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| The Newsletter for Scrap Dragon users www.scrap-dragon.com
Volume
7, Number 3 |
| From
The Editor
 It's summertime and the living is easy. We hope that, so
far, your Summer has been as enjoyable and productive as ours. Before
you take off on a long 4th of July weekend, take a few minutes to check
out what's new in Scrap Dragon. In this issue, we are introducing some
exciting new features that we think you will find useful. Also, we have
worked out a special discount for signing up with iScrap.app, the new
way to market your yard.
While IScrap.app can help you develop new
customers, we have added a Loyalty Rewards Program to help you keep
the customers you have. This feature will allow you to give points to
your customers based on their sales and then redeem those points for
gifts.
We have added the ability to add comments to a specific ticket line.
The field is labeled Serial Number to accommodate the requirement to
put in serial numbers on motors and transmissions in some Florida counties,
but it can be used for any additional information that you need to note
for an item.
Wishing you all a Happy and safe Fourth of July. |
Table of
contents
Scrap Dragon University
iScrap App
What's in your Wallet?
Details, details, details
Profit Margin Reporting
Toughbook Closeout
Spotlight on New Features
Reports
Latest Release
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| Scrap
Dragon University in Chicago
 Back
by popular demand is our 3rd offering of Scrap Dragon University, this
time to be held at the Wyndham hotel in Chicago. Within 2 weeks of distributing
an e-mail announcing the workshop, we were filled to capacity. It is
clear to us that we need to offer this training more often. If you couldn't
get to Chicago this time, we are planning another class for the Fall.
Stay tuned for time and place. If you are signed up, then we look forward
to seeing you in Chicago on July 21 & 22. |
|
iScrap app
  The
iScrap app is available for the Apple iPhone and for the android phones.
It is a great new way to promote your scrap yard and we are already
hearing reports of new customers generated from iScrap by our customers
that have signed up. We encourage you to contact iScrap for a free trial
and tell them that you heard about it here. Like Scrap Dragon, this
is a product that pays for itself. We hope to soon have a Scrap Dragon
integration that will allow your prices and other information of your
choosing to be dynamically uploaded to the iScrap server.
As a special promotion exclusively for Scrap Dragon customers,
mention Scrap Dragon during sign up and get 50% off your setup fee.
Don't miss this chance to save $150 and gain instant access to thousands
of peddlers using the iScrap App daily.
http://www.iscrapapp.com/home/iscrapapp |
| What's
in your Wallet?
 We all want to maintain customer loyalty. It's a well known
fact that it costs more to develop a new customer than to keep an existing
one. Like the airline and credit card company air miles programs, Scrap
Dragon now allows you to set up your own Customer Loyalty Program. The
program allows you to assign customers to one of 3 different program
levels. The points awarded for each level are set up in the Commodity
Master File. Customer points are accumulated and displayed in the ticket
and in the customer master file. The points can print on the scale ticket
and payment receipt.
To redeem points, you can either set up a single commodity
for redemptions, or you can have a commodity for each reward gift. You
might create a page just for redemptions and have all of the gifts on
that page. We have integrated the redemption process directly into scrap
buying, so there is nothing new to learn. |
| Details,
details, details
We have been wanting to add a 'notes' field for each ticket
item but have been reluctant to do so because it would add significantly
to the size of a data table that has lots of records, and most of the
line items would never have any notes entered. However, with the requirement
from some law enforcement agencies to record Serial Numbers of certain
items, we finally added a notes field. While the field is described
as 'Serial Number' it can be used to put in any information at all about
the particular line item, including notes, comments and remarks. This
is particularly useful to note something specific about an item when
receiving dealer loads. To make room for the field on the Edit Details
screen, we had to do some serious rearranging. This new screen layout
may require an initial adjustment period and we are sure to get some
complaints from those of you who don't like change. |
|
Profit
Margin Reporting
A while back, we added Purchase Report 24, the Purchase
Margin Report. This report takes the purchases for any period of time
and predicts the Profit Margin based on the current Sales Price in the
inventory file. The problem with this report is that it can only use
current sales pricing, which limits the reasonable range of purchases
that can be examined. In an effort to more accurately reflect the effectiveness
of your buying, we have added the capability to 'price' a ticket at
the time that it is closed. We do this by computing the value of each
line if it were sold at the current sales price in the Inventor Master.
To make updating the Inventory Sales Prices easier, you can now update
them directly in the Master Inventory List screen. Also, we now maintain
a history of inventory price changes, so that if you reopen and edit
a closed ticket, the line items are still valued based on the sales
prices that were in effect the day the ticket was originally closed.
The Purchase Margin Report now allows you to choose either Current Sales
Price or Sales Price at Closing. Other new options allow the report
to be run on a single item or group of items and to be grouped and subtotaled
on customer. |
| Toughbook
Closeout - 40% off
 We
still have a few Panasonic Toughbook Wireless Monitors available. These
cool little handheld devices are discontinued and our supply is dwindling.
