Code-driven fields, or parameters require you to select a code that matches the choice you want.

Code-driven fields are identified by the Binocular Icon to the right of them.

If you know the code, key it in the field.

If you don't know the code:

1. Click on the Binocular Icon (Pressing F3 with the cursor within the field is the same action).  

2.        A Find screen appears.  All existing codes will appear.

3.       Double click on the entry you want.   

You will be taken back to the program you were in, and the applicable field will now be filled in with the choice you selected.

The list below is explains the various code-driven fields and broken out into two sections: Product and Customer. 

Accompanying Materials: There are two choices in the pull-down menu: None, and Has Material. Has Material means the product is supposed to come with accompanying material. None means it is not.

Accompanying Material Present: This goes hand in hand with the Accompanying Materials.  There are two choices: Material is present, and Missing. 

• This field is only applicable when a product’s Accompanying Materials field is set to Has Material. 
• Accompanying Material Present asks: did the accompanying material actually come with the product--yes (Material is present) or no (Missing).

Accounting Category: basic code and descriptions that represent the general ledger information needed for posting, as well as giving you the option of tagging products to be non-tracked inventory items.

• The Accounting Category parameter also has a G/L Accounts section. The G/L Accounts are separated under two headings:
• Inventory Accounts
  • There are three fields found here:
    • Inventory-Purchase Receipts, Inventory-Returns, and Inventory-Withdrawals.
    • These three fields deal exclusively with products (as opposed to tax codes, tenders, or services).
• Sales and Expense Accounts.
  • There are four fields found here:
  • Sales/Sales Tax, Discounts, Cost-of-Goods Sold, Inventory Adjustments, and Inventory Transfer Suspense.
  • Each of the aforementioned fields are code-driven

POS Sales Summary Group: This field is used by the POS Sales and Receipts Summary Report to create logical groupings and subtotals.

For Accounting Categories attached to products, assign G/L Codes to all eight of the above fields.

For Accounting Categories attached to services, assign GL Codes in the Sales/Sales Tax field. For discounts, assign GL Codes to the Discounts field.

For Accounting Categories attached to Tax Codes, assign GL Codes in the Sales/Sales Tax field.

For Accounting Categories attached to Tenders, assign GL Codes in the Sales/Sales Tax field.

Two fields apply to non-tracked inventory, which is inventory whose onhand values will not be tracked by iMerchant.

Inventory will Not Be Maintained: has a checkbox

Unchecked = all products belonging to the Accounting Category will be regular, tracked items.

• Cost % will be grayed out, as it only applies to non-tracked inventory.

Checked = all products belonging to this Accounting Category will be non-tracked.

• Cost % of Retail needs to be filled in.
• Key in the Cost % of Retail value you want.
• This value is primarily informational, and will apply to certain reports, such as the Product Sales Report.

Accounting General Ledger Codes: These are codes you create and then attach to Accounting Categories.

• The General Ledger Codes you use should reflect General Ledger Codes you already use in an external accounting system.
• Setting these codes up in iMerchant will enable you to run G/L Exporting from iMerchant into your external accounting system.

Binding: Exclusive to books. The binding is separated into categories such as soft cover, hard cover.

Book Class: A user definable field exclusive to books. Book Class codes are used to define a book in some way (R for Remainder, BS for Best Seller). 

Can Transfer: Has two choices Allow Transfers and Do Not allow transfers. This allowes whether or not a product can be transferred between stores (in a multi-store setup).

Condition: Allows you to tag inventory by its condition. 

• The Condition Multiplier field is a percentage that the retail price is reduced by to get the adjusted retail price for the product. 

Country Code: create a code and description for different countries. 

Currency Code: create a code and description for different currencies as well as: 

• Symbol: where you enter the currency's symbol--for example, $ for dollars
• POS Exchange: where you can establish the exchange rate between the currency in question and the U.S. dollar. 
• History button at the top of the window, allows you to view the history of the currency's start and end dates, exchange rate, and updates.

Department Category: Allows you to segment your inventory into groups. 

Dust Jacket: pull-down menu has two choices: None and Yes. Either a book is supposed to come with a dust jacket, or it is not.

Dust Jacket Condition: Goes hand in hand with the Dust Jacket field. Use the Dust Jacket Condition field to establish codes that denote the condition of the dust jacket (i.e., "torn," "good," "poor," "ripped," etc.).

Imprint: Book industry only

• a subgroup of a publishing house 

New Used: Primarily Book industry. Identifies a book as either new or used, or as a remainder.

• This is related to any Balance Card tender types that you set up as used credit.
• In order for the used-credit tender to apply at the POS, the applicable purchased products must be flagged as Used Products or as Remainders using the New Used field in Product Properties.

Overstock Code: Generally, this a yes/no coded field, but you can create more options if desired.

• Yes indicates that additional copies of the product are available in stock, but are not on the store shelves.
• No indicates that no additional copies exist. All in-stock copies are on the shelves or are allocated for Customer Orders.

