Distribution allows you to generate various types of statistics, depending on your needs. An example could be the:
- profit generated from an item and/or item group
- profit generated from a particular customer and/or customer group
- gross sales value/net sales value from an item and/or item group
- gross sales value/net sales value from a salesman
- gross sales value/net sales value from a customer and/or customer group
All types of statistical information generated can be compared from last year’s figures to this year’s figures.
It is common practice to view statistical information from two different angles; your companies’ and the customer. The table below outlines different scenarios from both angles:
| Types of statistical reports | Your company | Customer |
|---|---|---|
| Profit per item/item group | You can generate statistics to be able to view the profit generated from selling an item/item group. A statistical printout might show a high profit for an item/item group (e.g. you sell a lot of these items or the item has a high profit margin) | For the same item/item group, the profit generated by selling to this customer might be substantially lower. This could be because you give too much of a discount to the customer. |
| Profit per customer/customer group | You can generate statistics to view the profit generated from a customer/customer group, thereby being able to determine the most lucrative customers. | |
| Total sales value/Net sales value/Profit per salesman | You can generate statistics to view three types of information per salesman:
|
Two programs are used for the generation of sales statistics:
- a maintenance program where you select the information to be included on the printout. See Selection of statistical information below for instructions. Note: You can also print the statistical output directly from this program.
- a print program where you print the statistical output. See Print the statistics below for instructions.
In the maintenance program you can choose to print a summary list (meaning only the totals for each value of the corresponding key are printed) or a detailed list (meaning every invoice line is printed).
For the purpose of this example, you will generate statistics showing the profit totals for different item groups, area and customer groups and compare last year’s figures with this year’s figures. Output of generation below.
Selection of statistical information
- Select the Work with sales statistics specifications menu item.
- You access Work with sales stat specifications. Click Add.
- You access the Work with sales stat specifications detail panel where you define the information from which you want to generate the statistics. Note: If the Item segmentation function is activated in the DIS control file, the Item segment 1 field is also displayed on this panel. Complete the following fields:
- Stat
- Enter a name for the statistics specification.
- Description
- Enter a description.
- Seq
- Enter sequence number 1 in the Group field.
- Sum
- The default is NO for all fields. For this example change to YES for fields with a sequence defined (as described above). This means that a total will be printed for each item group and customer group.
- Page
- The default is NO for all fields. For this example leave this setting. Note: If you change to YES the system will start to print on a new page, for each new value in the item group and/or customer group.
- Selection
- Leave blank. All valid item groups and customer groups will be included in the generation. Note: For instructions on range and individual selections, see Working with printouts.
- You access the second detail panel where you define the information from which you want to generate the statistics. (If the Item segmentation function is activate in DIS control file, two additional panels will be displayed before the panel above.) Complete the fields as described in step 3 and click OK.
- You access the next detail panel with the possibility of defining more values. The information in the top section of the panel allows you to print different values. For each selection, you can enter the following:
- YES = the total value for the corresponding key will be printed.
- NO (which is the default value) = no information for the corresponding key will be printed.
- % = the total value for the corresponding key will be printed as well as the percentage of the total value that each invoice line represents for the selection.
- * (asterisk) = the profit margin will be printed. This entry is only valid for the four Profit-related fields.
- Internal orders
- Enter one of the following codes to indicate if you want internal orders to be included on the printout:
- Print details
- The default is NO. Leave this setting, meaning that only the totals for each value of the selected key will be printed.
Since the purpose of this example is to describe the generation of statistics displaying profit totals for the Item group/Customer group complete the following fields on this and the following panel:
Click OK.
Note: Period is the date range you select when you print the list.
Since, for this example, you want to view the total profit and compare last year’s values with this year’s values, set all four Profit-related fields to YES.
| Code | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 | All orders will be included |
| 1 | Only Internal replenishment orders will be included |
| 2 | No Internal replenishment orders will be included |
The following field determines if you want just totals printed, or the details per line printed:
Define the printer queue and then complete all other information as you want (see the Panel help for further information) and click OK. Then click Back twice to exit the routine.
Print the statistics
- Select the Print sales statistics menu item.
- You access Sales statistics file printout. Select the applicable record and click OK.
- You access the second Sales statistics file printout panel which provides the option to narrow down the selection of data you want to include in the generation. (See the Panel help for more information).
For this example, enter a date range since you want to compare this year’s values with last year’s values (i.e. this is the period). The default is YES in all fields. Leave these settings and click OK or F2, for interactive processing (if the Interactive process field in Work with system user profiles is set to YES for your profile).
The output of the list will result in the profit totals per item group, area and customer group for last year and this year.
Output of generation
Since you chose not to print details, the list will display only the profit totals per item group, area and customer group.
The system sorts the information alphabetically, in reverse order, listing all customer groups and then areas for each item group.
Tip: If an item group has generated a low profit, you can easily track, for example, which customer caused the low profit. Simply maintain this specification (via the Maintain sales specification program) and change the setting of the Details field to YES. Then print the list by clicking F8 in that program or via the Print sales statistics list menu item. The result will display every invoice line and the cost price for every invoice line.