Coating Orders - No printout

It was originally expected that lenses sent for coating would be recorded using the "Send to Coating" option which produces a print out to send to wrap with the lenses to send to the Coating lab. Some labs do want to use but still write out an order form for the coating lab. In order to save on paper, we have added a tickbox on the screen to suppress the printing.  The job is still tracked to the coating supplier.

Discounts in pricing records - minus and plus numbers

A reminder of how this operates.

A plus number refers to a discount band in the discount matrix.

A minus number is an explicit discount eg -10 is 10%

Zero or the word NETT (prefer this) means that no discount is to be applied

If left blank then the default rules apply and the default varies according to other rules set up for the lab.

New tags for printing of Orders

The following tags have been added in order to provide more information about the lens on the printouts and in the CSV report extractor.

<RDIADec> <LDIADec>
Decentred Diameter

<RLensIndex><LLensIndex>
Index of lens

<RLensForm><LLensform>
Lensform as in the lenses.csv

<RLensDesign><LLensDesign>
Lens Design as in the lenses.csv

<RLensColour><LLensColour>
Lens Colour as in the lenses.csv

<RLensMaterial><LLensMaterial>
Lens Material as in the lenses.csv

<RLensStyle><LLensStyle>
Lens Style as in the lenses.csv

Search by Prescription in Browser

The pen highlighter in Browser has been extended to allow for search by Sph and Cyl.  When a search is made that brings back less than 3000 records then the highlight pen is shown. 

Now there is a book icon alongside and when this is pressed a form appears to ask for sphere and cylinder. The software then scans the results to highlight those orders that contain this sphere and cylinder in the same way that the existing highlighter does.

Layout Manager

In the Layout Manager, we have added in an option to ask for a printer on the first time that a print is called. 

This means that you have 3 options.

Use the default printer - do not specify a printer in the layout manager
Use a specific printer - The printer name is set in the layout manager, this is typically for networked printers
Ask for a printer - The tick box is ticked - This is where the default may be one printer but despatching etc is to be done on another printer which is not necessarily shared. A typical case is where special paper is being used.

Tracking - Subsection

In the tracking, you can now create your own subsections.  For example, in Customer services - you can set a subsection John's Desk  and then you can track the job into Customer services and then John's Desk.

Customers On stop - Emailing Credit control

When an order is being entered for a customer on stop, it is possible to get the order emailed to Credit Control so that they can follow up with the customer.

This is done by going to Settings / Labname / Webservice / Credit Control Email 

Enter here the email address that is to receive the emails.

When an order is entered and the customer is on stop then the operator can press the draft button to hold the order for future use. This will then trigger the email to customer services.

End of year - Working day calendar

A reminder that the holidays should be entered for 2014 in order to make sure that correct target dates are calculated. 

This is in Settings / Targets.

Charging for "Prism for Decentration"

Up until now, if prism for decentration was entered via the enhanced prism input screen then this was only an instruction to tell Annapurna to work prism so as to use a smaller diameter. It is now possible to have this trigger a prism charge by making a setting.

V2.42

Tip:Finding a lens if you know the lens code

There is a quick method to choosing the lens if you do happen to know the code.  For example if the lens code is XOSV then you can put /XOSV in the filter  and you will be taken directly to that lens.  Note, it is important that you put the / in to indicate that it is a filter on the lenscode only.

Frame Pricelists for Empty frame and for Glazed frame

It turns out that it is often the case that a frame is sold at a different price when it is sold on its own or glazed.

In order to allow for this, you can now set a pricelist in the settings for empty frame and for selling the frame in an Rx order.

It is under pricing / default pricelists.

Kalahari - Exact tools

When Kalahari cannot find a suitable tool to use then an error is given.  It can be that the lab can cut tools for the job. An update has been made so that the job can be accepted without an error in these circumstances and the lab will cut the Exact tool.  This is done by clicking on the icon (cutter) alongside the tool selection box on the results screen.

Packages - different lenses right and left

Up until now, Annapurna has required that the same lens has to be in both eyes for a package to be applied but now Annapurna has been updated so that if a different lenses are chosen for right and left eyes AND both fall within the package rules then it will price the job as the average of the two eyes.

So is the package is £10.00 for right eye and £14.00 for the left eye then the package price will be £12.00.

