System Setup

Accounts

From here you can set accounts for Manual Adjustments, Inventory, Invoice Expense, Return to Vendor and Global.

Autonumber

This feature is configured during implementation, where your guide will set up SKU lengths and customize any other number requested such as Invoice, etc. In the example below, the Yellow Dog SKU is set to generate a 10-digit number, with each of the fields checked corresponding to values Yellow Dog will use to create it.

Interfaces

Interfaces are how Yellow Dog Inventory controls item behavior in the point of sale. Each store you have access to will have its own interface section. Also, each integration you have will have its own columns, e.g. accounting, POS, etc. If you have questions about your interfaces, please contact Support or your Implementation guide.

There are three places to control interfaces: Stores, Levels, and Items.

By Store

This section is available under the System Setup module. Setting interfaces here will set them for every item in the store.  Unless you know exactly what you’re doing, this is a bad idea.

By Level

Under Common Setup, each Level has an interface tab. From here, you can control the interfaces for all of the items in that particular level. We will attempt to set your system up this way whenever possible.

By Item

In the Item Editor, the last tab is the Interfaces tab. Setting interfaces here will only affect that item. This is the best place to change settings as they are easy to change back.

Keep in mind that interfaces are overwritten by those below them in the hierarchy. Interfaces set by level will overwrite any set by store and those set by individual item will take precedence over any store or level interface.

Accounting / Other Interfaces

Some interfaces do not interact with your POS but instead dictate very specific attributes of your inventory items. These behaviors can be found under the Accounting / Other section of interfaces. Typically, these would be set at the Level or Item.

• Inventory Account – This is used with account integrations to tag a specific Inventory account to the product. Mostly this is set by the level and may also be used in conjunction with printing Accounting information on invoices if no Accounting integration exists.
• Auto Zero Account – The Auto-Zero feature allows enhanced control of inventory asset management. This setting is used when you don’t want the item to carry an on hand, but you want to track they item’s cost activity.

When this interface is set to an item, the item will behave as normal but the on hand will be automatically reset to zero via a manual adjustment when Maintenance runs. 
By setting the account using the drop down you will effectively configure the item to auto-zero. This account will be what is used during the manual adjustment. 
To set up additional accounts go to System Setup \ Accounts \ Manual Adjustment.

• COGS – This drop down is used to tie a Cost of Goods account to an inventory item for Cost of Good reporting.
• Calculate Quantity by Retail – This is used for weighted scale integrations. Using the retail amount to determine how much of an item was sold. This is mainly set up by the item.
• Auto Transfer From and Reassign Sales – These are typically Store options that are used for specific store setups and are usually set up during the Implementation process. To learn more, reach out to your Support or Implementation Guide.

Options

This tab allows for customization of the system, from item-specific settings, to system-wide settings such as font and calculated cost method.

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Global

All options set up here affect every store in the database. You can always reach out to your Support or Implementation Guide to help determine the best setup for your business.

System Closeout Date

You can define a global closeout date that will prohibit any back-dating of manual adjustments, manual sales, purchasing documents and physicals from going past this date. It should be moved forward as you close out the month or quarter with accounting.

Note that Closeout Date can also be set as a relative date per store; when Closeout Date is set here as well as in the Store, the most recent date between the two will be honored.

Cost Calculation Method

• FIFO
• LIFO
• Default Vendor Price
• Global Weighted Perpetual
• Perpetual Weighted Average
• Last Vendor Price
• Weighted Average per Store
• Weighted Average all Stores

Negative on Hands

This option is used to define what cost should be applied to negative on-hands when computing the costs of assets on hand:

• Zero
• Default Vendor
• Calculated Cost

Purchasing

The following options are used to set up certain global parameters for purchasing. 

Worksheets

This is where the methods are set for Replenishment Worksheets such as Document Type, Multiplier Application, and the Algorithm used to determine replenishment. You can also choose to have the resulting purchasing documents created by worksheets automatically committed.

Foreign Currency

If your business purchases product from vendors that use a different currency you will need to configure this in Yellow Dog.

In the Global Options screen you can define the Native Currency of your system as well as any accepted currencies any of your vendors may use. You will need to type the currency codes as they appear on the exchange rate for example the Canadian Dollar CAD and the Euro EUR.

