defined. Furthermore create charts (pie, bar, etc..) from data from any screen.

Active transactions. Screen available within purchases and sales that allows the user to view and activate all the open documents (cash sales, invoices, adjustments, consignments etc...)

In the case of all major documents (e.g. consignment, adjustment, invoice etc..), it is possible to save your document, exit the system and then tomorrow, get into the system, re-load the document and simply continue. This is extremely useful in the case of large documents (e.g. big supplier invoices) where you are not forced to finish and update the document but can do so at your own pace.

Custom Task Designer. Nl-Boss offers you the ability to design a series of tasks like for example EOM report generation and simply save the process under a particular heading. Press this choice every month end and all the required reports will run and print on their own. Similar to the macro-recording feature in excel !

Security. Users of the system are defined and are placed within roles. Each role then has specific access to components of all the installed modules. The system administrator has the power to allow & dis-allow access to any component.

System Log. The system administrator will be able to monitor the on-goings of the system through this log. Any and every suspicious movement is recorded within this log (e.g. the deletion of a payment) and is kept there for checking purposes.

Data Conversion. It is possible to import data into nl-Boss from your current system. We can import your suppliers, clients and products. It is also possible to import your client balances as a total per client which will allow you to go live with nl-Boss immediately.

Parameters

Company. These are parameters that affect the entire system. All parameters recorded here will appear and have an effect on all the stations and users within the system. These include parms like Company Name, Address, default delivery address, Telephones, Vat. No.,  Exo. No., C-Reg No., POS receipt text, local currency, Euro exchange rate, allow negative sales, user-renamed fields.

Station. Every user can control certain parameters that affect his station i.e. his computer. These parameters include printer, bar code scanning, default client, default location, customer display, printer cutter, touch-screen, default no. of copies, receipt logo, default payment type, invoice text size, printing environment etc...

Inventory

The stock card. A product is determined by its class, Regular, Composed or Assembled. This class allows the user to control the type of product and the behavior pattern that is related. Regular  = normal stockable product. Composed = non-stockable intangible product that is formed by taking pieces from other regular products. E.g. JB Coke. Assembled = stockable product that is a representation of a group of regular products put together to sell as a single item. In the case of composed and assembled products, the user will be able to see the cost within the stock card. (Last, first and avg).

User-defined and user-renameable group levels and custom fields are available within the stock card.

The stock allocation method. Fifo, Lifo, Expiry Date, Manual. It is possible to define your stock allocation method per product and consequently, you can have batches of your stock with different allocation methods thus allowing for a much more accurate inventory position when reporting the actual situation.

Multipliers can be defined per product. E.g. you can sell the product in single units as well as in six-packs and twelve packs. Rather then creating three separate products, you will create one product and three multipliers all of which will retain important separate information like wholesale and retail prices, reorder levels and quantities, weight, volume and costs. This way, nl-Boss will keep track of your stock levels via the multipliers thus giving you the exact picture of your inventory.

Barcoding. Every product and every multiplier within the product can have its own barcode or own series of barcodes which must be unique.

Stock Valuation. Through nl-Boss, one can obtain a true stock valuation by using four available costing methods which are by first cost, last cost, average cost and actual cost. Depending on the stock allocation method defined for your product, the report will issue the most accurate stock figures that are possible. This valuation is available real-time as well as at a particular date and time which is user-defined.

Stock Take Management. The system makes it extremely easy to take periodic stock takes to monitor your situation. Through Boss, you may report the system shelf stock as at a particular date and time and enter your manual quantities as you found them on that particular date and time. The system will then automatically generate an adjustment that will re-position you stock and costs as at that date and time. Consequently, any transactions or movements that were entered after that date will not be affected. This means that you do not have to stop the system from running to perform a stock take.

Internal Requisitions. Consumables are entered here. Any product that is used by the company internally should be entered as a consumable through the internal requisitions. An adjustment created whilst no sale is performed.

