Frequently Asked Question

With the release of COUNTERPOINT-Fusion there is now an ability to send Statements, Invoices, Quotations, or Recalled Invoices by either Fax or E-mail. Before this can be done these is some setup required. At the System level, as a minimum, you must setup a return E-mail address on Screen 3 in the Billing System parameters maintenance program. If you want all E-mail replies from customers to go to one central E-mail address that is all that is required. You will also need to perform some set up work on the A/R Customer master records for any customers wishing to receive documents by E-mail or Fax. The following pages outline the steps required to set this up.

Setup at a System Level

The setup procedure is outlined in detail below.

Use Menu Path as follows to add the necessary information to Record 3 of the Billing Parameters file.

9. System Utilities -> 3. System Setup -> 4. Sales Desk -> 2. Parts Billing Parameters -> Screen 3 – User Choices

This will bring up the following screen.

Enter “53” to position the cursor in the Default E-Mail field. Enter the corporate default E-mail address portion to the left of the “@” symbol. (ie info, or sales, or what ever is used by your company.) Hit [Enter] and fill in the address info required on the right of the “@” symbol. (eg jobbername.com etc). When complete hit [F1] to save the record and return to the program menu. Then hit [F2] to exit the program.

If your desire is to have all responding E-mail come to one E-mail address this is all that is required to set up the E-mail at the system level.

If on the other hand you wish to have responding E-mails returned to the person that originated the communication from your store you will need to perform the following step for each counterman.

Using menu path as outlined below open the Ccounterperson Maintenance Program.

4. Sales Desk -> 7. Administration -> 1. Data Maintenance -> 1. Counterperson -> 2 Change Counterman ( or 1 Add counterman as appropriate)

The only field that will need attention is field “3 E-Mail Account” within which you enter the persons name as used in their E-mail address. (ie e-mail address msnerd@jobbername.com means entry of “msnerd” only in field 3) When completed hit [F1] to accept the record. Repeat for all desired counter staff who will be sending documents electronically.

This completes the system level set up required to use EDI document transmission. The following pages outline set up requirements on the A/R Customer master records.

Customer Setup

Having completed the machine level setup to turn on the transmission of documents by Fax or E-mail we now turn out attention to setting up the customers for whom you wish to turn on EDI document transmission.

Use the following Menu Path to open the A/R Customer Master Maintenance program.

1 Accounts Receivable… -> 1 Data Maintenance… -> 1. Customers -> 2 Change Existing Customer.

For purposes of illistration we are showing the Cash sale account. It is recommended that you set up this ability for the cash sale account in order to provide the ability to send cash Customers quotations via E-mail or Fax.

Entering the cash sale account number brings up the following screen.

At the bottom of the screen select “E” for EDI which brings up the screen displayed on the following page.

Select “A” to add E-mail address or Fax number info which brings up the following screen.

Notice that you need to specify what document you wish to set up E-mail address’s for. This includes:

• S=statement
• O=order
• I=invoice
• Q=quotation
• H=invoice reprint
• R=service reminder (for use with repair shop module)
• A=automatic electronic invoice
• M=automatic month-end invoice
• C=core report

You would define a document type, whether it is (F)ax or (E)mail, and then the destination. For any document other than A (automatic electronic invoice), the email(s) will show as options when manually emailing from the invoice screen.

For A (automatic electronic invoice) entries, the invoice will be automatically emailed when the transaction is accepted.

For the Cash sale account we suggest you set address’s for Invoices and Quotations. Since you do not know the customers E-mail use your company address as doing so will provide the ability to manually enter the customers address at time of sale by selecting 99 when the E-mail address list is presented. When completed the Cash sale account will look similar to the following screen. The same principles apply to the Fax option as well.

When entries are completed for all document types hit [F1] Accept to update the record.

Repeat this process for all required A/R customers and document types that you wish to send electronically to the customer.

Sending Emails

You can test the setup by creating a dummy invoice and faxing or E-mailing it to the customer. The following screen illustrates a test of the cash sale account setup.

Once the lines are accepted, pressing F1 should bring you to the bottom of the screen with your final options

Upon completing the invoice by hitting [F1] Accept we hit [F11] Alternate print which brings up the screen below. 

Note that I can pick E-mail, Fax or Invoice printer to route this Invoice to. This screeen can also present any number of other printing locations (cash receipt printers, shipping area printers, etc.) Picking E-mail brings up the following screen.

Now I am presented with addresses for Invoices and Quotations. Since this is the cash sale account the address for both is our own address, but their being present affords us the opportunity to hit 99 as a line selection and enter a free form address as shown in the example below.

Upon hitting “[F1] Accept” the invoice will complete as normal and be sent to the entered E-mail address.

It is important to realize that on normal A/R accounts you need only enter the line number of the correct E-mail address to send the document to your chosen address. That said you always have the ability to enter 99 and enter a free form address. (Providing there is at least one address on the customers A/R master record for invoices or quotations.)

Since the Statement E-mail address is used only by the month end statement routines, an E-mail address for statements only will not trigger the display of the E-mail option when [F11] Alternate Print is selected. Therefore you need at least one E-mail address for either invoices or quotations on the customers A/R Master record in order to see the E-mail option.