Subject: RPMS News You Can Use Vol II Issue 1
From: Jim Adam
Date: Fri, 04 Aug 2006 12:10:22 -0500
To: BC , Angela Scott , Steve Goold

RPMS News You Can Use
Volume II, Issue 1, August 2006
In this issue...

An update is coming - Version 7.5  

RPMS Introduces TeleNotes - Keyless Data Entry for Sales Activity Tracking

RPMS Remote User Strategies

Custom Reports System Added

Inventory Feature

An update is coming - Version 7.5 top

This month we are providing a cd-based updated for all EMA-covered customers.  It should arrive in the mail in the next couple of weeks.  To be able to run this update you must be an EMA subscriber through August of 2006 or beyond. 

If you believe that you are eligible to install this update, you may want to double check to be sure that you have applied the EMA code you were sent when you last enrolled.  From within RPMS, click Help, then About RPMS V7.  The last line of the message indicates the last EMA coverage code applied.  The update will not run if the EMA Covered Through date is prior to August 31, 2006.

This update contains
The complete details of the contents of the update can be found right here.

RPMS Introduces TeleNotes - Keyless Data Entry for Sales Activity Tracking!  top

We are very pleased to announce that RPMS has been selected to represent TeleNotes (www.telenotes.net) for manufacturers representatives.  In our twenty-plus years of developing technology solutions for manufacturers representatives, we have promoted a variety of ways to track sales activities.  Many, many times those efforts have been abandoned by rep firms - not because the effort itself was a bad idea - but because, in the end, sales reps simply have not been consistent about data entry.

TeleNotes overcomes this fundamental problem by combining a powerful, web-based activity tracking tool with an inexpensive data entry service.  Outside sales reps simply dial a toll-free number, leave an activity message in their own private voice mailbox, and within about two or three hours the sales activity database has been updated.  Even better, those activities can, at no extra charge, be downloaded and combined with the activities of inside sales reps within the RPMS Reptivity feature.  With TeleNotes you can
For more information about TeleNotes, please contact Brent Charles at RPMS.

RPMS Remote User Strategies top

A hot topic among rep firms we talk to is the ability to let remote off-site users run the RPMS system.  There are a number of strategies rep firms use to make it happen.  We'll outline three of them here.

The first and simplest way is just to install a copy of RPMS at another location and send that location periodic backups.  That's the 'free' way - but the user on the other end can't make any changes.  Or rather, they could, but those would get over-written by the next restore of fresh data.  It does NOT violate the RPMS license agreement to do this.   Unlike web-based systems, our licenses are enforced for simultaneous data-entry locations.  Some rep firms couple this strategy with the Security feature and passwords that limit access to only a certain salesrep's information.

The second way is to get a remote system that can send orders back to the agency.  We call these RPMS Remote User systems, and they're useful for people that want to have order entry done from more than one location, or by laptop-carrying salesreps.  If you don't already own it, it costs the agency $995 for the E-Data Wizard (which uses a free map to load new orders entered by the remotes) plus and additional $200 for the annual E-Data EMA.  Each remote subscription is $75 per year.  With this system the remote users run a full-blown RPMS with which they regularly E-mail new orders as attachments back to the agency.  A synchronize command on each remote system will refresh data back from the agency.

The third way is to get a remote-control software product like GoToMyPC, plus a workstation in the office for the user that wants to work remotely.  You set up that extra PC in the office just like another workstation on the LAN (assuming all your workstations can get to the Internet.)  You install GoToMyPC ($180 per year per host or less) and pay RPMS $400 for the extra seat + $75 per year.  That fee buys you another seat on the LAN, capable of entering orders, running reports - anything really.  The remote user controls his office computer over the Internet using his GoToMyPC subscription, and it's just like he's sitting there working in the office.

Terminal Server and Remote Desktop Connection are a couple of other options that agencies have deployed successfully for remote users - but they're not really do-it-yourself options, so you'll need a pretty good network tech.

Below is a table that lists the options described and the various pros and cons.  If you've got questions, Steve or Angela or Jim would be happy to discuss them with you!