Problem Code: Problem Codes deal with problems in Receiving and Electronic Ordering

• create Problem Codes such as SS for Short Shipped, or B for Backorder
• The Problem Code parameter has additional layers to it.
  • You will want to use these layers if you want automatic reorders or returns to result from certain specific Problem Codes. 
• The reordering portion of the Problem Code parameter is listed under the Reorder Settings heading. 
  • If you are, for instance, short shipped (SS), you may want the system to automatically reorder the product.
    • The Setup Reorder field needs to be checked.
      • When checked SS products will be reordered automatically both in Receiving and in Electronic Ordering. 
    • The Remaining Quantity Still Coming field applies to the Receive Status field. 
      • Checked = the system knows that you were short-shipped (SS) and that more copies of the product are still due. 
      • Unchecked = the system assumes that no further copies of the product are forthcoming.
    • To Be Ordered (TBO) Type: is where you assign the TBO Type for products being automatically reordered when they are assigned this Problem Code. 
      • The Problem Code TBO Type only applies to items entered in Receiving.
      • Electronic Ordering will use the TBO Type applied in the EDI confirmation window (seen below)

• The returns portion is listed under the Return Settings heading.
• To automate the Returns process, under the Return Settings heading:
  • Check the Make entry into return system. 
  • Assign a code in the To Be Returned Type field.

Lastly, there is a Customer Order Notifications section.

• Check the Create a Problem Notice field if you want a Customer Order with a product that includes a particular Problem Code to appear in the Customer Order Notifications program when you run a search for Problem Notices.
• Check the Complete Customer Order After creating Notice field if you want the product with a particular Problem Code attached to it to be marked as Complete once the Customer Order in question has been searched and called up in Customer Order Notifications. 

Product Type: Product Type is tied directly to Vendor Properties. 

• In the Vendor Properties section, you set up and define ordering guidelines for products ordered from that vendor. As you do this, you choose from the Product Types you have established. 

Reorder Rule: The Reorder Rule works in conjunction with the Buying Manager. 

• determines when and how a product is suggested to be reordered.
  • E.G. You set up a Reorder Rule of S where S = every time a product sells, automatically flag that product to be reordered in the Auto Buy field of the Buying Manager program. 
• The Reorder Rule has a few layers to it above and beyond the Code and Description:

Method: has four choices that determine how the Reorder Rule will operate

Auto-Buy none (0) - negates the Reorder Rule function telling the system that you do not want this Reorder Rule to suggest anything. All reorder suggestions under the Auto Buy field in Buying Manager will be set to 0

Use Restock Value - means this Rule will suggest the Restock Value calculated in Buying Manager as the quantity to be reordered in the Auto Buy field. It ensures that the Restock Value and the Auto Buy value will match.

Replace Sales - means that for every copy of the product sold, one copy should be reordered to replace it.

Use Stock Level - This method is more complex and works in conjunction with:

ReOrder Point: allows you to determine a projected on-hand amount you don’t want to go below 

Stock Level allows you to determine how many copies of the product you want to have in stock.

Rewards: This is where you establish the different Customer Reward Premiums. 

Return Reason Code: This is an optional code in Returns and TBR that allows you to attach a Reason Code to any product being returned. 

Sales Event: This field allows you to create codes and descriptions for Sales Events. Sales Events can be assigned at POS during any transaction.

Shipping Code: This field allows you to create codes and descriptions for shipping charges--generally applied during Charge & Send Customer Orders. 

• The standard code and description settings apply, but there are multiple fields you need to fill in when creating a Shipping Code:
  • Service used at POS field essentially ties the Shipping Code to a Service.
    • This Service, which must be set up beforehand in Service Properties, is the service that POS "sells" when issuing shipping charges. 
  • Calculation Method: click on the down arrow and select one of the two options
    • By Item: will automatically assign a shipping charged at the POS for each applicable item sold.
    • Manual Entry: will force the POS clerk to manually enter a shipping charge at the POS during the transaction.
• Under Shipping Rates the rest of the Shipping Code parameter screen is divided into two columns:
  • Normal - deals with a full order 
  • Partial - deals with an order where not all items ordered will be shipped to the customer.

Beneath both columns, the same individual fields exist. 

• Minimum $: the minimum amount your store will charge for shipping 
• Maximum $: the maximum amount your store will charge for shipping 
• First Item: This is what your store will charge for shipping for the first item on an order. This value can, however, be overridden by the Minimum $ amount value.
• Each Additional Item: This is what your store will charge for shipping for each item in an order after the first item. 

Check the Apply Rates to Service items field if you want to apply shipping charges to services (in addition to products), such as gift cards, store certificates, etc.

Slip Case: has a pull-down menu, with two choices None and Yes. Either a product is supposed to come with a slip case, or it is not.

Slip Case Condition: Goes hand in hand with the Slip Case field. Use this field to establish codes for the condition of the slip case.

Status Code: This is an informational field that simply depicts the status of an item (S for Shelved, OO for On Order).

Stop Type (Single Title Order Plan): Exclusive to books. A Single Title Order Plan is a special set of rules that pertain to one particular title. Maybe you have special ordering rules, for example, for Harry Potter. Create a Stop Type Code, and then create the rules that define the code in the Vendor Properties Rules section for the applicable vendors. Stop Type works just like Product Type, except it deals exclusively with one specific title.

Store Number: Create codes and descriptions for all of the stores in your chain (if you have one store, simply add the code and description for the one store). 

Tax Code: allows for code Y for items that are taxable, N for items that are tax-exempt. Also allows for other Tax Codes such as a special City or County tax. Tax Codes work together with Tax Area.

Unit of Measure: A unit of measure determines the quantity or state of an item being sold. For example, you would create one Unit of Measure Code to be E for Each. But then you might create one for D, for Dozen, or B, for Box, and so on.

User Defined Code-driven Fields (PD_Codes, Prod_Codes, and PA_Codes): These code-driven fields are user-definable; that is, you can name any of them anything you want and use them for anything you want. User-definable fields are additional, optional fields you can use to help further classify your inventory.