Product Info. Available within many areas of the software. Once clicked upon, four tabs of information are available. General, transactions, Agreed Prices, Quantities. General is the products stock card, Transactions lists all the products movements in chronological order, Agreed prices lists all the agreed supplier prices, Quantities highlights the exact balance of stock quantity in every location as at now.

Purchases

Suppliers. Full details are kept including multiple phones and address, web info, currency, limit, agreed terms of payment, history, recorded payments, agreed prices per product, balance to specific date.

PO Management. Facility to create purchase orders directly from user pre-selected products which will automatically generate and open PO’s per supplier with the correct pre-defined re-order qty’s and unit prices. Fax, print or e-mail PO to the supplier. Adjust qty’s and products on PO according to supplies delivered. Keep track of open items. Adjust and update PO’s as necessary. Generate supplier consignment automatically once PO is updated.

Consignment. Directly scan or enter supplier products according to supplier invoice. Our consignment handles the invoice date, currency, exchange rate, Vat, Eco, discounts, unit cost, and total cost amongst others. In the case of imported goods, we also provide the facility for you to load your additional costs (freight, handling etc…) onto the cost of your goods according to the costing method applied (by value, weight or volume).This way, we will be able to accurately ascertain the exact cost of your product as you imported it. Once you have entered all the items, you may validate your consignment which quickly runs a comparison and issues a report that illustrates your previous qtys’ and prices for all the products. Once ready, update stock, costs and supplier balance with posted consignment. A consignment report is generated and highlights the costs (now and previous) together with recommended wholesale and retail prices. Use RTS (Return to Supplier) if goods were returned on a specific or general invoice. If specific, one click will generate an automatic return note with full details. Option also to generate your own general return to supplier.

Payments. Enter supplier payments (cash, cheque) and allocate against invoices. Manual or automatic system allocation is provided. Very simple interface is provided complete with a point and drag option to facilitate allocation.

Prices. Module to maintain agreed prices with suppliers. Easy access to product costing information and control.

Sales

Clients. Maintain comprehensive information on your clients. Multiple phones and address’s, web info, product/service % discount, whether retail or wholesale, terms, limit, ten user-rename able grouping levels, five user-rename able custom fields, history, list of payments effected, real-time balance, view all client transactions in chronological order, point scheme.

SO Management. Facility to generate a sales order on a specific client. Can then generate either one of the following documents : cash sale, invoice, goods on consignment, quote. The SO and generated document will be linked thus providing accurate transaction history.

Cash Sale. Nl-Boss has the facility to handle touch-type screens and if selected (parameter driven), the cash sale screen layout will be designed accordingly by the user who will access our in-built touch screen designer. Alternatively, if normal, then the standard user-defined cash sale layout will be selected.

Negative Sales. According to your system defined parameters, you have control over whether the system will allow negative sales orders/ sales or not. (I.e. If you do not have the item in stock, should the system allow you to sell it ?) If set to no, then the system will not allow you to sell the item and will report what quantities are available in which location if any.

Payment Types. Various payment types are allowed. These include Cash, Cheque, Credit Card, On Account, Credit Note. Furthermore, a combination of some or all the payment types can be used to register the payment on a document.

Allocation. Once entered, the client payments need to be allocated against the client documents. A full history of all allocated and non-allocated payments is available for the user to decipher client movements.

Salesmen. If defined, sales documents can be processed per salesman thus establishing the amount and percentage of sales per product per salesman.

Returns. User has the choice of issuing a direct return note which is generated against a specific posted cash sale/ invoice or generating a general return choosing the client and the products or services.

Barcode Info. Scan an item and you will be given ‘supermarket-like’ information on that item : Code, Description, Pack Size, Retail price and Wholesale price.

Sales incentive. Users can define their own loyalty schemes, point schemes, discount structures that can be linked to specific documents, clients, groupings, products etc… This incredible feature gives the user the power to assert full control over the behavior of items, discounts, schemes etc… within all types of generated documents (sales orders, cash sales, invoices).

Points Register. Within sales, the user can maintain the points attained by all the clients (if a point scheme is desired and selected).