Much smaller and lighter than the wireless computers that have replaced
them, they work well with Scrap Dragon and are durable enough for use
in a scrap yard. Unfortunately, Panasonic has phased them out and in
fact will not be releasing a driver for use with the Windows 7 operating
system. Consequently, we are closing out our remaining supply of new
units at 40% off the $2,000 list price. We also have a few lightly used
'demo' units available for 50% off. For more info, download the Specification
Sheet or the Purchasing
Power brochure. Only available while supplies last. Sorry, no returns.
At the ISRI convention, we demonstrated the Apple Ipad as an alternative
wireless solution. We are using the Wyse Pocket Cloud RDP/VNC app and
a hard shell case from Ivyskin. While the Ipad is lightweight, it has
no hand strap, is not as rugged as the Toughbook, is not weatherproof
and requires a bare finger touch (no gloves or stylus). The app is easy
to download, install and set up. If you use an RDP connection, the host
screen is unavailable when the remote is attached. But, the VNC connection
will leave both screens enabled. The same Wyse Pocket Cloud RDP/VNC
app is available for the droid phones. Yes, you can run Scrap Dragon
on your Evo!
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Spotlight on New Features
 • The ability to void ticket
payments is now controlled by User level security, with the ability
for supervisor override if a user is not authorized. Note that
you will specifically have to grant users this clearance or they will
not be allowed to void payments.
• A station that does not have authority to enter a manual price,
is now also restricted from selecting an historical price or an expired
quote.
• Added a new field in Commodity Master and User Definable Tables
for Metal Form; required for some government reporting, particularly
NEWPRS reporting.
• Changing the customer Name or Address in Edit Customer now asks
the user if they want to update check info as well.
• Added checkbox for 'vin validation' in Auto ‘add to inventory’
screens
• added indicator for validation of non-conforming vins to Auto
Data Direct export template.
• Purchase Export – added the ability to filter the results
on the commodity quantity threshold values, reporting only those transactions
that exceed the threshold values
• Added a G/L ID field to the inventory master Item Setup to allow
longer item names in Quickbooks Interface
• Added FTP support to Leadsonline.
• Add/Remove Cash only allows positive numbers now.
• Added option in local computer options to display license image
on customer change in pay tickets by number |
| Reports
 • Added an additional report
options screen for the standard options date range, output to, and report
level to deal with problems in the option forms being too large for
lower screen resolution
• Customer Report 08 – added the ability to include the
first name in duplicate customer check
• Purchase Report 8 – added the sales price and sales amount
to Excel output only. • Purchase Report 13 – move the option
for “Companies to Include” from the advanced options form
to the main options form.
• Purchasing Report 24 – Added the ability to use the sell
price at time of purchase, added the ability to filter on item or item
group, added the ability to group and subtotal on customer.
• Inventory Report 01 – change selection of pack status
to use the hand select control rather than multiple checkboxes
• Inventory Report 32 – added indicator for validation of
non-conforming vin
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| The
Latest Release
The latest releases of Scrap Dragon are
always available for download from our web site at www.scrap-dragon.com/download.htm,
or by clicking 'Updates' on the Help menu in the Back Office module
of Scrap Dragon. There are always 2 versions of the update available.
Some of the features described herein are currently only available in
the Beta release, version 6.5g which has had limited
distribution. If you prefer a version that has been more widely installed,
then select version 6.5a.
While at the download site, also download the latest on-line
help file DragonHelp.chm. Our newsletters can only highlight the most
significant new features, but there are many more enhancements in each
new release. Click here for the complete list of features that have been
added in each version.
While you can download a version patch at any time, you can only install
the patch when everyone is out of Scrap Dragon. The
patches are cumulative so you don't have to worry about installing them
in sequence, you can just install the latest one for your version. Part
of the installation process will modify your existing data to conform
to the latest requirements. In some cases this can take a while, depending
on the amount of data that you have. We strongly suggest that you start
the patch installation at the end of the day. If you need help updating,
you can call our help desk 404-255-3030.
You are entitled to get all of our upgrades as a benefit of your maintenance
contract, so why not download and install them today? Please call if
you have any questions or need any help upgrading. |
| 
Other Cutting Edge Products
from Transact
Payment Systems, Inc. - www.tranact.com |
|
Jpegger
maintains a digital image record of every transaction including material
photos, customer photos, electronic signatures, thumbprints and scanned
documents
|
Video Surveillance
Live or recorded
video can be viewed from a network PC using an internet browser
|
EZ Cash
Self-service ATM's or behind the counter cash dispensers
for safe, fast and secure cash payments
|
Remote Scale
monitor and control your scales from anywhere
|
| The End
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