This typically happens when a stock lens is used for one eye and a surfaced lens for the other eye.

Hiding Package Prices

Packages are priced as a normal order and then a discount is applied to take the price to the needed total price for the package. This works well but the Labman system used to not print the individual lines prices on a package. Some labs wish to continue with this so a new option has been added into

 Settings / Pricing / Hide Package Prices.

If  this is set then ALL the prices on the lines that make up the order are hidden - this will include any extras added to the order eg Prism.

Package - Similar lenses to have the same price

It can be frustrating to have to set the price individually for different transitions colours in the package and also if the lens has different codes for different corridor lengths.

In the lens package, you can now set a lens id - it can be whatever you want it to be, a number or a short text.  When you set an existing lens to a lens id then it will reset the prices of that lens to be the same as the other lenses with that id.  When you change the price of the lens then all the other lenses with the same id will also be changed.

Supplier Stock Discounts

Annapurna has by default a standard discount for the major suppliers eg Essilor is set to discount group 51, Seiko to discount group 52.  

If you wish to have a separate discount for stock and rx lenses then there is now a quick way to enable this.

Firstly the stock discount will be the current discount + 100, so for Essilor will be 151. Create this in the discount matrix module.

Now in the prces by design when the Apply Defaults link is clicked then the description is checked. If the description has " STOCK" or "(ST)" in it then the stock discount is applied to the price record otherwise the rx discount is applied.

Update 14th November.
The addition of 100 to the discount can be specified in the Settings  / Discount section. If this behaviour is not wanted then the addition can be set to 0. If the addition means that it will fall into a discount id currently in use then a different addition can be set.

Packages - Link to Documentation

Here is some documentation on setting up packages.

Setting up frame packages

New Production Section - Lens Returned

A new production section has been added Lens Returned to capture those cases where the Lens is returned to the supplier. The Lens supplier may require the lenses to be returned so electronic ordering is not appropriate.

from V 2.37

Prices by Design - filter

There is a filter at the top of the prices by design. For example, if Trans is entered in this and then the pricelist is clicked then the prices by design grid will only show lenses that has Trans in the lens description.

Coating Orders - ordering lenses from coating plant that do not have a coating

It may seem odd but there are genuine times when it is convenient to send an order to the coating plant when there is not a coating added to the order.   An example would be when for commercial reasons, a lens code has been created for the combined lens and coating*.

Normally, any order without a coating would give a warning to the customer but in order to accommodate this, a tick box has been added at the top of the ordering screen. It is ticked by default but if it is not ticked then the check for the coating being present is bypassed.




* Annapurna does allow you to create a combined price for the lens and coating but the lab may have other reasons such as reporting requirements for having a combined code.

CSV files - sharing between different software.

If you pass CSV files between different software then you may discover that the separator may change from comma to semi-colon or something else depending on how the software is set up.  Annapurna does contain a little utility to restore this.

If you log in as Admin user then on the data panel there is a link to convert CSV files to local format. Click on this and it will sort it out for you.

Copy a Pricelist - can now apply a percentage change.

This update is useful for creating a cost pricelist from a manufacturer's price list. 

In the prices by design screen, there is an option to copy the prices for a design - Copy to new pricelist.

When this is selected then there is a new dialogue box.

When OK is pressed then prices are copied from the displayed pricelist (source) to the entered pricelist (target).

Method:
Keep current prices  - if there are prices already in the target pricelist then these are kept.
Overwrite current prices - for any prices that are in the source and target then the target is overwritten, any prices that are in the target are retained.
Delete current prices then add - this will clear out the target price list for this design and then copy the prices from the source.

Action:
by Fixed value: Apply a fixed change. This is useful when adding a glazing charge into the pricelist
by Percentage: Applies a percentage. Note that it does not do any rounding to nearest 10p etc.  A minus percentage will reduce the price.

Pricing of Glazed Orders with External Manufacturer's catalogues.

This applies to the labs that use a separate glazed pricelist and when this price is used then a charge for plastic glazing is not made as it is included in the glazed price.

Annapurna can load in the prices as part of the catalogue import from Essilor, Hoya, Seiko etc.  These are loaded into the uncut price list.

