New General Business Report in version 01.11.07

Dazzle has a cool new business report called the GENERAL BUSINESS REPORT. It summarises all your business on one page and can be run for today, or any day, or any length period in history. (See picture below) First, download and install the 01.11.07 update on the server (only). Then download and install WORKSTATIONUPDATE on every workstation, to modify the menus.

Then go to OFFICE-->REPORTS-->REGISTER AND COMMON BUSINESS REPORTS and run the NIGHTLY/GENERAL-BUSINESS REPORT. In NIGHTLY mode it is the same report you are used to, but when you change to GENERAL it will be different. Note that producing a report in the NIGHTLY format will write data to your history file, providing you do promptly every day. This report is automatically run during the register closeout process. But producing a report for BEFORE yesterday, or – producing a report for a PERIOD, such as one week, year, or month, even if that period ends today, will produce the GENERAL format. The GENERAL format consolidates a lot more financial categories and will be very useful and helpful to you. To help your bookkeeper you might try printing it to screen, then right-click it and export to NOTEPAD. This produces a text file that any fool can read and understand, and copy and paste numbers.
If you use MISC CASH to do bank deposits or withdrawals, you may have to change the payment codes for it to work properly, though it does try to search for any misc.payments bthat contain the words BANK or DEPOSIT or WITHDRAWAL.

If you use the Bank-deposit screen to do deposits (& withdrawals) then that means you are using the transaction journal so it gets its banking figures from there.

You understand I’m sure that BALANCES are dynamic things. In other words, how much you have out on the street in pawns changes from day to day, so does inventory. That’s why previously it has been impossible to create a data-table based report that counts balances (cheques, pawns, inventory, etc) for any day other than TODAY. But after a few weeks of head scratching we came up with ways to reconstruct most of these balances for any day in history, making the new report possible. You can print the new report either to a 3” paper tape or to a full page.

Go to OFFICE—CONFIG—PRINTERS and click REBUILD LIST to see the new reports and set up their printers.

The transaction journal reports are not changed and don’t need to be. Their balances are all frozen. For any day in history it is possible to take a starting balance - add and subtract all the subsequent transactions, and come up with a (hypothetical) current balance. That’s basically what the transaction journal does.

Click here to see sample

Too much data to export to Excel ...

Q: Is there a way to export our gun log to excel? ATF will accept an electronic copy instead of a printed copy. We are required to print one every year..

A: The gunlog has an “Export to Excel” button at the bottom left.

Q: When I try to export we get this error ....
Error No: 2306
Error Description: There are too many rows to output, Based on limitation specified by the output format or by Dazzle Pawn
Line No: 1450
Procedure: CMDEXPORT_CLICK
VBA Document FORM_FRMEDITGUNLOG

A: If your gunlog is very big you might have to do it in 2 sections. Maybe more.
Set a filter for everything through (say) year 2000, and export.
Then repeat for 2001-2009.

Q: Thanx, looks like that will work...

The security code is not in security profiles

Q: A few people have asked us lately: When installing a new version or a new feature, it comes up with a screen that asks for authorization. What do I do if the security code I need to authorize is not in the list in the "security profiles" screen?

A: Whenever the number you want does not pre-exist in the list, please go to the bottom of the security profiles list and just type in a new row – For example the new transaction tape requires code 23. If that isn't there, go to the bottom and type in 23, then “Transaction Tape (for description)”, then check the "allow" box, then put “Reports” in the last column.

You'll need to logout and login again to complete the process.

Disappearing Fonts

It's a pesky problem and it hasn't gone away. On Windows XP and Windows 2003 computers, everything works fine till you reboot them, then some of the fonts are missing.

Symptoms of missing fonts are:

• Bar-codes print as numbers, not barcodes.
• Bold numbers on labels are not bold.
• Words don't "fit" properly on some screens, or they are cut-off.
• Reports have ####### in some columns.

We have discovered that this is caused by an obscure registry "permissions" problem. It is very easy to fix because we created a special utility program to fix it for you. Just click here. to download this program. (download password needed). Save it to your computer, then double-click it to run it. That should fix the problem. You can copy it to any other station and run it there too, if needed. You'll need to be logged into Windows as an administrator to run it successfully.

(Dazzle Support)

SKU Numbers on Inventory Labels

Q: What's up with the numbers on pawn labels and inventory labels? Have they changed?

A: Yes and No. We added the ability to change the numbering, but if you like you can still keep exactly the same numbers and numbering system you had before.

Previously all NEW inventory began with "N-1-" or "N-2-", or "N-3-", etc., where the 1, or the 2, or the 3 was the store no. (usually 1).

All inventory that was a forfeited Pawn, buyback, or buy, began with a "P", or a "B" For example "P-1-" or P-2-" or "B-3-" etc., where again, the 1,2,3 was the store no.
If you like things this way you can still keep it this way. But many people think that the numbers are too long, with too many dashes, and it is awkward to type the long numbers in when selling items, checking stock or prices, etc.

So we added the ability to format your own numbers. Go to OFFICE-->CONFIGURATION-->MASTER CONFIGURATION, and click on the SHOP tab. You will see this screen:

In the field called "YOUR SKU PREFIX" you can enter formatting commands that will change how your inventory SKU numbers look.

The first thing to know is - whatever you type in there will appear as part of your SKU numbers. So if you type in the word "AARDVAARK" , then this word will be the first word on all your SKU numbers from now on.

The next thing to know is, certain special symbols will be replaced with meaningful information on your label. These symbols are . . .

