QUOTES - FAQS AND TUTORIALS
How to do a quote with a customer supplied fabric
QUOTES AND JOBS Curtain Quote
If the fabric is not supplied by one of your fabric suppliers you need to go into MASTERFILES to create a new supplier called CUSTOMER FABRIC and then enter the fabric details. You can enter all customer supplied fabrics here in the future. See "How to enter a fabric" FAQ if you are not sure on how to do this"
In the QUOTES SCREEN select your fabric supplier and fabric and then double click on the CSF (customer supplied fabric) button and DBs will assume that the cost of the fabric is zero. Double click on the CSF button again to reverse.
The system will still calculate how much fabric is required and the details will be included on the workroom order.
How to create a check measure order for my installer
QUOTES AND PURCHASE ORDERS
1. In the QUOTE SCREEN click on the line number which displays the location and treatment you want the check measure for.
2. Click on the CHECK MEASURE button
3. The CHECK MEASURE screen will open. In the CHECK MEASURE STATUS field Select "REQUIRED" from the drop-down list.
You can tick SINGLE to apply check measure to only the one treatment or ALL TREATMENTS
4. Click on the APPROVE button
The Approve Screen has now opened.
1. Click on the APPROVE button for the location and the RAISE A WORK ORDER box will appear. You can unapprove later if you wish
2. Click on the YES button to raise the check measure order
Go to the main menu and click on the PURCHASE ORDER button
The check measure raised order will be in the Outstanding Purchase Order Screen with *Check Measure* after the Installer
How to quote on curtain tie backs?
QUOTES AND ADDITIONAL ITEMS
Made to measure tie backs can be done three different ways. DBs will not calculate required fabric meterage.
For methods one and two in Masterfiles select ADDITIONAL ITEM and then the workroom.
Enter the description of tie back and cost.
Method One - Curtains with tie backs:
Quote on a curtain as usual and click on the ADDITIONAL ITEMS button and select the supplier and the tie back you want to quote on. Select ADDITIONAL FABRIC and choose a fabric supplier and select fabric for the tie back and piping and enter meterage required. Comments can be added for the manufacturer or fabric supplier. Trim such as cord can also be selected from Additional Items.
Method Two - Sundry Items Sale:
If you are quoting on tiebacks separately or after a curtain has been made. Select SUNDRY ITEMS as your treatment. Select your supplier. Select AI (Additional Items) from the drop-down list. Select the Tie Back from the list.
Select ADDITIONAL FABRIC and choose a fabric supplier and select fabric for the tie back and piping and enter meterage required. You cannot order trim such as cord with this method. Comments can be added for the manufacturer.
Method Three - Accessories:
If you are quoting on tiebacks separately you can also use the Accessories treatment. In Masterfiles create the Tie Back treatment in Accessories. Enter cost in MANUFACTURING COSTS in Masterfiles. When quoting select the style of tie back. Select the fabric from fabric box and enter meterage required. Select supplier from Manufacturing box and fill in the details. Trim can be selected from Additional Items.
MASTERFILES - FAQS AND TUTORIALS
How to increase/decrease fabric costs by supplier in bulk
MASTERFILES Fabric Costs
Click on MASTERFILES on the main menu
Click on FABRIC COSTS
Select fabric supplier from drop down that you want to perform the update for
Click on the BULK UPDATE button and the update screen will open
Enter the percentage you want to alter the cut length costs by. If you want to apply your fabric discount enter a negative percentage and click OK
Your cut length cost will now be altered for all fabrics for the supplier you have nominated
How to change the markup for a fabric supplier and then update fabrics with new markup
MASTERFILES Fabric Suppliers
Go into MASTERFILES and click on FABRIC SUPPLIERS
Select the supplier from the drop-down list and click OK
In the Supplier Maintenance screen enter the new markup percentage
Now click on CLOSE and go back to the MASTERFILES menu and click on FABRIC COSTS
Select your supplier from the drop down menu
Click on the MARKUP button at the bottom of the screen and a warning box will pop up alerting you that you will be overwriting the current markup
Click on YES in warning box and now all the supplier fabrics will be updated with the new markup
How to include additional items on a manufacturing purchase order
MASTERFILES Manufacturers
In MASTERFILES click on MANUFACTURERS
Associate the Additional Item suppliers with the manufacturer. (They will usually be the same supplier).
NOTE: The Additional Items supplier must have already been set up.
In the QUOTING SCREEN select your treatments style, manufacturer and enter details.
Click on the CALC button
Click on the ADDITIONAL ITEMS button and the Additional Items screen will pop up
Choose your Additional Items supplier and item
Make sure the DO NOT RAISE SEPARATE PO box is ticked
NOTE: The Additional Item supplier must have been associated to the Manufacturer before the quote was created.