Annapurna tries to price the work under the glazing price list first of all and when it cannot find a price, it drops back to using the uncut price list which is does do successfully.  However, we noted in the first paragraph that a charge for plastic glazing is not made so the result is that the glazing charge needs to be added manually. Therefore there has been a software update (2.36) which will detect when a price from the list of uncut pricelists has been used and in these cases a glazing charge is now added.

Annapurna Backup - who and what.

Only Admin users get the opportunity to make a back up. A admin user is one who has visibility to the configuration panel where users are updated.  

In the back up, there is a question of "Full back up?". This is by default ticked on Fridays.  A full back will back up all the orders in the database otherwise only the orders entered in the last 60 days are backed up(from 2.35).

The backup is to save the data and does not save programs and should be run alongside full server backups to ensure safety.

The following data is saved.

In Masterdata folder
   *.csv
   *.ini

In Layout_files folder
  all

In Lang_files folder
  all

In data folder
  Packages
  Quickpick list

In Drafts folder
  Draft files

In Invoices folder
  *.bgr

In traces folder
  zipped up into traces.zip

In glazing folder
  zipped up into glazing.zip

In purchasing (Orinoco) folder
  the purchasing files waiting to be sent

References are unique

Annapurna will not allow references to be duplicated and this is built into the database design so it cannot be circumvented.

We also know that some customers reuse references or job trays and it becomes a pain to have that rejected because the reference has already been used so Annapurna tries to be helpful.

For example customer sends a job with reference Stock.  That will be accepted on the first time. On the second time, it will be rejected as "already been entered".  At this point, Annapurna does something clever. If the previous order for Stock has been completed then it will automatically modify the reference to Stock-ddmm where ddmm is the day and month and continue.  If the job is tried to be entered again under the reference Stock then the automatic modification will happen again but this time it will be rejected because Stock-ddmm is now in the database.  Note that for this to happen, the previous job has to be completed so if the original job with reference of Stock has NOT been completed then the automatic modification will not take place.

We are currently making an update for the lab to revert back to each reference to be unique ie to turn off the above behaviour. This will be in Settings / Job Entry / Checks.

Finished lenses inventory

The program has been extended in this area to incorporate features that have been added into Kalahari for semi-finished reordering such as reordering the quantity used since the last order.

New Installer - Link to latest version.

It was holiday time but now back at work.

Due to incompatability across our different software, we have had to update the installer as the previous version now no longer works.

http://www.hawkstonedesign.co.uk/downloads/slzinstaller.exe


Annapurna has also been updated to have a link to the installer program from the data menu.

Heights from bottom rim or HCL and Maximum Frame Width

When a new order is entered then the default value for the height direction depends on the value of the height entered.  If it is greater than 10 then a value from bottom rim is set as the default and if not then a HCL measurement is set as the default - which direction depends if a bifocal lens has been chosen.

There is a now an entry in settings (Job Entry / Check / Bifocal Change Point) where the default value of 10 can be altered so if the convention is that measurements are always from bottom rim then this can be catered for by making the appropriate setting.

There is also a similar setting for specifying the maximum frame width - default is 70.

Rejects and Machines

There is an update that allows a machine to be linked to a department. 

You need to be logged in as Admin user and go into the module to book a reject.

There is a machine icon next to the department.

 Select a department and then click this and the list of machines is shown. 

Tick those that you want to link to the department.

If you want to have a list of departments and reasons in Excel then click on the spreadsheet icon next to the reasons list and this will create a CSV file for review.

Kalahari - inventory

There are some notes on getting started with Inventory here.

Introduction to Kalahari Inventory

Start up Action and Essibox connection

Start up Action.

It is possible to get Annapurna to run a command file whenever it is started. This can be useful to make network connections to Essibox or similar. This will be used for making an Essibox connection.

Connecting Essibox into Annapurna

We need to be able to access Essibox over the network.  

One way is when Annapurna is started to make a connection.

This is achieved by making a batch file called Annapurnabatch.bat 

with the following instruction.

net use \\essibox_server /USER:essibox ""

Do check that the essibox server PC is called essibox_server and if it is not

then change as appropriate.

