In simple terms, the StoreTrak Processor imports shift reports and shift report purchases into ExecuTrak. These are the shift reports that were entered through StoreTrak at remote retail profit centers and then transmitted to the CommServer. When the CommServer receives a shift report, it processes the data from the report and places it in the StoreTrak tables in the ExecuTrak database. Information from stores can include both sales and purchases.
At this point, the StoreTrak Processor takes the data from the StoreTrak tables and updates ExecuTrak’s shift hold tables with the shift report and shift report purchase information. In addition, when the StoreTrak Processor runs, it initiates the creation if certain data alerts (Appendix B). This places the data in a “posted” state. Once data is stored in the shift hold tables it is available for several ExecuTrak posted shift reports and certain data alerts (see Appendixes A and B).
You can run the StoreTrak Processor in either Manual or Automatic mode. In manual mode, you must “manually” select the StoreTrak Processor from the menu to run it. In Automatic mode, the StoreTrak processor executes “automatically” each time a new shift report is entered into the StoreTrak tables. System Parameter 3213 specifies if you want the program to run in Manual or Automatic mode (see page 7). The following flowchart illustrates the manual and automatic processes:
In Manual mode, you must “manually” run the StoreTrak Processor. Since reports can be transmitted throughout the day, you must adhere to one of two methods for running the StoreTrak Processor:
The first method is to wait until all stores have reported for the day and then run the StoreTrak Processor. The drawback to this method is that none of the posted shift data is available for the posted ExecuTrak reports or the un-audited data alerts are not created until after you run the StoreTrak Processor.
The second schedule is to manually run the StoreTrak Processor multiple times throughout the day to post any new store reports that have uploaded since the last time the StoreTrak Processor was run. Although this method will make posted shift report data more readily available for reporting and the unaudited data alerts will be created more often, there will still be a delay from the time a shift report is received to the time it is available for reporting. Furthermore, this method requires that someone manually runs the program several times throughout the day.
The alternative to manual StoreTrak processing is automatic StoreTrak processing. Once implemented, there is no user input required for running the StoreTrak Processor. This means that you do not have to manually run the StoreTrak Processor. Each time that the CommServer finishes processing a shift report and updates the StoreTrak tables, the system will automatically execute the StoreTrak Processor. As a result, the posted Shift Report data will be available for reporting and data alerts will be created almost immediately upon receipt from the store.
The manual process is as follows:
Store reports are entered at the store level and then transmitted to the CommServer.
The CommServer receives the data and inserts it into the StoreTrak tables.
The user manually executes the StoreTrak Processor to use the data in the StoreTrak tables to make entries into the shift hold tables. Once the data is stored in the shift hold tables, the shift report information is in a posted state and unaudited data alerts are created.
The Automatic StoreTrak Processing data flow is as follows:
Store reports are entered at the store level and then transmitted to the CommServer.
The CommServer receives the data and inserts it into the StoreTrak tables.
The system executes the StoreTrak Processor to use the data in the StoreTrak tables to make entries into the shift hold tables. Once the data is stored in the shift hold tables, the shift report information is in a posted state.
The major difference between these two methods is that in manual mode, user input is required twice: once in step 1 to send the store report to the CommServer and again in step 3 to activate the StoreTrak Processor. With automatic mode, when the store manager sends the store report no other user participation is required.
Note: Once a shift report has been posted it must still be processed using the Retail Sales Module’s Shift Report Processing program.
Now that you understand the principles behind Automatic StoreTrak Processing, you are ready to learn how to implement the functionality. You will need to complete a few simple steps to make this functionality available and active:
Manually run the StoreTrak Processor to make sure that all shift reports in the StoreTrak tables are posted into the shift hold tables.
Install the latest version of ExecuTrak on your RISC or SCO server.
Set the value of System Parameter 12 equal to your database path.
Set System Parameter 3213 to set the Automatic StoreTrak Processor flag.
The following sections in this document provide you with the information that you will need to complete each of these implementation steps.
