• System Architecture

• • Multi-store/ multi-registers within one location (Unlimited)
• • Multi-user networking (Unlimited)
• • Remote access to the server for data entry, reports etc.
• • Communications for Back Office Stations via live connections to SQL Server, Store terminals communicate on a real-time basis while holding transaction locally on own drive for fail-safe and off-line continual operation if server is not accessible. Transactions are transmitting live to the main server
• • Multi-company (unlimited), this feature enables you to have several companies with separate databases (e.g. for different businesses or in different countries) and through Aralco’s built-in report generator, you can link these systems and see all their sales activities and inventory status on one report (separated by each company with a Grand Total at the bottom)

Security

1. Built-in Solutions

   Aralco’s own built-in solution operates with direct connection to the main retail database for fast, accurate, low maintenance eCommerce operation. Here are some of this system’s highlights:

   • • Directly interfaces with the Aralco Back Office & POS
   • • Instant view of new/ modified “web” designated products on the shopping site
   • • Instant view of product pictures, descriptions and web prices on the shopping site
   • • Integrated Shipping, Payment, Invoice
   • • Automatically import web customers to Aralco master database
   • • Automatically import web orders to Aralco POS Order Entry System
   • • Automatically generated web order reports can be viewed and/or emailed to the warehouse logistics staff so they can expedite the web orders and use the Aralco POS to ship the orders to customers anywhere in the world.
   • • Automatically adjusts product inventory levels and optionally display “Available” quantities by location
   • • On-site store location map to show where the available inventory can be found
   • • Aralco offers customizable solutions with this option

1. Third Party Interface Options

   The second solution Aralco offers is through Universal Data Interchange (UDI). With this solution, clients can utilize third party shopping cart applications and have their developers interface with Aralco’s UDI data base. When you create a product in the Aralco back office system, the information is written into the UDI database which can reside on the same server or external to the brick and mortar database. Web Orders are also automatically imported from UDI into the main database for viewing and shipping through the Aralco POS. The information in the UDI database can be limited to what the eCommerce site requires such as product information, web-orders, web customers etc. Here are some of the services Aralco offers for interface to a third party eCommerce system:

   • • Aralco can offer technical assistance to your eCommerce developers
   • • UDI database only holds information for eCommerce use so it can reside anywhere
   • • Web designated product information is passed on to third party shopping cart through UDI
   • • Automatically import web orders and customers to Aralco’s main database
   • • Automatically exports web orders to Aralco POS Order Entry system
   • • Automatically generated web order reports can be viewed and/or emailed to the warehouse logistics staff so they can expedite the web orders and use the Aralco POS to ship the orders to customers anywhere in the world.
   • • Automatically adjusts product information including, inventory levels, product pictures, descriptions and prices

Product Setup & Options

• • User-definable product codes
• • Manufacturer / supplier barcode scanning
• • Multi-zone pricing
• • Grid inventory (by colour/ size/ width etc.) for fashion apparel, footwear
• • User-definable product information
• • Product image and sound recording for training, multi-media applications
• • Definition and categorization (unlimited number of categories)
• • Multiple suppliers per product
• • Package sales
• • Product kitting/ assembly
• • Tag-along products
• • Discount by product groups
• • Mass price updates (by groups)
• • Non-inventory items and services
• • Spiffs and commissions attached directly to products

Light Manufacturing/Bill of Materials Product Kitting & Assembly

Product Manufacturing with Aralco’s Kitting and Assembly Module

Whether you assemble and sell items such as gift baskets or manufacture complex products using raw material with various ‘Bill of Materials’ components, you can use Aralco’s optional integrated Manufacturing/Kitting and Assembly module.

With this feature, you can define your finished goods by using your Bill of Materials/ Recipes that make up those finished goods. The system will then auto-calculate your finished goods cost and suggest a retail price which you can modify and post to your POS system. When you request manufacturing of finished goods, the system automatically checks the required inventory and makes sure you have all the required raw material. This system can be tied to Aralco’s sophisticated inventory auto-replenishment to make sure forecast demands are met so you always have the right inventory levels of the raw materials.

