Do you always feel really confident sharing profitability information with management? Do you ever have the feeling that things aren’t quite right with the numbers? Did you know there could be zero cost for some transactions? If you’ve got inventory transactions in Visual ERP that have no cost, that means:   ·        the inventory could be understated and ·        costs of sales are understated   Neither of these things are good. Just imagine … you have been asked to present the profitability of a customer. Y ..read more

My husband and I had a recent trip to Europe. Going to the loo, as they would say in England, was a bit of a surprise. There were times when the facilities were absolutely lovely. Nice tiles, nice toilets. Everything beautiful. And then there were times when they were not. Just imagine, instead of a toilet, it is a hole in the ground with a white ceramic base. This was not pleasant and hardly even possible to use. Boy, it sure shows how things have progressed over the years. Did the latter work? Yes, but not my preference. The former was wonderful and much more like we would find in North Amer ..read more

Last night we had the pleasure of listening to a jazz-inspired Christmas concert by our friend and jazz pianist, Paul Tobey.  It was a real delight, and I am now officially in a Christmas mood.  One of the songs he played was “My Favourite Things” from Sound of Music.  Even though it is not officially a Christmas song, it does seem to get extra play time during the holiday season. This inspired me to think about my favourite things about Visual ERP, so here it goes.  Visual ERP so many functions Running the business at all junctions Inventory, orders, collect and cha-chi ..read more

Do you recall the TV show, Frasier? He was a radio talk show psychiatrist played by Kelsey Grammer. People would call in with their various issues. He would provide all kinds of wisdom. His radio tagline was “Good afternoon, Seattle. I’m listening”. Sometimes I feel like Frasier Crane but to the Visual community.  To give you a flavour for what our “show” might look like, I have selected a few of the calls or emails we have received recently. I thought some people might have similar questions, so anything to help.  If we had a real show, it would start out “Hi, I’m Kim fr ..read more

It’s that time of year again. What time is it, you wonder? Halloween? Or time to think about December holiday plans? No, it is time to do your physical inventory count. That is unless you have accurate inventory and now do cycle counts only. If so, congrats. That is a lot of hard work and discipline. While working with finance teams to help them prepare and review their counts I have come across some interesting situations I wanted to share. The operations folks do a fine job of making sure the quantities are accurate but then those quantities turn into dollars (or Euros or pesos). The finan ..read more

Hey there, fellow highway travelers! Remember when Tom Cochrane’s iconic tune, “Life is a Highway,” hit the airwaves back in 1991? Sorry, Southern neighbours, but this one’s not a Rascal Flatts original. Lately, I’ve been humming this catchy melody all month long. No, it didn’t come from my radio – it’s been inspired by my encounters with the Inventory Deep Dive Reconciliation Tool. We’ve been rolling out some exciting new versions, starting with 4.0.0, or as I like to call it, “Highway 400”. For those not in the know, Highway 400 runs from Toronto to cottage country. Toronto is a bustling met ..read more

We are in the middle of summer which also means strawberries. Yummy. Strawberries remind me about being in my early twenties when I decided to make strawberry jam. I bought a few containers and popped them in the fridge. When I came back a few days later I had a problem. My containers of strawberries were now rotten. Turns out the moisture and mold caused this problem. Who knew. I was young. All these years later, I use the situation as an analogy when talking about keeping a Visual ERP database clean. One of the more prevalent problems is “parts without product codes”. Since I am an acco ..read more

That is how I felt when I was a controller. I would mumble to myself – “Didn’t we just finish last month-end?” Back in my day, month-end could take a couple of weeks. I can just imagine that closing month-end now is much more demanding than it was in my day. (I am not admitting to how long ago that was; however, I did not use an abacus ). Even though I don’t really have a month-end like before, I can totally relate to the clients who work with Visual ERP. I know. I get the calls and emails. My ________________ doesn’t reconcile (you fill in the blank). Since getti ..read more

Canada’s Got Talent recently captivated audiences with its diverse array of awe-inspiring acts, ranging from singers, noise makers (you have to check her out) and dancers to magicians. As the winner was crowned, it got me thinking about the magic that exists beyond the stage, particularly in the realm of Visual ERP. I was showing one of our clients one of the cool things in Visual ERP. She thought it was magic. I was joking with her that I could go on Canada’s Got Talent to show all the magic in Visual ERP.  I’ll share some of the enchanting tricks that make Visual ERP a powerful tool for ..read more

Inventory management can be a daunting task for many businesses, particularly when it comes to reconciling inventory records in Visual ERP. It’s important to ensure that your inventory values are accurate and up-to-date to avoid discrepancies, potential losses or incorrect reporting of profitability, either for the company or for specific parts or customers. If you’ve taken BTB’s inventory course: Visual ERP Actual Costing in the past, you’re likely familiar with the process of reporting, recording, and reconciling inventory. Reconciling inventory involves comparing the inventory balance repo ..read more