Setting Up Categories

This screen allows you to add, edit, or remove categories in the category file. A category is a group of common inventory items, for example, OF would be a category for oil filters. For a list of suggested categories, see the Categories article.

1. On the Main Menu, select Lubrication Menu.
2. Select Inventory Menu (7).
3. Select Setup Menu (5).
4. Select Set Up Categories (3) to receive the following screen.

5. If you are creating a new record, make sure you are in Add Mode (see screen above). If you are changing information in an existing record, press [F2] to change to Edit Mode.
6. Fill in the following fields:

Category

Enter the 1- to 3-character code of the category. The Category field on the Set Up Inventory Items (1-7-1-2) screen references this field. A category contains a group of related inventory items (for example, all air filters could be AF).

Description

Fill in a brief description of the category, which prints on the Category List. For example, Air Filters, Coupons, or Traffic Flow 4PM – 8PM.

Report Sequence

This field determines whether you want this category to display on certain reports, and in which order. Most of the common categories (AF, OF, OIL, etc.) should have an entry here. The numbers entered here and the numbers entered in the Report Sequence field on the Set Up Inventory Items (1-7-1-2) screen are all part of the same list. They should never be identical.

When adding a category, after you enter the Report Sequence number, a window pops up on the screen (see below) that allows you to select the report(s) where the category will print. Type Y or N next to each report listed to indicate whether you want the category to print on the corresponding report. Each of the reports listed below are explained in detail in your Reports Guide. You can also edit the report description here. If you want to edit the report sequence setups, use the Set Up Statistics Sequences (1-3-4-4) option.

All items that do not have a report sequence number assigned have a report sequence number of zero (0). There is no individual reporting for any of these categories. If you change your report sequence number from zero to a valid report sequence number, individual reporting for that category will begin.

Apply Shop Supply Fee (Y/N)?

Set to Y to charge a shop supply fee based on sales of items in this category. The %SHOP% inventory item in Set Up Inventory Items must be set to the Item Basis of Category.

Special Type

Use this field to track more than just inventory items. The special type indicates how this category will be used in the system (for example, traffic patterns, taxes, coupons, total tickets, etc.). All special type codes should be used only once, unless otherwise noted.

Codes:

• T – Tracks the tickets processed each day.
• A – Tracks the customers who pay by cash.
• H – Tracks the customers who pay by check.
• D – Tracks the customers who pay by credit card (multiples allowed).
• O – Tracks the customers who pay through a charge account.
• G – Tracks the gift certificates.
• C – Tracks the coupons (multiples allowed).
• I – Tracks the discounts which are offered as a percentage to charge (fleet) customers. All other discounts should be handled as coupons.
• W – Tracks the items replaced under warranty.
• R – Tracks the vehicles that have been previously serviced at the center.S – Tracks the ticket sales in dollar amount (multiples allowed).
• F – Tracks the traffic during specified periods (multiples allowed).
• L – Tracks the local fleet customers.
• N – Tracks the national fleet customers.
• Q – Tracks the quick sales.
• X – Tracks the store ticket total.
• Y – Tracks the ticket total by other criteria.
• 1…5 – Tracks the five tax types.

Type

This field is only used for the D special type (credit card) category. You must make sure this entry corresponds to the card type used when setting up charge cards on the Set Up Credit Cards (1-6-2-1) screen. The last 4 characters in the Description field for these categories will contain the type entered here.

From ____ To ____

For the F and S special types, you must fill in information in both the From and To fields.

• For the F (traffic periods) special type, you need to indicate the time period that the category monitors. The hours range from 0 to 24. To track a one hour period, type the hour you want to track in both fields. For example, to track the traffic between 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., type 10 and 10.
• For the S (ticket sales in dollar amounts) special type, you need to type whole dollar amounts. For example, to track the number of tickets totaling between $7.00 and $11.99, you would type 7 and 12.

The next four fields refer to the General Ledger Account Numbers for your store. They should match exactly with the corresponding account numbers in your General Ledger. The account numbers are validated only if Accounting is turned on in the Center Control File. You must specify account numbers for all non-special categories and you cannot specify account numbers for categories with a special type.

Sales

Fill in the income account number to be updated when this category of items produces revenue.

Inventory

Enter the asset account number that represents the value of the on-hand items of this category.

Cost of Goods

Fill in the account number to be used whenever an item is sold. The cost of the item is removed from inventory and added to this account as an expense.

Shrinkage

Adjustments made to this account affect this account and offset the inventory account.

Exclude From Adj Store Ticket

Set to Y to exclude the sales of items within this category from the Adjusted Store Ticket Average calculation. This field is only displayed for non-special categories and special type C categories. (Defaults to N)

7. To save your changes, press [F4].

8. To return to the Setup Menu, press [Esc] [Esc].