The first step in implementing the Automatic StoreTrak Processing functionality is to manually run the StoreTrak Processor. This is necessary because it is possible that there are new shift reports in the StoreTrak tables that have not yet been posted. If you implement the functionality and the StoreTrak tables contain un-posted shift reports, then those shift reports will not be posted.
To run the StoreTrak processor, open a Telnet session and login to your database. Select Retail Sales >> Data Entry >> StoreTrak Processor. The system displays the following screen:
Enter “Y” in the field and then press the Enter key. The processor will make entries into the shift hold tables from any new store reports that exist in the StoreTrak tables. After processing completes, the screen returns to the Retail Sales Data Entry menu.
Once you have run the StoreTrak processor you can then proceed with the remaining implementation steps.
There are no special installation instructions for ExecuTrak. To install the latest version of the software that includes the StoreTrak Automatic Processing functionality, follow the installation instructions that are located in the ExecuTrak 3.28.03B Interim Supplement. You will find this document on the Factor Documentation CD.
Automatic StoreTrak import functionality is controlled by two system parameters:
System Parameter 12
System Parameter 3213
System Parameter 12 holds the path and name of the database that will be updated whenever the StoreTrak Processing program runs. Set the parameter as follows:
Parameter Number: 12
Description: Database Path
Value: /factor/database name
Replace “database name” with the actual name of the database.
System Parameter 3213 lets you specify if you want to run the StoreTrak Processor in Automatic or Manual mode. It’s important to note that if you have the processor set to run automatically, then you cannot manually execute the program from the menus.
Parameter Number: 3213
Description: Automatic StoreTrak Processing
Value: Enter “A” to run the StoreTrak Processor in Automatic Mode or Enter “M” to run the StoreTrak Processor in Manual mode. This parameter defaults to “M”.
Once you have completed the implementation steps for Automatic StoreTrak Processing, then the StoreTrak Processor will run each time that the CommServer finishes inserting new shift reports into the StoreTrak tables and no user input is required.
Remember: you cannot manually run the StoreTrak Processor if System Parameter 3213 equals “A”.
The daily procedure for Automatic StoreTrak Processing is as follows:
Store enters shift report and transmits to the home office.
CommServer receives shift report and updates StoreTrak Tables.
After StoreTrak tables are successfully updated, the StoreTrak Processor executes automatically and updates the shift hold tables with new shift report information from the store and initiates the creation of any new unaudited data alerts.
Remember: You will still need to use the Retail Sales module’s Process Shift Reports program to process shift reports. For more information on processing shift reports, consult the Factor Documentation CD.
Certain ExecuTrak Reports rely on posted shift data for the information that they report. Posted shift data is shift report and shift report purchase information that is stored in the ExecuTrak shift hold tables. These are shift reports that have not yet been processed by the Retail Sales Process Shift Report program. Data arrives into shift hold in the following ways:
Shift reports manually entered through Retail Sales, Data Entry, Shift Report Entry
Shift report purchases manually entered through Retail Sales, Data Entry, Shift Report Purchases
Shift reports/purchases entered through StoreTrak, transmitted to the CommServer, and then imported by the StoreTrak Processor
Reports that use posted shift report data include:
Posted Shift Summary
Posted Purchases
As stated previously in this document, the StoreTrak processor initiates the creation of unaudited data alerts. The processor determines if any new data alerts are required based on the following:
Unaudited Cash Over/Short (Alert ID = COSU): Un-audited cash over/short exceeds tolerance.
Unaudited Purchase Margin (Alert ID = PMGU): Gross margin on purchases is less than/greater than minimum/maximum margin less than/greater than tolerance percentage.
Unaudited DSD Invoice Doesn’t Balance (Alert ID = DSDU): Total amount on a DSD invoice header differs from the total of the detail by an amount greater than the tolerance.
Labor Exceeds Budget: Actual labor hours for a profit center exceed budgeted hours.
If any of these conditions are identified, then the StoreTrak processor calls the Data Alert Hold processor which creates the alerts and places them in the Data Alert Hold Table.
For detailed information regarding DataTrak and Data Alerts, consult the DataTrak help system.