Abridged user's manual for LoMag Warehouse Management

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1. Installation of the program

The current version of the program may be downloaded from the Internet from www.LoMag.pl. LoMag is installed automatically with all the necessary components. By default the program operates on 1 computer. For the program to operate in a network, the computers need to be connected by a local network. You need to install the program on each of the computers, then select the "This computer is a server" option from the "Program/Settings/Network operations" menu and remember the name of the server which is displayed below. Select the "This computer is a client and it connects with the server" option on the remaining computers and enter the name of the server.

2. Basic configuration of the program

In order to start working with the program properly, you should configure the options in the "Program/Settings" menu. The most important settings are described below. Advanced configuration options are described at the end of these instructions.

"Settings/Calculations/Displaying numbers/Display prices and values" - if you unmark this option, the program will not support the prices of items and you will only be able to conduct a quantitative register of the items. The program will only ask about the quantity when receiving or issuing items.
"Settings/Calculations/Displaying numbers/Selling price is set in quota terms in the item list in the 'Suggested selling price' field" - it means that the program will propose at what price the item is to be issued, basing on the default prices from the item list. If you set the selling price in the item list, the program will suggest that price whenever the item is to be issued, independently from the purchase price.
"Settings/Calculations/Displaying numbers/Selling price is calculated as a sum of the purchase price and the mark-up (or margin) from the price list" - it means that the program will propose the issue prices basing on the mark-up from the purchase price, e.g. an item is received at the warehouse at PLN10/pcs, and it is issued from the warehouse with a 20% mark-up, i.e. at PLN12/pcs. You set the mark-up in the item list.
"Settings/Accounts/Suppliers" - if you unmark this option the program will not support the suppliers and will not request a name of the supplier when creating documents.
"Settings/Accounts/Customers, Employees” – similarly as above, the program will disable the support of accounts.
"Settings/Company” - the data of your company will be visible on the documents.
"Settings/Dedicated columns/” - names for additional fields with text content (attributes/characteristics of the item, e.g. colour), numbers (e.g. weight) or hyperlinks (e.g. the Internet site of the manufacturer).

3. Commencement of work with the program

The program can support any number of warehouses. After you launch it, a window comes up, in which you need to select the warehouse you wish to work on. You may also add a new warehouse in the warehouse selection window, as well as change the name and the code of a warehouse, or remove a warehouse together with all the documents. Once you click 'Open' or press "ENTER”, the program will open the marked warehouse and from that moment you may operate in this warehouse. If you wish to change the active warehouse, go to "Program/Open warehouse" on the menu.

Before you start creating documents, it's worth defining the item list and the accounts. You can also import item lists from an Excel file. Go to "Items/Import from Excel” menu, where you have a simple import module available. To import data, simply select an Excel file, and adjust columns from the Excel file to the columns in LoMag by selecting the name of the field from the drop-down list. Next, click "Import of items - adds or updates if already in the database" and the program will add or update data. The key to updating items is "Item name" and "Unit" - i.e. if a given item name and unit already exists in the database, the program will update the remaining data. You may also import items to many warehouses.

Importing accounts works on the same basis. You may select a file with a list of accounts, customers or employees in the "Accounts/Import from Excel" menu. Insert columns with 'yes' and 'no' values in them, so that the program may ascribe every account their status. An example of an Excel file content:
"Name customer supplier”
"Client1 yes no”
"Distributor1 no yes”

4. Item list

To go to the item list, you must select "Items/Item list” option on the menu, or press the Ctrl+T shortcut key, or click the item list icon on the tool bar. All the methods are equivalent and they have been added to facilitate your work with the program. Once the item list is launched, the list of items from the current warehouse and the current stock level will be displayed. The list may be narrowed down, if a filter or a group is chosen on the item list tool bar. The list of columns in the item list may be adjusted by right-clicking any column and selecting the "Manage columns" option. The "History" button allows you to take a quick look at the warehouse movements for a given item. In order to add an item to the item list, you may also use the Alt-D shortcut.

