Facts At Your Fingertips

PowerShift is full of facts about your business – facts that can assist you in making decisions. Here's a handful of ideas to get your analytical juices flowing:

If you think sales of an item are moving up or down, take a look in Item Inquiry (ISI) to see what is really happening. ISI summarizes data for the past three years by period. If you see a period with exceptional sales numbers, for example, you can drill to the associated orders and make a determination if these were one-time sales, if you landed new customers, etc. Knowledge is power!
To see if a customer’s business with you is expanding or contracting, Customer Sales History Inquiry (CSHQ) is a great tool. You can see sales, bookings, cancellations and returns going back years. From the annual summaries, you can drill to period detail.
If you want to quickly look at inventory, check out the Inventory Activity History Report (IAHR). By setting sort, select and program options, you can see the top fifty items by inventory value on a single page. You’ll also get lots of other useful information, like the last dates each item was sold, purchased, received, used and counted.
If you’re interested in manufacturing details, have a look at the Manufacturing Order History Summary (MHS). You can easily see how often you produce items. It may be appropriate to adjust lot sizes, order quantities and so forth.
To review an item's pricing history, use Pricing History by Item (PHQ). Quick story: The president of a company was concerned that the material portion of cost of sales was increasing and was starting to get on purchasing and manufacturing to do better. A little analysis showed that the material percentage of sales had increased, but cost and usage hadn’t changed. Earlier sales of $100 had a material cost of $33 -- or 33%. But when Marketing dropped the price to $97, the same $33 material cost increased to 34% of the lower sales price.
If you want to see how much you buy and from whom, have a look the Vendor History Listing (VSL). You can quickly see who your main vendors are and your history in taking cash discounts.

These are a few ideas about how you might use your data, but the possibilities are endless. If you're not getting the information you need out of PowerShift, contact the Qantel Helpdesk. We're here to help!