• • Defines kits, such as gift baskets, food dishes, assembled products etc. where you can define all the parts/ ingredients (bill of materials explosion) that go into the ‘Kit’ or final assembled component
• • Creates new product codes for the ‘finished’ product
• • Calculates kit cost and modifies total retail price
• • Checks inventory availability for parts/ingredients when manufacturing kits
• • Option to Auto Reduce Inventory of ‘parts’ as Kits are sold (e.g. reduces ingredient inventory for a food dish or parts for an assembled item when the dish or finished goods are sold)

   

1. Inventory Movements

   • • Perpetual inventory for multiple locations and warehouse
   • • Transactions recorded by date, product number, location
   • • Inventory look-up and Reports by “Date”. Available quantities can be viewed for any point in the past which is useful for year-end reports
   • • Inventory reports by quantity, cost, retail, potential gross profit margins
   • • Purchase orders
   • • Receiving (via scanner/ handheld computer)
   • • Barcode printing
   • • Transfers from warehouse to stores or store to store (via scanner/ handheld computer)
   • • Inventory & Average Cost Adjustments
   • • Return to Vendor
   • • Physical counts (via scanner/ handheld computer)
   • • Model stock (min-max) monitoring
   • • Auto replenishment based on past sales performance and location
   • • Auto purchase orders
   • • Stock balancing by inventory zone
   • • Distribution from warehouse to all store locations (suggested based on product performance at each locations)
   • • Product information can include weight, shelf/bin location, tax status, supplier remarks
   • • Serial Number tracking

1. Inventory / Product Cost & Price

   • • Supplier base cost, landed or average cost for each product
   • • Utilize supplier price lists to generate landed costs using multiplier
   • • Unlimited price levels by customer group or date sensitive promotions
   • • Original price or current price can be used for retail valuation of inventory
   • • Selling prices in different currencies based on store locations anywhere in the world
   • • Unlimited Zones Pricing for different retail or wholesale locations
   • • Date and time sensitive product promotional pricing
   • • Automatic Average Cost calculation based on past average cost and inventory and new inventory receiving and new landed costs
   • • Automatic Landed Cost calculation based on Supplier currency exchange rate, shipping costs per unit weight, applicable duties per product group

Purchasing

• • Choice of manual entry or automated
• • Option to automatically import POS Special Orders into new Purchase Orders
• • Ship to different stores or direct to customer ship-to address
• • Email / Fax Purchase Orders to suppliers
• • Purchase Order print line by line or as Matrix Grid (e.g. fashion items)
• • System generated purchase orders use model stocks or optional “smart” automatic P.O. preparation ( see below )
• • Reports available on order status by product, supplier, or month

Goods Receiving

• • Receive products into inventory from outstanding purchase orders, back orders, or directly (without a P.O.)
• • Accept entire order with one click or change received quantities in the event of discrepancies
• • Option to use barcode scanners to import goods received by scanning supplier barcodes that reference your products
• • Identify and tag “Back Ordered” products, if policy allows
• • Receive goods at POS terminals, at warehouse, or at back office
• • Print Barcodes for goods received. Goods Received Report will show back orders as well as discrepancies with the original Purchase Order

Barcode Printing

• 
• • Use 128A, code 3 of 9, or UPC (and others standards)
• • Print Barcodes from Purchase Orders, Goods Received, Transfers, Store Inventory records or manually by product code
• • Create system generated barcodes or unlimited manufacturer barcodes to increase efficiency of data
• • Standard 1″x2″, 1″x1″ Side by Side, Jewelry Labels, Hang Tags plus many more formats
• • Custom programming available for specific designed barcodes

Model Stock (Min/Max) System for re-ordering

• • Pre-set ideal inventory levels by product and location is ideal for retailers who order repeat items
• • Model stocks by store type allow multi-location operations to reduce data entry and monitoring
• • Reports of shortages/overages in current on-hand-levels provides alerts for management
• • Report also shows shortages/overages at different store locations to drive transfers of product from over-stocked stores to under-inventoried locations
• • Ensures efficient use of inventory
• • Reduces need for markdowns (clearance), prevents over ordering

