Workflow¶

The general workflow for the Blindata system is as follows.

If you are using the diary then the following steps must be taken.

Sales Leads / Diary

Enter Sales Lead
Assign sales lead to appointment time
Print appointment sheet
Convert appointment to quotation / order / reject
Create a fitting appointment if relevant

Quotations

Either enter the quotation manually and add blinds or add blinds to the quotation converted from the sales lead.
Print/email quotation
Convert quotation to order

Sales Orders

Enter order header information
Enter order details
Adjust totals if necessary
Enter receipts if necessary
Print order acknowledgements

Purchase Orders

Create bought in purchase orders from sales orders
Print fabric requirement report
Create fabric/component purchase orders
Email or electronically send purchase orders to suppliers
Deliver purchase orders into stock

Sales Order Processing

Print the works orders and/or labels
Make blinds and flag them as manufactured
Create fitting appointments if necessary
Print delivery dockets
Create Invoices
Print Invoices
Post Invoices

Details

Sales Leads / Diary

First, please check the Parameters section that is related to the Sales Leads / Diary functionality.

Order Processing > Fitters Sheet / Sales Leads

In the following form, you need to enter a sales lead by clicking on ‘Click Here to add a new sales lead’.

It is now possible to update an appointment from Blindata diary to Outlook, and also from Outlook to Blindata.
It is possible to send an SMS Fitting Text and SMS Messages For Sales Leads, please check this wiki page.

Use Invoice Address

1. We have put another address into the sales lead.
Previously the address where the blinds are to be fitted is recorded – this is the delivery address.
We now also record an invoice address. If you set ‘Use Invoice address’ on, an extra address will appear.

2. It is now possible to change sales lead to order without making an appointment. To do this we have added the rep into the sales lead entry form.
When the record is saved, it is now visible in the ‘Sales Lead Enquiry’ form. It is now possible to open a sales lead from the sales lead enquiry form.
To enable this, we have created a new parameter in Administration > Parameters called ‘Sales Lead Appointments Not Mandatory’.
If this is set to true, then the rep field will appear in the sales lead entry form, and the record will appear in the sales lead enquiry form if an appointment has not been made.

Agreed To Future Contact

When a new appointment is added, there is a new flag called ‘Agreed To Future Contact’ which defaults to false and is below the ‘Email Address’.
This flag is now a column choice in the ‘Fitter Sheet / Sales Lead Enquiry’ form (accessed via the button on the ‘Fitters Sheet / Sales Lead’ form).

Create Customer Account

There is now a button on the ‘Sales Lead Add’ form so that a customer record can be created automatically from this form.
There is advanced permission for this button called ‘Create Customer Account’ (held in the ‘Sales Lead’ section in Advanced Permissions).
When the ‘Create Customer Account’ button is selected, the user is prompted to enter an account code.
The program checks if this account code exists.
If it does, then a message appears saying ‘This account already exists’.
If it does not exist, then a new customer record is created from an existing account.
This account code is held in Administration > Parameters in a field called ‘Sales Lead Default Customer Account’.

Once the sales lead has been entered, it is stored in the top left and can then be dragged to the appointment time:

An appointment report can then be printed by clicking on ‘Print Appointment’:

A sales lead can then be converted to a quotation or an order:

‘Sales Lead Status Report’

The ‘Sales Lead Status Report’ shows actual information about what happened to the entered 'Sales Lead' records.
This report shows all the sales leads that Steve Burd has done in May, and shows conversion rates and values of orders generated.

The columns are as follows:

Total Leads = total leads between the start and end date
Entered = those sales leads that still have a status of Entered i.e. not yet converted to appointments
Pending = appointment has been created but no outcome yet.
Change To Quote = a quotation has been sent as a result of the appointment visit.
Change To Order = an order has been created as a result of the appointment visit
Appointments Fulfilled = appointment visits completed
Net order value = the sum of the net order amount for the converted orders
Rejected = customer rejected by rep
Failed = order went elsewhere

You can filter the records by ‘Order Source’, in order to see conversion rates by order source for all orders over a period of time.
We can produce a report for all order sources by unticking ‘Group By Rep’ in the criteria.

First of all click on the relevant appointment and then select the account the quote or order should be assigned to, then select either ‘Quotation’ or ‘Order’ here.

If an order is to be created, then there is an option to enter a fitting date and time.
If no fitting date has been arranged, then this can be switched off by unticking ‘Fitting details’

Sales Orders

To enter sales orders, go to Order Processing > Orders.
If a sales order has been created from a sales lead, then an order record will appear in the ‘Order Amend Enquiry’ form:

If a new sales order is being created, click on the ‘Add New’ button.
If you are amending an order (to add blind details, for example), either click on ‘Amend’ or double click on the relevant order record.
The following form is then displayed:

There are a number of tabs on the top of this form.

Blind Details – this is where the actual blinds are entered.
To add a new blind, click on the ‘Add New Blind’ button here.