In the settings / folders

If you want to trace in Essibox and then bring the traces into Annapurna:

Put the traces as \\essibox_server\PMS_OUT

In order for Essibox to get the results from Annapurna

Put VCAGlazer / Folder for glazing files as \\essibox_server\PMS_IN

Amendment - 25.09.13

An alternative batch file which maps both in an out folders and stops if there is a problem.

echo off
set ESSIBOXSERVER=ESSIBOX_SERVER1
set ESSIBOXPASSWORD=""
set ESSIBOXUSER=essibox
echo "Connect to Essibox"
net use y: /d

net use  y: \\%ESSIBOXSERVER%\PMS_IN %ESSIBOXPASSWORD% /USER:%ESSIBOXUSER% 
if errorlevel 1 pause

net use r: /d

net use  r: \\%ESSIBOXSERVER%\PMS_OUT %ESSIBOXPASSWORD% /USER:%ESSIBOXUSER% 
if errorlevel 1 pause

Different prices for Glazing and other extras on External lenses

Please see Glazing Prefix Explanation

Large Searches in Browser

It is often frustrating to make a search which then takes a long time so a couple of changes have been applied.

If a date range has not been specified then a default date range is applied for the last few weeks - the date range can be amended subsequently to expand the search if needed.

If a large search over 5000 records has been detected then a message is shown to indicate that a large search is underway. If you wish to proceed then the estimated date calculation is turned off as this also shows the response time.

Different target times for lenses

Annapurna calculates a target date for an prescription order based on the number of working days that a lens will take and then adding on standard timings for the treatments and other processing.  This is all set in the "Targets" section of the Production menu panel.

Currently the software applies general rules according to whether it is stock or surfaced or buy-in. Sometimes, you may wish to apply different rules.

This update allows the standard value to be overwritten by a value specific for the lens by filling in the box on the lenses data screen. Here, you enter the number of working days for example 2.5 means two and a half working days.  If the field is set to blank then the standard values are used when making the calculation.

The value can be also be added as an additional column in the CSV file if so wished.

Sending Rx Orders - checking the details

In order to make checking of the order easier before the order has been sent then the following updates have been made.

Lens description has been moved - long descriptions were running into each other and typically corridor lengths are the last item and were being lost.

PD, Heights and frame type are shown along the bottom.

Returns Report - Analysis by Order Type

An additional analysis has been added into the Returns report.
This is an analysis by Order type so it is possible so assess the percentage of returns by Remote Edge etc.

New tracking sections

The tracking sections have been extended:

Customer Services, Out of Stock lenses and Out of Stock frame have been added.

When a job is amended, it is now recorded as going into Customer Services so that Entered is reserved for when jobs are actually first entered.

Clearing Traces after Job has been completed

When traces are assigned to tray there is a risk that the previous trace for the tray can be assigned by mistake to a new job. This is because the trace is retained under the tray number until a new trace is linked to that tray. If the trace has not been made then job entry will pick up the existing (erroneous) trace linked to the tray.

It is now possible to make a setting so that the trace file is deleted when the job is completed.

Settings has been updated - Complete / Remove Traces.

If this is ticked then the trace file is deleted at the time of the completion of the order.

Postage at Job Entry

Up to now Annapurna has calculated postage at the despatch point.

Existing Labman users were used to postage being calculated per job at order entry. So a new postage type has been added into Annapurna - postage at entry.  This calculates a postage according to customer postage rules at job entry so in practice this moves the postage calculation from job despatch to job entry.

This is particularly useful where payment is taken in advance.

External Trace files

For some time, we have included a Silhouette library within the Solenzara program but we have not enabled this within Annapurna.

This oversight has now been corrected.

On the Kathmandu screen (catalogue importer) there is now an option to import trace library. 
We are looking to expand the list of manufacturers on this list so any suggestions how this can be done or if there are known links to other catalogues then we will be pleased to follow this up.

Please note the trace library is supplied in good faith but we are not responsible for the accuracy of the contents.

Annapurna - Browsing Jobs - different colours for the expected date

In order to make it easier to understand how the source of the estimated despatch date that is shown then a colour coding has been adopted.

Cancelled Jobs - Ruby
Jobs that have exceeded the target - Plum
Jobs that are on Target - Pale Blue
Completed - Slate
Have a Wanted date today or in the future - Lime

Kalahari - Message for the lens.

It can often be that there is a wish to put a message on the job ticket for a particular lens eg  check the sag or special blocking for round segs. This can now be done by a  new feature which allows a message to be printed for a lens on the job ticket. In the lens updating screen there is now a field to enter up to a 50 character message and in the layout (you may need to choose the option to get the latest) designer then you can set the position of the message for the right and left lenses.