View Sales. Here the user has full view ability of all the sales movements that have occurred within the company. A user-defined search criteria will provide a listing with all the relevant sales data. Furthermore, the user can load a posted sales document and view or re-print it.

Cost of Sales. You can obtain the actual cost of sale (per line, per document) by accessing the audit report and selecting the sales records required. This accurate feature will allocate the sale against the actual purchase and report the actual unit cost. With this feature, you can safely work out your exact profit and margins with great accuracy.

Statements. With nl-Boss, the user can issue statements on a periodic basis. (E.g every month) and again, the user has the choice of printing, faxing or e-mailing the statement. Allowing for great flexibility, nl-Boss allows four different statement views and contains parameters that control which client statements and which records are printed once the run is issued.

Reports

Nl-Boss allows the user to design any type of report using any choice of fields. With this great feature, the user has the power to report data in any constructive and analytical way that is deemed necessary. Furthermore, once the user has defined the report, he/she may also have the data represented in a graphical manner by selecting our charting button. Once again, nl-Boss is powerful and flexible enough to allow the user to choose between the many different types of charting (pie, bar, line, 2D, 3D, etc…) and will also allow the user to customize all the relevant fields.

Nl-Boss pre-defined system standard reports include the following :

Audit Trail : The most comprehensive report of them all. The report the users call ‘The Monster Report’ ! In essence, this report illustrates all the movements generated whether of a purchasing or sales nature. The report contains something like 98 fields, all of which can be user manipulated to highlight the information required. The concept behind this report is to be able to give the user full detailed information on any type of transaction. Once the information is returned, it can be grouped, sorted, filtered and manipulated in any way desired.

Cash Till : This is your essential cash drawer report which highlights what notes and coins and monies are supposed to be held within your cash drawer. This report can be issued to highlight figures within a date range and through the network, can connect and report any location’s Point-Of-Sale and attached cash drawer.

Consignments : This is a full list of your purchases and highlights supplier invoice information per line per document and again, can be issued according to any search criteria (e.g. data range, product, supplier etc…)

Creditors : This reports all your companies dues in terms of your suppliers and their credit terms. The report offers two types of views, namely Ageing and Balances. All the user has to do is select and fill-in the ‘As at Date ‘ and choose between ageing or balances. If aging is selected, the report will highlight the figures per supplier and aged according to the system defined periods (E.g. 1-30dys, 30-60dys, 60-90dys etc…). If “balances” is selected, then the report simply illustrates the exact balance per supplier as at that date.

Debtors : This works in exactly the same fashion as the creditors report but this time handles what your clients owe you !

Stock Valuation : This is the report that you would run if you would need to know the value of your stock as at a particular date and time. Your stock products complete with stock quantities will be listed and the costing method used will be two : average and last-cost. This way, you will be able to determine the valuation of your stock using both methods.

Stock Valuation - Detailed : This valuation is a much more accurate report since it allocates your remaining stock as at that date against your purchases and returns the actual cost. If for some reason, this allocation cannot work (e.g. in the case of negative sales), then the system will automatically work out the value of that stock according to your alternative choice derived from the choice of first, average or last cost.

Vat Analysis: Simply enter the periods (e.g. 1-Mar-07 to 31-May-07) and the report will generate the Vat register for you. This is a comprehensive report highlighting all your purchases and sales for that period with a Vat summary at the end which your accountant uses to fill in the Vat return. In addition, if you are an importer and are liable to pay Eco tax, then you can also issue your Eco Register per period in the same manner.

View Transactions. This is a condensed report that highlights, in chronological order, the movements of your suppliers and your creditors. Just filter the info you need and view the data accordingly.

Accounts

  The export of necessary records from nl-Boss to standard accounting systems (e.g. Sage, Quick Books etc…) is a simple click away. All the user has to do is select the date range, click a button and all the relevant transactions will be exported to a CSV file ready for import. The user will then be able to publish his P&L, balance sheet and trial balance.