Another form will then display. In this form, you can enter all the relevant information for the blind.
Click the Tab key to progress through the form. Once you have entered all the details correctly, click ‘Save’.

You can enter a blind/option price manually each time or set this up in Blindata.
Please check the Blind Price and Option Price sections for this.

Detail Line Entry

If a roller blind is entered, the program checks to see if the blind can be made.
It does this by checking to see if the size of the blind will fit inside the roll width for the fabric (roll width in Fabrics table).
The rules are as follows:

If Calculator = Width, the program checks that the drop + drop add on <= roll width of the fabric.
If not, a message appears saying ‘Blind drop is greater than roll width’.

If Calculator = Drop, the program checks that the width <= roll width of the fabric. If not, a message appears saying ‘Blind width is greater than roll width’.

If Calculator = ‘Width or Drop’, the program checks that at least one of either width or (drop + drop add on) <= roll width of the fabric.
If not, a message appears saying ‘Both blind width and drop are greater than roll width’.

Please check the Bill Of Materials and Stock Control sections.

If there are additional contacts, these can be entered in the ‘Contacts’ tab.
If there are multiple delivery addresses held against this customer, the correct one can be selected in the ‘Delivery Addresses’ tab.
If a receipt has been taken for an order, it can be entered in the ‘Receipts tab:

If the total has to be changed for an order, it can be done in the ‘Totals’ tab:

If it is a retail sale (ie VAT inclusive), then the ‘Actual’ amount should be changed.
If it is a trade order (and there are no individual discounts applied to detail lines), the ‘Actual Nett’ figure can be changed.

So the order has been saved with the 'Order Entered' status.

Let's check how to work with a saved order during the Blindata workflow.

Printing Works Orders and Labels

These can either be printed out individually or in batches.
To print works orders individually, click on ‘Preview Works Order’ on the Orders form.

It is now possible to print preview works orders (from the order amend enquiry form) but not have the status of the order changed from ‘Order Entered’ to ‘Order Printed’.
The status of the order only changes to ‘Order Printed’ if the works order is actually printed.
This can be set with a new parameter in Administration > Parameters, called ‘Flag previewed order as printed’.

To print labels, click on ‘Preview Labels’ > Print. In this case, the order status will change from 'Order Entered' to 'Order Printed'.

Order Processing > Production Documentation

To print the works orders and labels in batches, go to Order Processing > Production Documentation and select from the following:

This will then print out all works orders and labels that have not yet been printed, according to the criteria selected.

Purchase Orders

If you are buying and re-selling blinds and blind components, then you need to be able to create purchase orders for suppliers.
At this point purchase, orders can be placed for fabrics, and components and bought in blinds.
Please check the Regular Purchase Order if you need to buy blind components from a supplier (chains, motors etc) and Bought In Purchase Order section if you need to buy a whole blind (roller, faux wood, curtain etc).

Work In Progress

If ‘Enable Work In Progress’ is switched on in Administration > Parameters, then the blinds/orders must be flagged as ‘Work In progress’ before Manufacturing.
This can be done using the ‘Work In progress’ buttons in either the main ‘Orders’ form or in Order Processing > Order Enquiry.

Manufacturing

Blinds and orders can be manufactured by one of the following methods:
Clicking ‘Order Made’ in Order Processing > Orders.
Clicking ‘Blind Made’ or ‘Order Made’ in Order Processing > Order Enquiry.
Or in a more complex way by Scanning Barcodes in Order Processing > Order Enquiry.

Despatch

Orders can be delivered by clicking on ‘Despatch’ in Order Processing > orders or in Order Processing > Order Enquiry.
Or in a more complex way by Scanning Barcodes in Order Processing > Order Enquiry.

Fitting and Delivery Before Invoice

There is an option to mark a sales order as 'Delivered' before changing it to the 'Invoice Created'.
Please check the following flag in the 'Despatch Method' that is selected for the sales order and/or customer:

Creating Invoices

Before creating an invoice, please check the Accounting Parameters section where you can find all the needed information about the accounting and parameters that are available in Blindata.

Invoices can be created individually by clicking on ‘Create Invoice’ in Order Processing > Orders.
They can also be created in batch mode in Financials > Create Invoices.
This will create invoices from all orders that have a status of ‘Despatched’.

Printing Invoices

This can be done individually by using ‘Print Invoice’ in Order Processing > Orders, or by printing in batches using Financials > Invoice Batch print.
The last option will print all invoices that have not yet been printed.

Posting Invoices

Invoices can be posted individually by clicking on ‘Post Invoice’ in Order Processing > Orders.
They can also be posted in batch mode in Financials > Post Invoices.
Currently, Blindata supports Blindata Accounting, Sage, Maxton, QuickBooks, Xero, Lakeview, Mertex, Peachtree, Sage 200 Espi, Sage 300 and SAP Accounting program.
This means that you can post invoices directly into the accounting program.

There are quite a few different reports that collect data that you can run to check the progress of sales, production, and stock control.
For this, please open 'Stock Control > Reports' and 'Administration > Reports'.