If you want to always display Retail prices in your native currency, make sure to check the box.

A necessary part of our foreign currency feature is an integration with a third party to sync currency exchange rates. Contact your Implementation Guide or Support for additional information.

Once that sync has been configured and scheduled using the Other Currencies set in Options / Global, configure currency for your Vendors and start using the foreign currency features in purchasing documents.

By Vendor

If you have a vendor that uses a currency different than your native business, navigate to the Vendor and Manufacturer section, find the vendor and open the Vendor editor. In the Details tab, use the Default Currency dropdown to select from the list of other currencies defined in Options / Global.

Purchasing Editor Checkbox

Once you have configured a vendor to use foreign currency, a check box will appear below the Description section on any purchasing document for that vendor to give you the option to Display in that currency. This affects the currency values in the editor and also when printing the document.

Note: This feature is controlled by employee permission: Purchasing > All Editors > Foreign Currencies.

Recipes

Allows you to set the Default Target Cost Percent and choose whether recipes can have individual target cost percentages or duplicate ingredient items. The latter is helpful if you use an ingredient more than once while preparing a single recipe.

API Configuration

API credentials for using the Mobile Apps will be defined here. You can also elect to use Cloud Storage for images which ideal for saving high resolutions images without causing your database size to suffer.

Inventory

Options defined here are used to setup your inventory items to match the way your organization does business. Some of the setup here will match settings defined by your POS. Reach out to your Support or Implementation Guide for assistance.

Maximum SKU Length

The standard is set to 12, but any limitations with this are generally POS-related.

Maximum Short Description Length

The standard is set to 16, but just like with SKU this length is generally POS-related.

POS Item Descriptions

Controls POS Descriptions 1 & 2 length and Default naming schemes for 2-way integrations. Again, this is frequently driven by the POS that your system is integrated with.

Other Options

This section offers control of a variety of options such as when child items update relative to their parent items, whether UPCs should be considered unique, whether to show or hide the POS section of item details, which Web Cart will be used (this determines the web cart options that will be displayed), and how to sort items by default.

Another important thing to note is the new addition of auto-setting items to be inactive. Use the drop down to have maintenance make any item with zero on hand and no recent activity inactive after a certain timeframe. This is very helpful in data maintenance and keeping your item lists relevant with minimal effort on the user.

Fonts

Allows you to change the font. This is system wide and not user specific. 

Labels

This allows you to change the labels used throughout the system. Examples include Supplier instead of Manufacturer, Location instead of Flag, etc.

Purchase Order Approvals

If your site uses PO Approvals, from here you can either set Rank approvals for each store to limit the amount certain employees can order or approve order of if using Threshold, or set hierarchical roles if using Hierarchy. For both options, these are set per Store.

Print Templates

Use this tab to work with print templates.

Template Editing

Yellow Dog Inventory includes a print template editor that enables users to create and modify any printable document within the system. A number of default templates are built in for users to print with or copy and customize.

• To customize an existing template without worrying about making a mistake or losing the original, click the Create New Print Template Based on Selected button on the Print Templates Screen. You can also create a new template from scratch, edit an existing template, or remove an existing template.

• To create a new print template, click on the Create New Print Template button. On the Editor screen, choose the appropriate type, and give it a description.

• To change the size of the template, right-click on the Page section at the very top of the editing field, then select the Width and Height accordingly:

• Page Headers and Footers are included automatically. If you do not want to have them, simply right-click on the appropriate section and set the size to zero.

• When your size and header/footer settings are correct, you can begin adding data fields to the template. Right-click on the grid, select Insert and choose the applicable option:
  • Data Field: This is used to display information associated with the item, such as retail price, description, or the current SKU. Data fields are specific to Print Template Types; for instance, Recipe templates include Net Portion, Net Volume, and Net Weight fields, and Receipt templates contain data fields relevant to both the receipt and any its related PO, if any.
  • Expression: You can create a variety of equations that are determined at printing. These are typically used in Purchasing documents, for weighted items, etc.
  • Text: Any text you would like on the template can be typed here.
  • Picture: Pictures can be displayed on the template as well.