Method
 Up Front Cost
 On-going Annual Cost
 Pros
 Cons
Backups restored to other systems
 0
 0
 Off-site storage of backup data is  always a good idea.  Very inexpensive. Can use the Security feature to lock out remotes from reading certain areas.
 Not real- time - data only as current as the most recent restore.  No updating from the remote location. 
RPMS Remote User System $1,000 for the E-Data Wizard
 $200 for agency system + $75 per remote user subscription
 Remote order entry.  Does NOT require Internet access full time.  Great for laptops not connected.  Great performance. The E-Data Wizard can be used with other upload maps if purchased Can't do other types of updating, like customers, shipments, etc.  Remotes require a current EMA subscription
GoToMyPC $400 per simultaneous seat for RPMS, plus an extra PC for each remote user.
 $180 per remote for GoToMyPC subscription, + $75 per extra user for RPMS
 Can do it all - update customers, add/change orders, add activities, etc. Best of all remote control solutions we've tried.  Try it before you buy it option, and volume pricing from GoToMyPC for multiple Remotes.
 Requires that an Internet connection is working on both ends.   Mild performance hesitation, sometimes.  Be sure your network can support another seat.


Custom Reports System Added top

After applying the 7.5 update, you may notice a new selection on the Reports menu in the Reports engine, called Custom.  The list you see when you choose that option is the current list of Custom reports that we've integrated directly into the RPMS system.

We've done custom reports for some time, but this is the first time we've integrated them into the actual RPMS software - they've typically been stand-alone features.  You won't be able to run any of these custom reports unless you buy a license for them - but we want everyone to be able to see the setup forms and titles, to get an idea about what they do.

We get ideas from customers all the time about reports, and what would be useful.  As the folks that design, write and support the RPMS software system, we hear it all.  We also have an idea about what ought to be included as a 'standard' report, and what should be purely a custom report.

For example, the one we've just completed that you'll see, called "Commission Statement with Product" was written for our customer Quest-Rep.  Jim Noe from Quest Rep asked us if we would include products on commission statements for salesreps.  There are some problems with doing this, that primarily have to do with the fact that rep firms don't record payments on a line item (product by product) basis.  They show an invoice paid or partially paid or split between multiple sales reps - but they don't do that for each individual line item.  So RPMS has never included products on the commission statements, because in many cases it would be misleading and therefore difficult to support, or simply not very useful to include.

But Quest Rep really wanted this - it would work very well for their business - so they offered to pay for the development of it as a custom product.  Since it needed a lot of the stuff that was in RPMS already, we used this as an opportunity to create our first integrated custom report.  The idea is known as 'Aggregated Customization.'  What that means is that we can create custom software - typically an expensive way to go - but then offer that custom software in an economically efficient way.

Your agency can buy a license for this particular custom report, and Quest-Rep will earn a commission.  Likewise you can order and pay for a custom report of your own, which we'll display as available for anybody that wants to buy it - then you'd earn a commission, if somebody else turned out to want the very same thing.

When you buy custom reports that are already written, you pay only half of what the original customized version cost.  Of that, a 20% commission goes to the company that originally ordered and purchased the custom report.  (FYI, the "Commission Statement with Product" is available for $400.00).

What's clever about this is that RPMS has a greater incentive to offer customization at very reasonable prices, and perhaps to make more money in the process.  The sponsor of the custom report, in addition to getting the product that they really wanted, has a chance to get it's development paid for by other users.  And other users that like or need such a report will pay less than half of what they might have paid in a pure custom environment.

For a pdf sample of the report "Commission Statement with Product" or for more information about a custom report of your own, please send us an E-Mail.

Inventory Feature top

We've finished our  beta test period for the Inventory feature, and the update contains the General Availability code.  Whether the inventory you need to track is bought and re-sold by a distribution arm of your company, or is consigned inventory, this feature will integrate seamlessly with your RPMS Pro rep software.  LIFO, FIFO, Standard, Average and Last cost methods are supported.  If you had a V6 or DOS version of our Inventory feature and you now wish to reacquire that feature for your V7 system, please let us know.  For information about the Inventory feature, please contact our sales department at RPMS.

You are on this list because you have indicated a desire to receive information about RPMS updates.  If you wish to be removed from this list, click here to send an E-mail with the subject Remove From Update List.