Creating a full list of items is not necessary, but it will considerably facilitate and accelerate the creation of documents. We recommend creating an item list before you begin adding documents. In the item list, you may describe the characteristics of the item, the barcode, the unit of measurement, the group, the opening balance (initial values), the suggested prices and the low and high quantity thresholds. The meaning and the employment of each of those fields is explained below:

A barcode may be any string of signs, it does not have to be necessarily a concrete code type. The field may also be used for another purpose, e.g. as a unique index, which facilitates finding an item. If a barcode reader is to be used with the program, you should scan the code with the reader in the "barcode" field in order to ascribe a given code to an item. You may also generate the barcodes automatically.
A unit of measurement may be chosen from a list, or entered with a keyboard. If a given unit is outstanding, it will be entered into the database.
The item group enables you to group the assortment, e.g. the "Fruit" group may include Pears, Apples, etc. Groups facilitate finding items and are used in the reports.
The opening balance enables you to determine initial values (levels, prices) for an item, which is already on stock.
Suggested prices: suggested purchase price, suggested margin (or suggested selling price with the "Selling price is taken from the price list" setting) are not mandatory entry fields, but they accelerate the process of creating documents. Once you have selected a given item for a new document, the program shall suggest prices in accordance with the settings in the item list. If you keep a register of items without sales with profit, the margin should stay zero, as the program suggests by default.
Low Qty Threshold determines the minimum (emergency) stock level at the warehouse. The field is used to find items which are running low at the warehouse (menu "Items/Find/Low Qty Threshold").
High Qty Threshold determines the maximum (emergency) stock level at the warehouse. The field is used to find items the quantities of which are excessive at warehouse (menu "Items/Find/High Qty Threshold").
The removal of items from the item list is possible, if the item has not been used in the documents.

Please note that the items list at each warehouse may be completely different. To copy an item list from another warehouse, select the "Items/Copy from another warehouse" option. Then, select the warehouse from which you want to copy the items and mark several or all items in the left panel. The ">" button copies the items to the current warehouse.

5. List of accounts

To go to the account list, select the "Accounts" option from the menu, and then select a list for a given type of account: "Customer", "Supplier", "Employee". Once you select, a list accounts of a given type will be displayed. The list may be narrowed down, if a filter is selected on the tool bar of the account list. The column list may be adjusted by right-clicking any column and selecting "Manage columns". The "History" button enables a quick preview of warehouse transfers for a given account. You may also use the Alt-D shortcut, to add an account to the list.

Accounts have been divided into 3 groups

Suppliers - used in GRNs, and GRN corrections
Customers - used in GINs, GIN corrections, Interbranch Transfers
Employees - used in internal GRNs, internal GINs, Interbranch Transfers

Each account may belong to one or more group, e.g. Jan Kowalski may be both a supplier and a customer. A removal of an account from the list is possible only if it has not been used in documents. The accounts are visible in all warehouses, i.e. if you add an account to one warehouse, you may use it in all other warehouses.

6. Warehouse documents

All documents in the programme are added in the same manner. To accelerate work, apart form the icons, you may also use the keyboard shortcuts available:

F2 - GRN (Goods Received Note), e.g. receipt of new items on stock;
F3 - GIN (Goods Issued Note), e.g. sale of goods;
F4 - GRN correction (Return to supplier), e.g. return of a faulty batch of items;
F5 - GIN correction (Return from recipient), e.g. return from customer due to a complaint;
F6 - stock level correction note, e.g. goods lost in the warehouse;
F7 - Interbranch transfer, e.g. transfer of some of the items to another building;
F8 - discount note (Change of item value), e.g. lowering of prices caused by the decrease in the value of items;
F9 - Internal GRN (Internal Goods Received Note), e.g. receipt of items coming from own production;
F10 - Internal GIN (Internal Goods issued Note), e.g. issue of items to an employee;
F11 - Assembly note e.g. the manufacturing of products from raw materials in the manufacturing process.

Similarly, Shift+F2 adds another GRN, Shift+F3 adds another GIN, etc.

After opening the document creator window, you may select an account form the list, or find it by pressing the [..] button, or entering the first letters of the account's name, and then pressing the down arrow. The account selection field may be invisible, if you turn off the account support in settings.

The program automatically enters the current date and time of creation of the document and proposes a consecutive number. You may change the number to any sequence of signs. You may also change the date, however, you have to remember to maintain the chronology of documents. When entering archival documents, you should begin with the oldest and continue to the newest. Changing the date of an existing document may seriously impact the stock levels and the value of the warehouse.

The "remarks" filed may be used for notes regarding the whole document. Please note that there is also a "remarks" field for each line of the document.