Own coatings on branded lenses.

This is just a reminder of an existing feature since we sometimes get asked on how this is done.

If you have external catalogues from Essilor, Hoya etc and wish to add your own coatings onto these lenses then this is done by going into Annapurna / Settings / Defaults.

There are 4 options for AR coat, Hard Coat, Tint, UV.

You put into each one the default family for each type eg MAR for AR, HC for Hardcoat, TINT for tint, UV for UV.

In the treatment CSV file, you need to make sure the own treatments are also connected to the default family.

You should also change any entry in the lenses CSV file that have 1 (meaning default) in the AR, Hard, Tint and UV family to the default as otherwise these lenses will now no longer pick up the default family as the default family has now changed.

Now deploy and restart.  The branded lenses should now have the default treatments available also and the generic lenses should still have the default treatments also.

Overdue Date and Estimated Despatch Date - more.

Overdue Date and Estimated Despatch Date

When looking at the Annapurna system there are several ways in which a date for an order can be seem.

This should help clarify what can be seem within the system by using different functions. When an order is placed onto the system it is given an entry date. Based on the entry date a target date is calculated to ascertain how long an order should take to be processed. This uses the process timings placed in the 'Targets' section of the 'Settings' menu.

Once an order reaches or surpasses the target date it will be deemed as over due. The information on overdue or delayed orders can be seen in the 'Overdue Job Enquiry' section of 'Status Viewer'. It is possible to run the report for individual customers as well as all orders currently outstanding. This shows information relating to the order. It will include When the order should have left, when it is due to leave and how many days the orders have taken. It will also detail current location of the order and any rejections the order has had.

When viewing an order within 'Browser Orders' an estimated despatch date can be displayed by populating the 'Show Est' box. This date is based on how many processes the order has remaining and is calculated when the order is looked up in the browser menu. (This figure is not stored within any tables).If you have searched for these items prior to populating the 'Show Est' box please click on the search box again. This date will change as the order progresses through system, if the order becomes delayed, has a reject or moves quicker than anticipated. The 'Est' helps when giving the customer information on how long an order will take to arrive and allows for a quicker response when speaking to the customer. Removes the need to guestimate how long an order will take. This is not a substitute for looking at the detail of the orders. This holds more information about what has been happening with the order than simply looking the list on the screen.

Report 9: Audit WIP

Sometimes there is a need to have a list of all the jobs in and out on a particular day with the value.  This report does this. A date is entered and all the WIP jobs are shown along with the jobs entered on the day.  The report shows for each job whether it is sent or remains in WIP. This means that the report also shows the change in the WIP as well as In  / Out totals.

Report 7: Performance Report

A new report was recently added to show performance.

The performance is measured in two ways, against target and in elapsed days. A date range is provided and the report shows the performance by individual customer and an overall total. By comparing date ranges, it is possible to get an average which then can be used to benchmark individual days.

The target date is calculated at order entry and is based on the values entered in the main menu > Setting Panel.

Returns Report

This has been extended to allow returns by customer to be analysed.

Report 8 - Sales by Order Type / Product Category

There is a new report on the reports menu which for an entered date will show a grid showing the sales value for each combination of Order Type (Uncut, Glazed Send in, Glazed Supply Frame, Cut Edge Fit, Remote Edge, Wholesale) and Product Category (Lens, Treatments, Extra, Glazing, Frame, Others). It will also show the total for each Order type and each Product Category.

Kalahari and two pencils

When using Kalahari (our lens calculation program which can be embedded within Annapurna) then there is the facility to click on the pencil to modify the semi-finished database as a calculation is being made. However, this had some limitations so this feature has been extended.

When the pencil is clicked then you can now choose to save for this job only ie the database is not modified.

And for the circumstances where the right and left differ eg different sags are measured then there is now a pencil for the right eye and a pencil for the left eye which only updates the left eye record.

The overall effect means that you can make a calculation for a semi-finished that is not in the database by entering the parameters as job calculation.

Discontinued Lenses

There is now a new tick box in the lenses data screen  D/C.

If this is ticked then the lens is marked as discontinued and new orders cannot be placed for this lens but it remains valid for showing in reports.  Setting this tick box will automatically unset the other tick boxes for modules where the lens can be used and unsetting it will automatically set the tick boxes for the other modules.

