Distribution Management System

The Distribution Management System is a complete information management solution for the distribution industry, including sales to wholesalers and retailers as well as intra-company branch transfers. DMS features multi-company / multi-warehouse integration which includes modules such as Order Processing, Invoicing, Purchasing, Inventory Control (with LIFO, FIFO, and Standard or Average costing methods), Kit Building, Work Orders, Sales Reporting, A/R, A/P, G/L( including full financial reporting) and Shipping. DMS provides a parameterized system with many options for customization. This system utilizes a relational database and can be installed on PC’s for a few users, and Networked PC’s and mini/mainframe systems for hundreds of users so you’ll never outgrow your software investment.

In today’s demanding world, distributors like you know that customers are hard to come by and harder to keep. You must provide competitive pricing and superior service. You are constantly looking for ways to maximize your profits and operating efficiency.

The SCI Distribution Management System (DMS) is an extraordinary and comprehensive system designed to fulfill all of your needs from inventory control and sales reporting to purchasing and general ledger.

DMS Saves Money...

Until now, the cost of designing and maintaining a comprehensive computer system has been prohibitive. You may have settled for less efficient methods of administration like separate systems for each part of your organization. DMS gives you the ability to get precisely the system that you need, affordably.

The SCI Distribution Management System was designed using a very popular database management environment renowned for its cost effectiveness and user-friendliness.

DMS can be used on hundreds of different computer systems from PC’s for just one or two users to very large mainframes for hundreds of users (e.g. IBM, DEC, Hewlett Packard, Data General, virtually all UNIX systems, Microsoft NT/2000 and dozens more!). You can use the computer that best fits your needs today, and if your organization outgrows the computer you selected, you won’t lose your DMS software investment.

DMS was designed with the non-technical user in mind. This makes upkeep on the system easy and inexpensive. Most requests can be filled by your existing employees so there is no need to have a staff of computer people to maintain your system. In fact, most organizations using DMS don’t have any computer staff at all!

Thoroughly Tested...

The SCI Distribution Management System was originally installed in 1984. Since then it has been put to use in locations around the country. Today, at any given time, hundreds of users are accessing the system. DMS has passed the most rigorous test possible…daily usage!

DMS helps you improve Customer relations

With SCI Distribution Management System, you can maintain extensive information about all of your customers. DMS, for example, will maintain an on-screen 36 month illustration of how many days your customer is paying you in. Also, every invoice is maintained complete with sales detail, payments detail and notes for future reference. Also, with all of their information at your fingertips, you can answer any question that a customer might have within seconds. Finally, the simple fact that your operation is more efficient indicates to your customers that you will remain competitive.

Inventory Control With DMS

DMS makes use of many advanced techniques for managing inventory levels, including just-in-time and recommended buying based on inventory age, customer demand and vendor lead times. All costing methods (lifo, fifo, last, average and standard) are supported. DMS provides for up to 999 warehouses and multi-warehouse allocation and order fulfillment. Inventory can be verified with periodic physical counts or with auditor-approved daily cycle counts.

Sales Reporting

DMS comes complete with a very powerful sales report generator. You can pick an output format and specify the select data to be reported. You can rank and sub-rank and include or exclude sales dollars, units, profits. Additionally, in a multi-year comparison, you can include or exclude change and percent of change.

DMS makes your operation more efficient

The SCI Distribution Management System consists of software modules. You choose just those that are important to your organization. All of our modules are thoroughly integrated to ensure that your information is up-to-the-minute and accurate and that there is no error-prone duplicate data entry. With DMS, all the information and control is right at your fingertips so you can finally use your computer as the tool it should be to help you reach your goals.

Corporate Profile

Software Co-op, Inc. is one of the premier application software suppliers for the distribution marketplace. Starting with one programmer over 20 years ago at the request of a few local users, SCI has grown to include a full staff of programmers, analysts, technicians and support professionals. Our philosophy has always been to provide reliable and cost effective solutions to our customer’s problems and to maintain a superior customer service standard.

Inventory is usually a company’s major investment and controlling it can be one of the most effective means of cost savings. The SCI Inventory Module, an integral part of the SCI Distribution Management System, gives you complete control over your inventory. It is a multi-company, multi-warehouse system which provides all the current and historical information you need to efficiently manage your inventory.

The parts master is an easy to use source of all information relating to specific part. By selecting from a menu of options, you can view purchase order history, pricing, costing, demand, inventory status, sales history and much more. The inventory status option will display current on hand, in pick, on order, in transit, reserved, allocated, backordered and contracts for each stocking warehouse. You may at that point view the detail for the summary quantity displayed. Of course, you can find a part from any word or part of a word in its description. In addition the system provides for the tracking from start to finish of internally built assemblies and inter-warehouse transfers.