• When you have your data field added, you can resize and move it as necessary. Right-clicking on the field will bring up additional options:
• Font: Change the typeface and size, select bold, italics, or underline.
• Format: Defaults based on the data field you select. However, you can change the format of any field as needed, most commonly the barcode format, but also including date and time, currency, fraction, and several other options.
• Alignment: There are nine alignment orientations to choose from.
• Border: You can fully or partially border your information with a thick or thin line.
• White on black: Display your information as white text on a black background
• Vertical Text: Rotates the text clockwise 90 degrees.

*Note: Ensure that the barcode is large and clear enough for your scanner to read. Additionally, make sure that the barcode format is correct for your POS.

Employees

Yellow Dog Inventory has an extensive list of feature permissions that can be allowed or disallowed to individual employees or groups of employees.

From here you can add, remove or modify employee information, as well as edit permissions.

Employee Access

To set an employee’s access on an individual basis, select Employees under System Setup and click on Create New Employee.

Next, enter the information required for this employee. First name, an Employee Number, and a Password are required. Middle and last names can be filled in if desired, but are completely optional. You can enter an email address, position, and any applicable notes in the Additional Information tab. Make sure to choose one or more stores that this employee has access to; otherwise, he or she will not be able to access anything at all, regardless of what Access Options are selected.

Tip: If a numbering system is already used throughout your company, it can be useful to use the same number as the Employee Number in Yellow Dog Inventory as well.

Employee Permission

To set permissions for Yellow Dog Inventory features, you can use the Manage Access Using Employee Groups checkbox (if Employee Groups have been created). Please note that more than one Employee Group needs to exist in order to use this function. You may also select more than one group per employee.

If the employee will not belong to a group, you will need to select options manually in the Access Options list. There is a default configuration in Yellow Dog Inventory, and each new employee will have default access until it is changes. You can use the All Off button to the right if an employee will only have a few options, you can re-set access to the Default configuration, or use the Clipboard to copy an employee’s access options. This can be useful if you want to create a group based on those options.

Most access options have several levels of access:

• Visible: The employee can see the selected features. If only this option is selected, they will not be able to edit the feature.
• Edit: The employee can change information in the selected feature.
• Edit After Committed: The employee can edit the selected feature after the document has been committed.
• Optional: If the Optional checkbox is selected, the user is not required to use this feature.

Some options have a simple Yes checkbox, which will enable them.

To see a full list of options, review the Employee Access Manual.

Employee Groups

Employee Groups allow a number of employees to be given the same level of access to the same stores without having to assign each employee’s access options manually. Multiple groups can be assigned to single employees.

Keep in mind that Employee Groups are store specific: you cannot use the same employee group to manage two different stores’ supervisors unless you want them to have access to each other’s stores.  Use the Clipboard feature inside the Employee Editor tab to copy the same settings without affecting Store accessibility. 

To create a new group, go to Employee Groups under System Setup and click on Create New Employee Group. Give your group a name, select which store(s) it will apply to, and then select the appropriate options. See above for details on the available options.

Employee Options

Yellow Dog Inventory can also use Windows accounts and Active Directory to validate employees. You will have to set up access options, but employees will use the same information to log in to Yellow Dog Inventory as they do to log in to Windows or Active Directory.

To enable these options, go to Employee Options under System Setup, then choose the appropriate box:

Make sure to include your Windows Domain so that employees will be able to log in. If you have any questions about your Windows Domain, please contact your IT Department.

Employee Roles

This is used to set up Hierarchical PO approvals. Roles need to be created here and then assigned per store. These roles are used to determine who should receive PO approval notifications.

Stores

This section allows you to see Store setup information such as Revenue Center IDs, Accounting IDs, Company IDs and different store behaviors.

By choosing to edit a store, you can take a closer look at the specific settings available. Some information such as the Store Key, Code and Name can only be set by Yellow Dog. Generally, access to editing store information is limited to Admin users of the system.

Here you can edit the Accounting ID information, Company ID information, Square Feet and add any store Notes.

Store Lists

Allows the user to create groups of stores into a list for reporting. This eliminates the need to select stores individually that you need to group together for reporting. Simply set up the list here and any time there is a store filter, if the user has access to the store they will be able to choose the store or the lists.

Store Approval Types

This section is also used for Hierarchical PO Approvals. See the section on PO Approvals for more information.