by scotstrong » Thu May 04, 2006 9:32 am
AllanG:
In order for any DMS system to have all of this info available at month end, SOMEONE has to input it into the system. All packing lists for shipments not yet billed, all returns for which credit has not yet been received, used cores, etc. would all have to be input into the system at some point. The parts manager, in addition to receipting the ordered quantities into the system would also have to enter the shipment info into the system to create a "tracking" for them to match up to the invoices posted by the accounting office. Some dealerships do already enter their returns as a "receivable" and then post the credit as a payment to that receivable account once credit is received.
So the question becomes, is it truly LESS work to make these entries throughout the month to have "instant" reconciliation at month end; or is it basically the same amount of work broken up into many individual entries instead of one manual calculation at month end. Forcing the parts manager to look at uninvoiced packing lists, uncredited returns, etc. MANUALLY at month end often results in mistakes being caught at that point or needed follow-up initiated at that point; as opposed to entering it into the DMS system throughout the month and then forgetting about until possibly a much later date. It is ALWAYS better to find a problem in the month it occurred rather than having to try and find it in several months worth of transactions and paperwork.
If the ability of the DMS system to have this info available at the push of a few buttons at month end requires as many or more man-hours to input as the manual month-end method, then it's value is rather questionable.
Scot Strong