Parts Entry

Parts Entry 2

Vendor Detail

 

The SCI Inventory module can be set up to allocate inventory to customer orders based on priorities defined by the user or on an automatic first-come, first-served basis. In addition, you can define a full set of parameters which allow for the efficient control of inventory storage as well as how and where orders are filled.

The system keeps track of sales demand, minimum and maximum levels and vendor lead times as well as a variety of other factors. When coupled with our Purchasing Module, it is capable of generating recommended buy reports which allow you to keep your inventory levels at a minimum while at the same time maximizes your ability to fill customer orders.

In addition, the system can track inventory by lot number, serial number or reels, allows for annual and cycle inventory counts, and includes a full set of quantity and valuation reports.

With SCI’s Inventory Control Module, you can designate physical and logical warehouse transfers. There is a large library of reports to choose from and SCI will custom tailor a listings menu based on your needs. There is also a kitting menu for distributors who build kits or want raw material inventory to be relieved at the time of shipment. As with SCI's other systems, full support is provided for laser printers as well as a wide variety of dot-matrix printers.

The SCI Order Entry Module is an integral part of the SCI Distribution Management System. While it handles basic orders with ease, it also includes the ability to generate sales quotes and to enter and release future, blanket and repeat orders.

The order entry process has been simplified by the liberal use of customer dependent coded libraries for such items as pricing, salesmen, freight and invoice terms, ship via methods, comments and instructions. It is now possible to create an order simply by entering a customer, a product, the quantity ordered and a price.

Among the system's most significant features are the ability to create new customers and products "on the fly" and to view, reserve, and allocate inventory (by lot number, serial number or from reels) from the main order entry program.

Customer Service

Order Entry Line Detail

Order Entry

Sales orders and acknowledgments can be printed or faxed directly to customers, warehouses and salesmen. In addition, the integrated trucker program lets you fax your carrier a full set of instructions for picking up, handling and delivering an order.

The SCI Order Entry module is fully interfaced with our other systems and includes a full complement of informative and useful reports. Included among these are open order reports, daily and monthly summaries of orders entered, backorder reports and credit hold reports, all of which are selective by date.

In addition to its built-in faxing capabilities, the system provides full support for printing your forms and reports on lasers and a wide variety of dot-matrix printers.

All of your packing and shipping requirements can be handled by SCI's Parcel Shipping System (PSS), which is fully integrated with the Distribution Management System.  When a Picking Ticket for a given order is filled, PSS allows you to pack, weigh and rate the packages, and then generate carrier-approved shipping labels and all other necessary paperwork.  Upon completion your inventory is updated for quantities shipped, and your invoicing and customer databases are updated with freight charges and tracking numbers.

The clutter of having a separate workstation for each carrier is replaced by just one PSS workstation, which handles all shipments for both your small package and LTL carriers.  PSS supports UPS, FedEx, USPS, local and LTL carriers, and its full integration with your database eliminates the duplicate entries required when using carrier software.  For example, PSS can use your existing order and customer files to determine carrier service, ship to addresses, COD amounts, etc. and can also use your inventory files to retrieve weights and dimensions.

PSS also offers inventory controls that prevent overshipments, warn of undershipments, and prevent users from accidentally processing orders that were cancelled or placed on hold.  Because of PSS's integration and on line updating, all shipping information is immediately available to your entire organization without the need for additional software or workstations.

There are several software and hardware options for PSS that allow tailoring to your specific business rules and shipping requirements.  This allows for a minimum initial investment to which additions can be made as your needs grow.  And our Level II Interface program, which allows PSS to communicate directly with DMS, can be customized to apply whatever business rules your organization uses.

The SCI Parcel Shipping System is an optional extra-cost addition to the Distribution Management System.

For more information, please visit www.parcelshippingsystem.com.

SCI's Packing Station

SCI's Shipment Rating Station

The SCI Purchasing Module is an integral part of the SCI Distribution Management System. It was designed to handle all of your purchasing requirements from the issuance of Purchase Orders to the receipt of goods.
 
The system is fully interfaced with our Inventory, Sales and Accounts Payable modules, and includes a full complement of displays and reports, current and historical, of purchases by product and/or by vendor.

The SCI Purchasing module handles multiple units of purchase (i.e. pairs, dozens, etc.) as well as multiple unit, quantity and formula pricing. Purchase Orders can be issued for both inventory and non-inventory items, and can be printed or faxed directly to your vendors.
 