Lot Number Inventory / Traceability Management

• For industries requiring to record inventory and sales by Lot Numbers, Aralco has a solution so you can receive items by existing “LOT#” or create new Lot numbers during the Goods Receiving Process.
• You can look up or Report inventory by Lot Numbers and record all sales, refunds and all inventory “movements” such as adjustments, transfers, returns to vendor by lot number so you will have an accurate audit of where your products are by Lot Numbers.
• For businesses that require product “Traceability” such as the Food and Pharmacy industry, you can run reports that show when and where items were sold by lot number as well as who they were sold to and by whom.

Expiry Date Inventory Management

• For industries requiring to record inventory and sales by Expiry Date, Aralco has a solution so you can receive items by existing “Expiry Date” or create a new Expiry Date during the Goods Receiving Process.
• You can look up or Report inventory by Expiry Date and record all sales, refunds and all inventory “movements” such as adjustments, transfers, returns to vendor by Expiry Date so you will have an accurate audit of where your products are by Expiry Date.
• Reports are available to show items that are either expired or about to be expired so they can be removed from the stores.

1. Automatic Purchase Orders

   • • Optional “intelligent” stock replenishment system
   • • Sales forecasting and performance projections
   • • Uses actual sales history to forecast needs to ensure stock is available when the customer wants to buy it
   • • System trips order points and sets minimum orders
   • • Numerous user-definable settings, including past sales analysis, supplier lead times, trend over-rides, provides more accurate reordering parameters
   • • Supplier range, product groups, stores, multiplier factors, sales factors and reorder points can be specified to allow for adjustments to be made for season or economic climate
   • • Purchase orders/ recommended transfers are created and the user is given the opportunity to override the quantities indicated
   • • Once the Purchase Orders are finalized by the operator, the system prints them by supplier

1. Automatic Distribution

   • 
   • • Recommended distribution list provided for goods received, with system re-calculating each store’s requirement for the items received
   • • With the recommended transfer option, the system also prints recommended transfer list to ensure ideal distribution

1. Automatic Stock Balancing

   • • Sales Forecasting and Performance Projections
   • • Stock Balancing provides suggested inventory transfers between stores within a predefined store zone (allowed for sharing inventory) and upon operator approval, the system will automatically create inter-location transfers.
   • • This option “optimizes” the inventory levels at each location by identifying slow moving items at each location then analyzing data from fast moving items for the same product and recommend transfers to make sure the stock is properly balance to avoid lost sales in high performing stores while reducing slow moving stocks from other stores
   • • Stores “inventory sharing rules” can be set up, taking geographic proximities into consideration as well as option to set the “direction” of transfer (one way or two ways) between the stock sharing locations.
   • • Multiple warehouses can be set up to also feed inventory to various regional or national stores

Inter-location Transfers

• • Manual or scanner data entry
• • Handheld computers allow scanning and import to main server, eliminating possibility of errors
• • Transfers can be initiated or completed on POS terminals or at Back Office
• • Transfers can be completed at stores for increased efficiency
• • Transfer reports allows monitoring from Back Office
• • Real time communication ensures all locations can view and receive transfers instantly
• • Ideal for auto-distribution, stock balancing, stock transfers (warehouse to stores/ store to store)

Physical Counts

• • Use Handheld Barcode Scanners or Manual Inventory entry
• • System takes snapshot of inventory file that is used to compare to actual physical count with electronic records
• • Physical count does not affect normal operations (e.g. sales processing, goods receiving, transfers continue to take place)
• • Provides ample opportunity to enter, check and correct count entries
• • Printed count sheets for manual inventory – ideal for inventory by department
• • Data from handhelds can be imported to Back Office directly or via POS terminal
• • Discrepancy report available immediately after importing Physical Count records
• • Counted items report by store indicates on-hand quantities, shortages/overages, cost & retail values of discrepancies
• • Uncounted items report by location shows products overlooked or missing from the count