For those who like to update the data directly in the Excel(CSV) file then this is represented by an entry of D in the column.

Highlighting a reject on a job

A recent update. 
In the comments, if a job has a reject then it is shown in red in order to show quickly the reason why the job is delayed.

Showing Postage as a separate item on Delivery Notes

Annapurna will include postage as just another line in  the pricing for the order.  However, some labs like to show postage separately.  In order to do this there is a setting to be made and some new tags for the layout.

Setting.
Despatch / Print Delivery Note / Setting / Delivery / Show Delivery charge on its own

Layout tags
Click on get latest and then you can access
Totalnettlesspost  -  Total nett sales without postage value
Totalpost  -  Postage value
along with Totalnett which is the total nett sales value.

Additional Glazing Types

Additional Glazing Types.

Frames are being sold which have different glazing types with different costs. Now, we do not want to go down the route having to create a multitude of different glazing types and then to communicate those glazing types to machinery and to suppliers.

The solution is therefore to associate additional glazing types and link it to one of the standard glazing types.

A glazing charge is created as usual but also in the settings editor  under Glazing there are now settings for entering codes linked to each of the standard frame types. Multiple codes are entered with a pipe | separator.

These additional glazing types are included in the list of glazing types shown in  the Annapurna add order screen but any specific edge substance is taken from the connected standard edge and the standard edge type is passed to the glazing machines and to the suppliers.

Selecting a lens from the picker - using the lens code

In the lenspicker there is a filter box at the top and in here you can put part of the code or description eg Comfort and only lenses matching this will be shown.

If you do happen to know the code then in the filter at the top then you can force the software to exactly match this code by entering / followed by the lens code.

eg  /PR24  

You still need to click on the lens description shown to confirm this is the intended lens.

Entering Tray numbers - force to be a certain number of characters.

In the settings editor, you can now specify a minimum length and a maximum length for the tray number. So if the trays are permanently marked in the range 1000 to 3000 then you can set the minimum and maximum length to 4. This will assist in stopping the wrong tray number being entered within Order Entry.

Remote Edging Charging.

Remote edging charges.

It is possible to apply a different remote edging charge for different frame types. If the remote charge is RE then Annapurna will look for a charge for RE+glazing charge type code eg RENS or RSRL.

If the RENS or RSRL does not exist then it will drop back to the standard RE charge.

Backups

As the number of orders in Annapurna have increased (we have some customers with nearly two years of orders) then the back up time has lengthened.

In order to reduce this, we have introduced the concept of a full and partial backup. You will notice the backup question has now changed. The full backup runs as now and is the default on Fridays.  The partial back up only differs with regards to orders ie it backs up everything as now except for the orders. Only the orders entered in the past 90 days are backed up in the partial backup.

Please note the Annapurna back up are NOT a substitute for arrange a proper backup on the server.  This is the belt in "belt and braces", you should still organise the braces.

With the advent of cloud solutions such as dropbox, it is also a good idea to point the Annapurna backup at a dropbox (or equivalent) folder and then this will give security in the knowledge that this is backed. 

We are currently looking at integrating a cloud backup which it is hoped to release shortly.

Reject Reasons and Departments

Annapurna V2.19 and Kalahari 

This list of available reasons and departments for rejects and returns has been extended.

The reporting of rejects has also been improved.

Charging for High Cyl and Outside Range Power.

There are two methods for calculation of the extra charge. In both methods, extra charges are created in the form of CYLxx where xx is the power.

Absolute Method.
This compares the value of the cylinder power with the maximum cyl and then applies the charge. So if the maximum cyl is 6.00 and the cylinder ordered is 7.00 then in the following list the CYL08 charge will apply.

CYL06    £xx.xx   charge for cyls up to 6D
CYL08    £xx.xx   charge for cyls up to 8D
CYL10    £xx.xx   charge for cyls up to 10D
CYL99    £xx.xx   charge for excessive cyl - always good to have this as the default.


Excess Method.
This will then charge the excess of the order cylinder over the maximum cyl.  So if the maximum cyl is 6.00 and the cylinder ordered is 8.25 then the excess is 2.25 and then in the following list the CYL03 charge will apply.