This system also includes a full featured receiving module which produces printed receiving slips and daily reports. In addition, the receiving process is fully integrated with your inventory and vendor files, and provides for automatic filling of backorders when goods are received.
 
Provision has been made for all possible purchasing terms and information. Included are drop shipments, designated loading ports and truckers, start and cancel dates, multiple releases and a virtually unlimited number of comments and special instructions.
 
In addition to the ability to fax Purchase Orders directly to your vendors, you can print your forms and reports on lasers and a wide variety of dot-matrix printers

The SCI Invoicing and Accounts Receivable module handles all facets of customer credit, invoicing and collections. It not only facilitates your everyday processing but also acts as a powerful adjunct to the order entry and sales functions.

The customer entry and inquiry program makes significant use of coded libraries to handle such items as customer types and families, salesmen, freight and invoice terms, ship from points and methods, and also includes an unlimited number of comments and instructions. All of this can be defined separately for each ship to location and are linked seamlessly with our order entry and invoicing programs.

Customer Master

Customer History

The system includes a full featured invoicing utility which is capable of generating invoices from sales orders, packing lists or on a "manual" basis. Invoices can be sent to centralized payment centers and/or customer shipping locations, and they can be printed or faxed directly to your customers.

One of the module's most significant features is its extremely informative customer financial history screen. Included, among other items, are a customer's credit contacts, phone and fax, open orders, receivables and exposure, and a complete sales and payment history. This display not only provides you with all the information needed to make credit decisions, but allows you to release orders that have been placed on hold and to view the detail of every sale to and payment from your customers.

The SCI Invoicing and Accounts Receivable module is fully integrated with our General Ledger and Distribution modules, and allows the user to define a full set of general ledger codes, by customer, product or default, for sales, cost of sales, returns, receivables, discounts and allowances. The system also includes a comprehensive Returned Goods processor which issues return authorizations, alerts your receiving department to expect customer returns, updates inventory when goods are received and automatically generates credit memos. Provision has been made for defining the reasons for the return, whether or not goods are to be returned to stock, and whether to issue full or partial credits.

Also included with your system is a full complement of reports, including daily and monthly receipts journals, system and user-defined customer listings, and accounts receivable ledgers and statements.

As with all of SCI's other systems, all forms and reports can be printed on laser printers as well as a wide variety of dot-matrix printers.

SCI has written a powerful report generator for sales analysis reporting to complement its extensive library of single purpose reports such as new product sales and sales to new customers. The report generator can produce summary or detailed reports by customer family, customer, customer type, salesman, ship to, product class, product subclass, part family, part, vendor, warehouse, state or territory. You can include, exclude, or specify a range based on these parameters as well. You can compare 2 years or select a range of years to be reported on. You can include or exclude sales $, units, profits, change or % change in your output. Ranking is also a feature of the report generator.

Sales Analysis

Customer By Product

Sales Analysis 2

SCI has been providing bar code capable software and hardware for many years. Packing lists, invoices, purchase orders, goods received slips, physical inventory tickets or any other printed form can be coded and later scanned. Customer specific or generic labels can be printed simultaneously with any of the above documents or as a part of a separate process.

The SCI Bar Code Module is an optional extra-cost addition to the SCI Distribution Management System.

The SCI General Ledger Module was designed by a group of CPA's in conjunction with several of our clients. Because of its extremely flexible design and structure, we have eliminated the need for you to "fit" your general ledger and reporting functions into a prepackaged system.

Provision is made for up to 99 separate companies and within each a virtually unlimited number of divisions and/or branches. Its flexible analytical and reporting functions provide information for each company, division or branch on an individual or consolidated basis.

The system includes a "spreadsheet-like" reporting function which allows you to define in each column of a financial statement any combination of companies, divisions or branches as well as any individual, combination or range of accounting periods.

The structure of the General Ledger has eliminated the need for monthly "closings" and as well as the loss of data associated with this procedure. This structure also allows you to keep a fiscal year open (for audit purposes) without losing the ability to generate financial statements for subsequent accounting periods.

Account Entry

Income Statement

Ledger Detail

There is no limit to the number of years of information you may retain, and purging of data is left to your discretion. Historical data is always available at the touch of a key, and you never lose the ability to generate statements which include data from any prior accounting period.

All analyses and statements can be viewed on screen or printed with the option to run multiple copies of the same report. You may preview your reports prior to their being printed, and previously generated information is maintained so you don't have to re-process a report to view it again or print another copy.

Journal entries include automatic reversal of accruals and a "copy" option to facilitate the posting of entries where only the amounts change each month. In addition, the system includes recurring journal entries which can be posted one period at a time or for an entire year, and "batch entries" which can be used to post information from sources which are not interfaced with the General Ledger.