At the bottom of the window there is an empty list of items for the document. To add a new item press "Alt-D" or use the "Add" button. An item may be selected in several various ways:

by using s barcode reader to scan the code in the "barcode" field;
by typing in the first letters of the name of the item and pressing the down arrow;
by choosing an item from the drop-down list;
by clicking the [..] button and using the item search engine. The search engine remembers the latest search settings and if you click [..] again, the recently selected criteria will be kept;
you may also use the Ctrl+F shortcut, which will activate the search engine;
by typing the name of the item and pressing Enter. If there is no such item, the program will ask if you want to add that item to the item list;
by adding an item to the document from an external Excel file (use the "Import" button on the tool bar of the document window).

All the above ways of selecting an item are equivalent and result in the filling in of the rest of the fields of the form: the barcode, the unit, the suggested price, and the current stock level. The next step should always be typing in the quantity. It is worth using the TAB button to pass from one field to another. The form for adding order lines varies between individual document types:

in a GRN you can change the "purchase price" and add "remarks" to each line of the order;
in a GIN you can change the "selling price" or the "margin (%)" or the "margin (sum)"; once you have entered the quantity, the program also calculates the purchase price and there is a possibility of previewing the purchase price, as well as the possibility of adding discounts - by enabling additional functions in "Settings/Documents".
in an Internal GRN you can change the "price" and add "remarks" for each line of the order;
in an Internal GIN you can only add "remarks". The price is calculated automatically basing on the value of the item;
in an Interbranch Transfer the program shows current stock levels of the chosen item in the source and target warehouses. You can perform a transfer to several different warehouses on one Interbranch Transfer document, by choosing a different target warehouse for each line. If the item is not on the item list at the target warehouse, the program suggests copying it from the source warehouse. The value of the item is not altered as a result of being moved to another warehouse; You may also transfer an item within the same warehouse - by using the "Warehouse locations" option.
in a stock level correction you can type in a new stock level and any remarks you might have;
in Discounts, you may enter a new quantity or value, and you can also change the name of the item. Discounts introduce modifications not only of prices, but also of quantities of individual items. Therefore, the application can take into account the following example situation: 10 multi-packs of water were received. 2 multi-packs were unpacked and individual bottles were sold with a new price. After entering this discount, the stock level of "multipack of mineral water" will decrease by 2, while the stock level of the item "bottle of mineral water" shall be increased by 12;

In the windows for adding items to a document (apart from GRN and GIN correction) in the "Preview and selection of receipts" part, you may determine precisely a concrete receipt from which the item is to be issued.

Editing and removing documents

The program enables you to modify the existing documents. You may find a document which needs to be repaired or corrected. You should be particularly cautious when changing the quantity of items on archival documents - you cannot remove an item which has been issued on subsequent documents. Similarly, the program will not allow the removal of documents, from which at least one item has been issued.

An open document allows you to check the history of warehouse transfers for each of the items on the document (the "History" button on the tool bar over the list of items or "Alt-H"). The "To Excel" button enables the transfer of the list of items from the document to a chosen Excel file. The table may be freely adjusted by right-clicking any column and selecting the "Manage columns” option. The program remembers the chosen settings, and it will recreate the column layout when generating a new document.

7.Inventory

The information entered into the program may differ from the actual stock level for various reasons. Therefore, from time to time you should make an inventory of the warehouse. It often happens that making an inventory is a long process which blocks the operation of the warehouse. In view of facilitating and accelerating inventory-making, LoMag features "Inventory sheets".

Inventory sheets

To create a new inventory sheet, go to "Documents/Inventory/Inventory Sheets". The program will display a list of the already existing inventory sheets. To add a new sheet, click "Add" or use the "Alt+D" shortcut. You may also edit the existing sheets or remove them completely.

You create inventory sheets just like all other documents, by adding items and their current quantity on stock. The possibility of generating several sheets at the same time, which may be later joined into one big inventory, constitutes a great advantage of the inventory sheets. If the same goods may be found in two locations at the warehouse and they are featured on two inventory sheets, the program shall sum up the quantities from those sheets.

There is also a possibility of stretching the inventory-making over time. If the warehouse contains inactive items, you may create an inventory or inventories including the inactive items several days earlier, and then merge the sheets into one inventory. If, however, one of the inactive items has been issued form the warehouse, you may make a correction on the sheet before creating the inventory (the "Edit" button on the inventory sheet list).

The inventory in LoMag does not have to pertain to the whole assortment - if some of the items are omitted, the program will not change the stock levels for items not included in the inventory sheets. Therefore, you may execute a partial inventory, including only a part of the assortment. In case of a partial inventory, the omitted items and their stock levels may also be accounted for on the documents and set to zero balance.