1. Built-in Report Generator

   • 
   • • User definable reports ensure level of detail not previously achievable
   • • Create your own Filters, Groups, Columns
   • • Numerous settings for graphical, grid/matrix display of data (Cross-tabs)
   • • Create your own formulas (e.g. Staff commissions %)
   • • Take control of fonts, colors, column & row sizes
   • • Include pictures in reports such as products, customers
   • • Schedule multiple reports to run at a pre-set time
   • • Option to post and view “live” reports on FTP site using mobile devices
   • • Capacity to create “unlimited” number of easy to create reports
   • • Over 150 standard reports that can be further modified to user specifications
   • • Reports printed to file allow archival on disc
   • • View reports on screen, saving paper when hard copies are not required
   • • Print sections of report as needed
   • • Email or fax reports directly from system to end user
   • • Report filtering and group option allows user to specify information or date ranges to be included in report
   • • Graphical reports indicating comparative annual sales by Store, Zone, Province/State using Bar Graphs, Linear, 3D, Pie charts etc.

1. Export/ Interface to Outlook/ Excel/ Work/ PDF

   • 
   • • All Aralco reports are prepared as HTML (or ASCII) files and are readily exportable to Microsoft Excel, Word or PDF format, where you can make any modification such as your own presentation or applications of formulas and other calculations.
   • • For mass price updates, Aralco exports the selected product range (by Supplier, Department, Group etc.) then export and insert into Excel where you can easily manipulate the data at your convenience, then simply re-import your changes back into Aralco by a simple click. The product price information residing on the Aralco system will then be replace by your Excel sheets entries.

Built-in Custom Application Tools, User-Definable Data Capture Screens & Reports

• • Additional Power with Custom Data Capture: Many key areas of the database such as Customer Profile, Product Profile and Special Transactions have been given the power by enabling the end user to create their own industry specific fields of information to help them customize and better fit the Aralco software for their business environment. For example, in the apparel retailing, you need to have your customer’s information such as size, color preference, likes and dislikes, however, in the health related industries you may want to know the patient’s age, allergies, medication currently being used, Physician’s name etc.
• • Custom Fields: Unlimited number of user fields can be attached to the customer, product and transaction files which would also be available to the Aralco report generator system. For example, you can then run reports to list customers name, address and phone numbers who are of a certain size, like a certain color and have no allergies to wool products and use this list for selective email marketing. Other examples would be to enter warranty information about products. This can be printed on the POS Receipt which can be viewed at anytime in the future to confirm valid warranty
• • Document Management: Attach documents such as Excel/ PDF/ Word format, pictures, videos, Sound files to user-defined records such as customer, supplier, employee files etc. This is a paperless and efficient way of storing information related to your contacts and transactional records

Franchise System Options

• • The franchise option is designed to address the desired data flow between the franchise Headquarters, franchisee Back Office system and the franchisee point of sales systems.
• • For this option, Aralco software addresses the many differences that exist between the standard “corporate owned” and “franchisee owned” branch operations.
• • The franchisor can create products information on their system which would then be communicated automatically to the franchisee’s Back Office and on to their point of sales machines. Sales information recorded at each point of sale device will be sent to the franchisee’s Back Office. The franchisee’s back office system would then send all the sales data from each of their POS systems on to the franchisor’s main server ready for reporting.
• • Other data such as suppliers, regional taxes etc. can be sent from the franchisor to the franchisee. Customer information can also be “optionally” sent from the franchisee’s system to the franchisor where all the customers of the entire chain can reside for further analysis.
• • The franchisor has the option to view the franchisee’s data and be able to report on their activities.
• • The franchisees can be given the option to create their own suppliers and products, outside the range created at the franchisors Headquarters. These suppliers and products can remain local on the franchisees systems and not be transferred to the franchisors main system.
• • Each franchisee can have one or more POS systems and can have an unlimited number of stores controlled within their own group of stores, all of which will report to their own back office as well as to the franchisor’s main server.
• • Real-time data polling between each location is completely automated without any operator intervention. The communication method is similar to the “fail-safe” communication method used in the “standard” Aralco system.

