CONTENTS

Does this apply to me if I’m having a data import?

Pre-requisites for Products

Whenever you enter details of a product into Cybertill, as well as entering the obvious things (e.g. name and price), there are other less-obvious fields that it will probably be beneficial to fill in, if you’re to get the best out of the system later.

For example, every product can have a Stock Ref assigned to it.

This means that before you save any product details, you should probably enter a list of Stock Refs into the system first.

Were you to try and create a product before entering a list of Stock Refs, you’d come across a box prompting you to “Please select a Stock Ref” – but there aren’t any Stock Refs available to select! And although you would be allowed to leave this box blank if you really wanted to, chances are you’d regret it later, because you won’t be able to use certain areas of Cybertill at all without having this kind of information saved.

This principle applies to a number of ‘important fields’:

Suppliers
Brands
Seasons
VAT Codes
Categories
Stock Refs

We’d recommend that you take the time to enter all of your Stock Refs in one big go. Were you to try entering your Stock Refs (for example) as and when you need them, you’d end up having to go back and forth between the “create new product” and “create new Stock Ref” pages to do it – and it usually takes more time that way.

Does this apply to me if I’m having a data import?

No. If Cybertill is performing a data import for you, you should be entering all of these ‘important fields’ straight into their import spreadsheet instead.

We would recommend that you read through this manual anyway, though, because it will give you an understanding of what each of these prerequisites are for – and, you’ll need to know how to add new Stock Refs yourself in future.

Note: Retailers who wish to import product data themselves using the Data Import Manager will need to follow the instructions in this manual, because the rules are a little different.

What is a Stock Ref?

A Stock Ref is an extra reporting filter.

Once you’ve been trading on Cybertill for a little while, you’ll no doubt want the system to tell you how much money you’ve taken. In most of the system’s Sales Reports, you’ll get the option to filter your results, i.e. to choose exactly which products, categories, brands etc. you want to see the sales for.

Occasionally, though, retailers who sell an extremely large range of products find they struggle to filter their sales reports in all the ways they want.

Let us say that the first three levels of this retailer’s category tree look something like this:

In practice, a large clothing retailer would probably have a lot more categories and subcategories than this, but this example will do us for now.

Now, this retailer knows that somewhere along the line, they’re going to want to see exactly how many trousers they’ve sold. Not just “Mens formal trousers” or “Ladies casual trousers”, but all trousers at once.

Also, they might want to compare sales of all trousers to sales of all shoes and all jackets, to see which type of garment is selling the best.

Now, before Cybertill can tell them this, it needs to have some way of knowing that the products in “MF Trousers”, “MC Trousers”, “LF Trousers” and “LC Trousers” are all different types of trouser. Similarly, it needs a way to know that the products in the “shoes” and “jackets” categories are all shoes and jackets.

That might seem obvious to you, but it’s not to Cybertill! Cybertill is a computer system - it doesn’t have the same pattern recognition skills or understanding of English that you do! As far as Cybertill’s concerned, “MF Trousers” and “MC Trousers” (for example) are completely different subcategories. Aside from the fact that they both live somewhere in the “Menswear” category, they’re completely separate entities and have nothing else in common.

So… Before this retailer can run the report they want, they need some way of telling Cybertill that “everything in these four categories are trousers”, and that “everything in those four categories are shoes” etc. They need some way of linking all those different products together, in a way that Cybertill can recognise.

This is where Stock Refs come in.

When you come to run sales reports, you’ll get the option of filtering your report by “Stock Ref” (just like you can filter by brand, season etc).

(You might be able to work out where this is going now…)

So, here’s what our large clothing retailer should do: They should create three “Stock Refs” in their system, called:

Trousers
Shoes
Jackets

Next, whenever they enter the details of a pair of trousers into Cybertill, as well as entering the obvious stuff (name, price etc), they should ensure they set its Stock Ref to “Trousers” – and follow the same principle for shoes and jackets too.

If they do this correctly, then come reporting time, they’ll be able to report “by Stock Ref”, and see the total sales of all trousers, shoes and jackets on screen together in a matter of seconds. (And all it took was a little forward planning.)

In summary, when used wisely, Stock Refs can give you more reporting options later down the line.

Why should I use Stock Refs?

That’s absolutely fine! You’re in good company; the majority of retailers using Cybertill can’t either! Most retailers find they can get all the reports they need simply by using the other filters. They can think of no reporting requirements that aren’t already covered.

Generally, it’s only retailers who sell a huge range of products and who have a large, extremely complicated category tree that find a use for Stock Refs.

If you can’t see a use for them yourself, don’t bother with them.

(You can always add Stock Refs to your product later, if you eventually think of a use for them.) Now the theory’s out of the way, let’s show you how to create Stock Refs.

Creating Stock Refs

Start by logging into RetailStore/ CharityStore with your Username* & Password*.

Group 9649, Grouped object

select Stock Refs.

The Stock Ref List will open, listing all Stock Refs set within the system. If you are yet to create any Stock Refs, this will appear blank.

select New located at the bottom of the page.

The New Stock Ref page has opened.

Complete the necessary fields (including those that are mandatory.)

Note: all mandatory fields contain an asterisk* against them.

Firstly,

enter an abbreviated reference code against the Ref* field.

Example: ‘TRO’.

In the Name* field enter the full name for your Stock Ref.

Example: ‘Trousers’.

Next.

leave the Active box ticked.

Were you to untick it, you’d be telling the system “this Stock Ref is obsolete and I don’t wish to use it”.

The next two fields are for customers who use both Advanced Store Replenishment, & Suggested Orders. *** Please ignore if you have now purchased these features. ***