CYL03    £xx.xx   charge for extra cyls up to 3D
CYL06    £xx.xx   charge for extra cyls up to 6D
CYL09    £xx.xx   charge for extra cyls up to 9D
CYL99    £xx.xx   charge for excessive cyl - always good to have this as the default.

The Absolute method is the default method. In order to switch to the Excess method then there is a setting "Pricing / High Cyl charge taken from excess power" which needs to be set.

The above also applies to the Outside range charge.

Frame Packages vs Complete Pricing

There are two distinct but similar methods for introducing special pricing for buying a glazed frame and lenses together.

Frame Package.
In this a total price is set for the combination of the lenses and the frame. A discount is added as a line to show the reduction from the regular price to the package price, ie the benefit of buying as a package.  The package name is used as the description of the line item on the pricing.

Complete Pricing.
This is to encourage lens sales with the frame so when the frame is sold with lenses then the customer record is checked to see if there is a complete price list set. If there is then the lenses are then sold at the prices in the complete list. If there are not prices for the lens within the complete pricelist then the regular lens pricelist for the glazed lenses are applied. It is also possible to set different supplements for rimless and supra glazing within the complete pricelist.

Annapurna can support both but the Frame Package takes precedence over Complete Pricing.

Different Frame List Price for Packages

It can be that there is a need to show a different list frame price for a package. Package price works by calculating the price according to the customer rules for each lens and frame and showing this. A credit is then applied to bring the total price back down to the package price.  That is all good but a customer could be set with a a special frame price for stocking the empty frame and this is not necessarily the correct price to be used for supply of the frame as part of a glazed package. 

To achieve this then it is now possible to set a pricelist to be used for the frame element of the package. This is in the Settings / Settings / Pricing / Defaults / Package.

If the frame has a price in the nominated package pricelist then this is used but only in the package.

SF6

Annapurna (and Solenzara) can create catalogue in SF6 format. There are restrictions in the catalogue definition which do not in our opinion make it a useful catalogue for flexibility in going forward but as other systems have adopted it then there can be a need to produce files in this format.

In Annapurna, please go to Data, Deploy to the web and from there you can see a tab called SF6.

Click on Make SF6, go to configure tab and enter

Code  = enter a 3 character code for the Lab.

Name = enter name of the Lab.

You can leave the rest as is.

You can then click on Make Catalogue.

Please see SF6 conversion.pdf on how information is copied over.

VCADevice Ltyp & Ltype

In the OMA/VCA/DCS Standard, Ltyp was depracated some time ago and Ltype is now used.  For machines (Mr. Orange) which no longer support Ltyp then we have added in a Ltyp to Ltype convertor. It is essentially the same data but laid out in a fixed format.

This is in VCADevice 1.33

Surface Both lenses and Surface plus powered lenses where a shape was provided.

There are two new settings in the settings editor.

Plus Powers with Standard Shapes: This is used to indicate that the lab want to operate so that if a standard shape or a drawing is selected for a plus power then this can be set to signify that the user wants an optimised lens.  You can still tick the finished checkbox to force the lens to be taken from finished.

Surface Both is one lens is surfaced.  This is used to indicate that the lab will operate by surfacing both lenses, this is generally to ensure coating, transitions colour matching and base curves agree.

Both of these are not applicable if the customer record indicates that the customer prefers price over cosmetic.

There is also a refinement to the prefer 65mm setting so that it takes into account any potential saving from using a 55mm or 60mm finished lens. The tendency will be that low plus powers will go to a 65mm but that higher powers will go to a lower diameter.

Connecting with Multiple Glazing systems.

It is becoming common to use Annapurna in labs who are running Nidek, Lab control, Essibox and so Annapurna has to feed files into all of these programs. In order to do this, a second output folder for the glazing files has been added.

View Job - Status Updating

View Job allowed the status of an order to be updated.  Since then the tracking module has been added (on production panel) so this has made this outdated. Accordingly, it has been modified to show a list of potential tracking sections in the same manner as the tracking module.

Target Dates and Wanted Dates

Sometime it happens that unrealistic wanted dates are asked for.  Let's suppose the target for the job is 3 days.  If a wanted date of 2 days is asked for then this is probably possible but the order entry operator possibly should know this in order to set up the process to speed up production on this job. If a wanted date of 4 days is asked for then there is not a need for any special action. 

In our example above, if a wanted date of 1 day is asked for then it is unlikely that this is possible so order entry should not allow this (there is nothing to stop the wanted date being typed into special instructions).