Built-in email Marketing Campaigns

• The built-in email feature can be used for “Mass” or “Targeted” email campaigns. As long as you have your customer’s email address, you can reach them by sending them what appear to them as a “Customized” email with their name and other specific information relating to their information as well as their past purchases. You can design an email that has “their” specific information combine with other “generic” information. For example, the email could look like this: Dear Linda, Thank you for shopping at our Lotus Fashions in Beverly Hills Centre Mall. As you are live in the North Hollywood District, we are glad to let you know, as of April 15th, we are opening a new store at 123 – Main St., North Hollywood and will be very happy to serve you in that location too. If you bring a copy of this email, we will offer an additional 15% discount on your first visit. We look forward to seeing you there. Store Manager (Park Royal Shopping Centre) Susan Smith

1. Order Management System (OMS) – General Information

   • • This optional system enables the warehouse or back office staff to view and “manage” the customer orders entered at the store POS terminals
   • • The OMS system is designed to entirely remove all unnecessary communication between warehouse and store staff and minimize “chaos” with all the old fashion paperwork and filing
   • • When orders are entered at the stores into the POS systems, the new Order Management System (OMS) can enable both the Warehouse Staff as well as the Store Staff to view the status of outstanding orders and access them to perform various functions.
   • • The Back Office (purchasing agents) can see what needs to be ordered from the supplier to fulfil the order and the warehouse staff can see what is already available and mark the items as “allocated” which the store staff can automatically see and arrange for customer to make final payment before shipping takes place

1. Order Management System – Accessibility

2. Both Warehouse and Store staff will have access to the OMS system as it resides on the server. Warehouse staff will have their own functions (color coded in “blue”) and the stores will have access to other functions related only to them (color coded “green”) although they can view the status of the orders in case they need to inform the customers.

1. Order Management System – Store Staff Functions

2. At POS level, once entering a new order, you can specify the delivery options such as: • Home Delivery • Customer Pickup at Warehouse / Other Store locations • Customer Pickup at the store where order is entered Once goods are in the warehouse: • Call customers and request final payment for orders with a balance to be paid • Call customers to notify them of the goods that have arrived at the store for pickup

1. Order Management System – Warehouse Functions

2. • Warehouse staff can view orders that are ready for shipment (for cases when inventory is available at the warehouse and order balance is zero) • Notify store staff to call customers that have a balance remaining for their order to either come into the store to pay their balance or pay by phone Once the order balance is zero: • Notify customers & arrange home delivery • Arrange truck deliveries (by postal code to pick the optimal routes) • Stamp order as “complete” after delivery paperwork is complete • Auto complete POS orders by turning them into a “Sales Transaction” after which the item is removed from inventory and the store is credited with the sale.

Accounting Interface

• • Available interface with QuickBooks, ACCPAC, Simply Accounting, Masterpiece and others upon request
• • Accommodates your existing or preferred accounting system
• • Eliminates need for double entries, Improves accuracy, eliminates data entry time
• • GL/ AR/ AP interfaces available (please inquire for details)

Electronic Traffic Counter

• • Wireless hardware
• • Records number of store visits
• • Various sales performance reports by Store, Staff, Customer visit, items sold per transaction, $ values per category etc.
• • Closing Ratio reports
• • Store sales performance and staff attended the sales sessions

Appointment / Scheduling

• • Human Resources such as staff, with user-definable skill sets
• • Assets such as rooms, equipment, vehicles with their own ‘categories’ such as ‘room with garden view, no smoking, king bed, or a green, convertible sports car
• • Services as simple as hair colouring perameters, delivery to complex scheduling of heart surgery where operating rooms, various equipment, nurses, anesthesiologist and multiple surgeons all need to be present for an operation
• 

Simple or complex appointments can me made for staff with a built-in reminder system and provisions for ‘holidays’ and time of day availability for each day of the week, as well a scheduling for assets such as vehicle, equipment, rooms etc.