RATEX Users’ Group

2006 Conference, Jackson, WY

Tentative Agenda and Schedule of Events

Saturday, July 22, 2006

6:00 – 7:00 Conference Check-In at Jedediah’s (135 E. Broadway)

7:00 – 9:00 Welcome Reception sponsored by RATEX Business Solutions

Sunday, July 23, 2006

8:00 – 9:00 Breakfast – Antler Inn

9:00 – 9:30 [General] Welcome and Business Meeting

9:30 – 10:30 [General] RBS Company Update RBS will provide a complete update on all aspects of the company; Including sales, support, employee status, and current development projects. There will be time at the end to cover any questions you may have for RBS.

10:30 – 10:45 Break

10:45 – 11:45 [General] RBS New Ventures Come to this session to learn what new applications and opportunities RBS will be able to provide your store now or in the near future.

12:00 – 1:15 Lunch – Cadillac Grille

1:30 – 3:15 [General] Getting Ready for VR, Panel Discussion Join an open discussion with a panel of members from stores that are already running VR. Ask those who have been through it before about what to expect with the installation, data conversion, training - and perhaps most importantly, what they would have done differently.

3:15 – 3:30 Break

3:30 – 4:30 [General] Getting Ready for VR, Panel Discussion

Free Night

Monday, July 24, 2006

8:00 – 9:00 Breakfast – Antler Inn

9:00 – 10:00 [General] What is new with GM in legacy and VR A complete review of new the features found in General Merchandise and Point of Sale. This review will include a discussion of the serialized inventory features in RATEX, bundle creation, gift cards, custom loyalty club and General Merchandise special orders.

10:00 – 10:15 Break

10:15 – 11:15 [Legacy] Reports and Analysis Tools This session will cover topics such as: how to find the information for the various financial surveys, reports needed in RATEX to assist management with analysis of operations, and reports developed by stores to retrieve needed information. 

[Visual] The world of VR Buyback and Bundling Here is your opportunity to see the newly designed buyback module that has received exceptional reviews by clients and wholesalers. The demonstration will cover newly designed screens and added functionality for customer transaction processing, theft prevention, automatic buyer notifications, bundle support and automatic searches on triggers and condition codes.

11:15 – 12:15 [Legacy] Report Generator Legacy/VR This session will focus on how to create reports in both Legacy RATEX and Visual RATEX using the standard report writers. In addition, we will discuss mapping Legacy reports to VR. Finally, new VR functionality will be covered including attribute lookups, user prompts, using find files/reference fields, etc.

[Visual] VR Accounts Payable for the US and Canadian Customers This session with be a complete review of the new features found in the VR Accounts Payable module. This review will include a discussion of the new Chargeback to Credit Memo matching process in AP, a review of the AP transaction entry/maintenance screen and a display of the new Canadian features found in AP.

12:15 – 1:45 Lunch – Antler Inn

2:00 – 3:00 [Legacy] Shelf Tag Audit Scanning accuracy has become more of an issue in recent years and has received a lot of media coverage.  Local Dept of Weights & Measures audit retailer's shelf tags to ensure accurate scanning and impose fines on those who are not in compliance.  Come find out about the UCSD Bookstore's new shelf tag auditing program to reduce the risk of scanning errors in their store.

[Visual] VR Special Orders An overview of the common (e.g. GM, TX, TR) special order utility in VisualRATEX. Review of entering specials, using these specials to generate pending orders, and filling special orders will be discussed.

3:00 – 3:15 Break

3:15 – 4:30 [Legacy] Buyer Operations This course will cover using the Ratex buying modules to their fullest to allow buyers more structure and organization.  The course will include use of min/max, auto order and stock out flags, user reference, reporting etc.  The goal of the course is to show how to use the package “out of the can” to “do the work for you”.

[Visual] Accounts Receivable in VR This presentation will demonstrate the recently revised and enhanced Accounts Receivable module. Focus will be given on the transition from the balance forward methodology to a transaction based system with added flexibility for payment application. Additional features that will be discussed and presented will include the extended customer database, inherent functions for the definition and tracking of scholarships/grants as well as transaction history tracking.

5:30 – 10:00 Dinner and evening event at Bar J Wranglers

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

8:00 – 9:00 Breakfast – Antler Inn

9:00 – 10:00 [General] Textbook Loyalty Program Reward customers that purchase their textbooks from your store!  Use RATEX POS to collect the information needed to offer preferential status and other benefits to your loyal customers.  Learn how BYU-Idaho implemented such a program and the other benefits that resulted, including increased customer base, theft prevention, and improved controls for textbook sales, returns, and buyback.

10:00 – 10:15 Break

10:15 – 11:15 [User] Are you ready for ISBN13? Come and see how RATEX handles the new ISBN-13 and what it means to you and your store. The upgrade to release 8.01 is available, are you in the queue?

[Tech] Credit Card Encryption This session will review what you need to do to conform with the CISP requirements for credit card security. The current procedures and a status of the CISP certification will also be covered.

11:15 – 12:15 [User] RF – RCV, PI, Inquiry This session will cover the use of Symbol Technologies RF scan guns for Receiving, Price and Inventory checks. We will go over the advantage of RF technologies, Their setup and use.

[Tech] Data preparation for VR Hear from a user perceptive what preparation must be completed in getting ready for the conversion to Visual Ratex.

12:30 – 1:45 Lunch

2:00 – 3:00 [User] VR PI An overview of the new features in the VisualRatex Physical Inventory module. In-depth review of the new "Fast Counts" and "Recounts" screens, a host of List.Bat screens, and a number of new reports.

[Tech] VR Security / User Maintenance Learn how to use the user templates to ease the process of adding new users to VR as well as a thorough explanation of the user maintenance screen.  This session will also discuss the different strategies of securing access to screens and processes and an overview of how print jobs get routed in VR.

3:00 – 3:15 Break

3:15 – 4:30 [User] Inventory Preparation Join the discussion as three users share the process they go through in their store to prepare for physical inventory.

[Tech] VR - Under the Hood Take a peek under the pretty screens of VR to see how the software is installed on your system, indices maintained, upgrades applied and other technical information. Also find out why you should use HostAccess to administer your VR account.

4:30 – 5:00 [General] Final Business Meeting

- Announcement of 2008 location and new RUG Board Member

- Information on Boulder, CO conference in 2007

Free Night