Annapurna 2.17 has updates to handle this. There are the following scenarios.

Wanted date greater than or equal to the target date - No action.

Wanted date less than the target date - An minimum lab date is calculated which is the realistic date that the lab could achieve by making the job urgent. The following conversion is applied
Target Days Minimum Days
     0                 0
     1                 0
     2                 1
     3                 2
     4                 2
     5                 3
     6                 4
     7                 4
     8                 5
     9                 6
   10                 6

If the wanted date is greater or equal to the minimum date then the job is accepted with a warning to the operator.
If the wanted date is less than the minimum date then the job is not accepted.  There is also another fudge in that the browser will still allow wanted dates to be added without this test.

Order Entry - Edge Thickness

Just a small update but something added to prevent edge thicknesses being entered that are less than the designated edge thickness less 0.3 for the frame type.

So if it is a supra(groove) frame and the designated edge thickness is 2.0 mm then a user requested edge thickness cannot be below 1.7.

There is an exception and the requested edge thickness cannot be below the designated edge thickness for metal frames.

Rejects - Recording Machine used

The reject program has been updated so that a machine can be recorded against the reject. You can add your own list of machine names and these are reported on in the reject report so that patterns can be identified.

MEI

A MEI edger (with the TBA) has been successfully connected into the VCAGlazer program. As well as the regular communication of shape and powers, a table has been added to allow engraving designs to be picked up and recognised and for powers to be verified. The MEI is impressive and when running in this mode then it allows for fast throughput.

Processing EDI orders in Annapurna

Due to the increasing number of EDI orders, it is now common for two people to process these. In order to stop operators from picking up the same order, the list can now be filtered by account number so operator A can focus on certain accounts and operator B on others.  However, it is still possible to see all the orders.

Do remember that EDI orders that do not need to be assigned to a tray can be processed automatically without any intervention. This is done by clicking on the pencil in the top right corner and selecting the necessary action (Process or Print).

Solenzara and Macros

Annapurna supports via the Kathmandu import, different macro files for different suppliers. 
If Solenzara is used for web ordering into Annapurna then there is a problem as Solenzara only supports one macro.  

So there is an update to Solenzara to support multiple macros and to the catalogue editor to allow the different macro files to be uploaded from Annapurna to the web.

Using the Keyboard in Order Entry

A new feature has just been added so that pressing <CTRL> key and <ENTER> key together will act as the Place Order button.  Means less use of the mouse for those who prefer to discard the mouse in order entry.  <ENTER> key still moves to the next question.

Library Shapes with VCADevice

VCADevice has had some improvements to allow shapes to be better managed.

There are now two shape sources,  jobs or traces (for library traces) and shapes in either source can be edited and there is also a print function if a label for the job / trace is required.  Drill data can now be added manually and single eye traces can be copied from Left to Right or vice versa. 

Annapurna frames can be linked to a trace shape.

MEI edger with TBA has now been successfully connected with VCADevice program.

Charging for Freeform

There is a subtle change in 2.13

Previously there is a fixed code ICODE which is applied to all freeform products by default. You can set this in the lens pricing for a design.  When a design is selected then the "design logo" at the top can be pressed to indicate the appropriate freeform charge for that design.

In 2.13, it is now possible to use the settings editor to amend the default freeform product and it can be set to nothing so the charge is not applied automatically.

If ICODE or any other code is to be charged for certain designs then firstly the charge needs to be set up as an Extra - Lens charge in the commercial section and then it is applied to the design as described in the first paragraph.

Optifog

There has been some uncertainty over how to get pricing for Optifog. 

This is how the software has been designed.

We need to associate Optifog with Crizal UV (E276) with the Crizal Forte UV (E272) 

and Optifog Sun UV (E247) with Crizal Sun UV (E138)

This is done in Commercial / Treatments and select the Optifog - E276 - and in the box Enhancement to treatment code enter E272. Repeat for the Sun.

Now we need to put prices against the optifog. So select Optifog with Crizal UV and the appropriate price list and type in prices as 4.45 NETT

for the Optifog Sun type in prices as 5.85 NETT

When an order is placed, select the coating as Optifog and software will then "add in" the Forte or Sun as required and price accordingly.

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Introduction

This is to record tips and new features in Annapurna.