Full support is provided for laser printers as well as a wide variety of dot-matrix printers, thus eliminating the time-consuming need to transfer your statements to a spreadsheet for presentation purposes

The SCI Accounts Payable module, developed by a CPA, handles all facets of vendor invoicing and payments. It was designed to simplify your everyday processing of payables and maintain all necessary information without sacrificing any required accounting controls.

The system includes informative on-screen displays of current open purchase orders and payables as well as complete historical data for purchases, invoices and payments by vendor. In addition there are full screens containing all vendor related purchasing and inventory information, and the system permits you to keep an unlimited number of accounting periods open at the same time.

Vendor File Entry

Accounts Payable Check Entry

Vendor Payments History

The SCI Accounts Payable module is fully integrated with our General Ledger and Distribution modules. It includes the ability to "match" vendor invoices against purchase orders and goods received, and also provides for the allocation of costs such as freight and duty to specific inventory items.

Checks may be generated automatically, on a "pay-by-invoice" basis or on a "direct" basis. The system includes full support for laser checks, stores data based on the actual check number used, and allows for the entry of both manual checks and bank debits. One of the system's main features is the ability to generate any and all monthly reports at any time and for any accounting period (open or closed). This is most useful in reviewing current transactions before they have been posted to the General Ledger and in reprinting prior period reports where the originals have been lost or destroyed. In addition to checks, all reports can be printed on laser printers as well as a wide variety of dot-matrix printers

The SCI Payroll module, designed by a CPA, easily handles all of your payroll requirements including check generation, direct-deposit banking and electronic filing of year-end tax information.

Provision is made for up to 99 companies and an unlimited number of branches and departments within each, and is fully integrated with our General Ledger. Along with all of the basic information, complete employment, earnings and deduction history is stored on an annual and quarterly basis.

All possible types of earnings (taxable and non-taxable, cash and non-cash) and deductions are supported and can be combined in one paycheck. In addition the system is capable of withholding taxes from multiple states and cities.

Employee Entry

Payroll Entry

The SCI Payroll module lets you view each paycheck, with on-line employee file editing, before checks are generated. This not only minimizes the possibility of creating incorrect checks, but allows you to make salary, withholding and other adjustments without interrupting the process.

The system is flexible enough to allow you to process a payroll, review your entries and make corrections thereto and generate additional or corrected checks before a pay period is closed, yet contains all the controls necessary to prevent changes to previously reported and updated data.

As with SCI's other systems, full support is provided for laser printers as well as a wide variety of dot-matrix printers.

The SCI Payroll Module is an optional extra-cost addition to the SCI Distribution Management System.

The SCI Fixed Assets Module, designed by a CPA, easily tracks the cost, tax basis, depreciation and disposition gains and losses for all fixed assets. All current tax laws and methods are supported and the software is fully interfaced with SCI's General Ledger and Accounts Payable modules.
 
Assets and depreciation thereon can be analyzed by company, type, division and/or state, and reports can be generated on both an interim basis and annual basis for book, federal tax and state tax depreciation.
 
Considerable information is kept on file for each asset including type of asset (e.g. building), acquisition and in service dates, serial numbers, vendor acquired from, historical depreciation, and an unlimited number of comments.

All cost, basis, depreciation and disposition information (including methods and lives) is computed and maintained separately for book, federal and state tax purposes, and you always have the ability to adjust and/or override calculated amounts if needed.
 
As with SCI's other systems, full support is provided for laser printers as well as a wide variety of dot-matrix printers.
 
The SCI Fixed Assets Module is an optional extra-cost addition to the SCI Distribution Management System.

The SCI Investments Module tracks all of your company's investments and related income. Developed by our resident CPA, it is fully integrated with our General Ledger and is capable of recording income, gains and losses on cash equivalents, stocks, bonds, and all other types of income producing assets.

The system allows for the categorization of investments by company and/or division. In addition, assets may be divided into an unlimited number of user-defined groups (e.g. corporate stocks or bonds) and classes (e.g. industrial or public utility).

The SCI Investments Module can deal with allocated purchases, sales and income receipts, tracks historical assets values, can accrue and report on income not received, and will compute rates of return for all of your investment groups and classes.

Investments Entry

Transaction History

A full complement of reports is available, including income statements (showing both received and accrued income) and portfolio summaries (including cost, value, income and yield). As with SCI's other systems, all reports can be printed on laser printers as well as a wide variety of dot-matrix printers.

The SCI Investments Module is an optional extra-cost addition to the SCI Distribution Management System.