How to import Blind prices from Excel spreadsheets
MASTERFILES
The spreadsheets must be prepared. See FAQ "How to set up Blind data to enter manually or import directly into DBs"
On the main menu click on MASTERFILES and then IMPORT EXCEL BUTTON
The IMPORT MANUFACTURER COSTS FROM SPREADSHEETS screen will appear.
In the FOLDER PATH field click on the folder and locate the spreadsheet you want to import
The FILENAME will be filled automatically
In the SPREADSHEET SIZE field select STANDARD if the sheet has up to 64 columns or LARGE if the sheet has up to 90 columns.
Select the MANUFACTURER the prices belong to
Select the TREATMENT i.e Roller, roman, venetian etc
Check the CREATE NEW TREATMENT STYLE box if you want DBs to create the treatment style name during the import or
Select an existing treatment style if you created it previously in MASTERFILES or if you are re-importing new prices
Select the size dimension of your grid - centimetres, millimetres or metres.
Click the OK button and your blind prices will begin importing.
If you receive an error message go back and check your spreadsheet. There must be no formatting or formulas.
How to price Shutters by square metre
MASTERFILES Manufacturers
In Masterfile Maintenance click on MANUFACTURERS
Select your Manufacturer and in Supplier Maintenance Screen set the pricing method for shutters to
"Square Metre"
In Masterfile Maintenance click on MANUFAC COSTS and select your supplier and shutter treatment
Choose your treatment from the drop-down box and enter the cost per metre.
When DBs calculates the cost of the shutter it will convert the shutter dimension to square metres and
multiply the cost by the square metre and then add the markup.
GENERAL - FAQS AND TUTORIALS
Trouble Shooting - 'Unable to locate data - check with DBs' ERROR
Sometimes when you open up DBs you may get the following messages
Microsoft Office Access cannot find database file C:\**** or
This happens occasionally and just means that the mapping link to DBs is not working.
You will need to re-map to the directory DBs has been installed in.
Click on Microsoft Explorer (right click on the green START button in the left-hand bottom corner of your screen and select EXPLORE)
Your directories will be displayed. Click on the directory where DBs has been installed - generally Local Disk (C:)
Close out of Explorer and open up DBs. You should now have access to DBs
How to set up Blind data to enter manually or import directly into DBs
Decide which treatment styles you want to enter from your current price lists into your system. We recommend that you only enter those treatment styles that you will be quoting on. This is a good way of managing your data maintenance as there is no point in cluttering the system with treatments you don’t quote on. For example, if you only sell Pleated blinds and Venetians from Luxaflex do not enter the whole list.
You can enter the blind prices manually or if you have them on excel spreadsheets you can import them directly into the system.
- For manual entry select the treatments from each blind supplier i.e. Rollers, Venetians, Romans, Pleateds etc that you will be using and the treatment styles. Most suppliers tend to have unique names for their products. For example, ABC Blind Suppliers sell roller blinds and the treatment styles are Blackbook – Group 1, Blackbook – Group2, Blackbook – Group 3 etc. You will now be clear on which treatments need to be entered. See FAQ on How to enter Blind prices into DBs manually.
- If your prices are available on spreadsheets you will need to:-
See if you have folders set up like C:\DBs\MFRPriceslists\ABC Blind Suppliers\External Awnings. If you don't
Create a folder for each supplier on your C: drive with subfolders in the names of the treatments you buy from them. See example below
You now need to prepare your spreadsheets. Decide on the treatment styles for each supplier. Copy the price grid from your supplier’s price list into a new spreadsheet and then save the file in the appropriate treatment folder.
- One spreadsheet per treatment style.
- The spreadsheet name needs to be the same as the name of the treatment style. E.g Blackbook – Group 1 is the name of the treatment style and the name of the spreadsheet. So if Blackbook – Group 1 is a roller blind it will be saved in the roller blind folder.
- Widths in the row across, drops down in the column on the left and wholesale costs. No GST.
- You cannot have any formulas or formatting.
See sample spreadsheet below
See FAQ on How to import Blind prices into DBs from Excel spreadsheets
How to export customer data to an Excel spreadsheet
MAIN MENU Top Tool Bar
In the main DBs menu click on the smiley face icon on the toolbar in the top left-hand corner.
The customer section will open up.
Click on the Excel button.
An Excel spreadsheet containing customer details will be generated
A box will show the file path where the Excel file is saved.
How to update Dbs to the latest Code
MAIN MENU - Import/Export
Make sure you are connected to the internet.
Click on the IMPORT/EXPORT button on the main menu
Click on LATEST DBs CODE button
The following screen will display. Follow the instructions.
DBs will then download the latest code and a new shortcut will appear on your desktop
Close down DBs and re-open using the new shortcut.
The screen will flash as it re-links.