/STO or [STORENO] will be replaced by your STORE No. (1, or 2, or 3, etc.)
/YRMO or [YEARMO] will be replaced by the current YEAR AND MONTH (example: 0912 for December 2009)
/@ will be replaced by either N or P or B depending on whether the item was NEW or a PAWN (including buybacks) or a BUY.

To keep exactly the same format you previously had, you would use: /@-/STO- (Notice the dashes. If you don't put the dashes in, they won't appear in your SKU numbers)

However you can be creative. For example if your shop is called "Joe's Pawn Shop" you might want the initials JPS as part of every SKU. So you might use JPS-/YRMO-/@-. This would generate SKU numbers something like JPS-0912-P-xxxxx, or JPS-0912-B-xxxxx, etc.

If you want the shortest possible SKU numbers you could just leave it completely blank. If you have multiple shops however this is a bad idea. You should at least use /STO- (the dash is optional, but useful).

Hopefully this new feature will prove helpful to you.

While on the subject, we should mention there have also been changes in how SKU numbers are generated during the FORFEITING (pulling) process. As you know, every pawn and buy is assigned a SKU number when it is pulled. Now, the first part of that number will obey all the rules discussed above. Example: when Joe's Pawn shop (see above) pulls Pawn No. 12345, first item, it will be given SKU no. JPS-0912-P-12345-1.

Another change that has been made to forfeited items concerns the SKU suffix (the last part of the number). As you know, this consists of a dash followed by the item no. But if an item was UN-pulled, the inventory item was not deleted. Instead, it was given the status U, (unpulled) and it remained in inventory for audit-trail purposes. This meant that if the item was RE-pulled, it could no longer have the original SKU number, because that was in use. (Duplicates are not allowed.) So the system would "randomize" the number by putting three random letters on the end. For example, Pawn no. 12345, item 1, -- if pulled twice -- might get the SKU no. P-1-12345-1-GFS, where "GFS" are the three random letters.

We have changed this a little so the number is randomized in a different way. Now, if pulling an item would produce a duplicate SKU number, Dazzle(tm) will simply put ONE letter on the end. That letter will always be the letter "A". If that item is un-pulled and re-pulled again, then the letter will be a "B". If it happens again, it will be a "C", and so on. For example, Pawn No. 12345, item 1, -- if pulled twice -- might receive SKU No. P-1-12345-1A. Next time it would be P-1-12345-1B, and so on. The idea of this is to try and make the numbers shorter and more convenient. Also, by just looking at the last letter (A or B or C, etc.,) you can now have a pretty good idea of how many times the item has been un-pulled or re-pulled.

This suffix part of the numbering method cannot be changed or configured by you.

Lastly, as a refresher, remember you can manually edit any SKU numbers you like in your inventory, as long as you don't try to create duplicates. Also remember that every item has an all-numeric "System no." or "key no." which is functionally identical to the SKU no. insofar as locating that item on the computer is concerned. This sometimes causes confusion on JEWELRY TAGS, which are very small. Often there is not room to print a long SKU number on the small tag, so Dazzle(tm) will print the key no. instead. This makes absolutely no difference to you. Just type the number in to the computer and it will find it. Incidentally, on a jewellery tag, the barcode is always a digital representation of the key no. no matter which number (key or SKU) is printed in plain English beneath it.

We sometimes get panicked phone calls saying "My jewelry labels are all printing the wrong SKU numbers." Well relax. It's the right label for the right item. That number you are seeing is the key no., that's all.

Derek Best.

Rolling back to the previous version of Dazzle

Q: How do I roll my system back to the previous version of Dazzle?

A: When you update your Dazzle program (with DazzleServerUpdate.exe) it saves the old program in a file called DazzlePawn.zip.001 in the C:\Dazzle Pawn\ Common\ Application\ backups folder on your server.

If there is already a DazzlePawn.zip.001, it creates DazzlePawn.zip.002.
If there is already a DazzlePawn.zip.002 it will create DazzlePawn.zip.003.

Thus when you look in C:\Dazzle Pawn\Common\Application\Backups you may find up to three different files called Dazzlepawn.zip.001, 002 and 003.

Whichever one has the most recent date is the most recent prior version of Dazzle.
So to roll back to the old version, do this ...

• Go to C:\Dazzle Pawn\Common\Application.
• DELETE Dazzlepawn.zip.
• Go to C:\Dazzle Pawn\Common\Application\Backups.
• Right-click on Dazzlepawn.zip.001, or 002, or 003 -- whichever is newest.
• Select Copy.
• Go back to C:\Dazzle Pawn\Common\Application and Right click and select Paste.
• RE-NAME the pasted file as Dazzlepawn.zip

That's all there is to it. You only have to do this in one place, on the server. You don't need to do anything on the workstations.

This procedure only rolls back the program. It has no effect on any of your data.
You may now encounter a warning message when you start Dazzle saying the program needs to be updated. You should ignore this message.

v01.11.06. HOW TO USE THE NEW PAWN LABELS

The New Dazzle version 01.11.06, released Nov 23rd 2009.


Version 01.11.06 contains redesigned pawn labels. The old 3 formats are gone and there are six new ones in their place. Previously, whatever label format(s) you selected were what you got, for every single pawn and buy, regardless of type of merchandise. Things are different now ...

Here are the six new label formats . Instructions are after the pictures.

(above) Label format 1: 3" x 1". A general purpose format with barcode and costcode, store no., Ticket-type and No., Operator initials, customer name and ID No (hideable) A general description of the item, Issue date, Pull-date, and item count. A large letter (R) will appear in the top right if it is a re-loan.









(above) Label format 2: 3" x 1". A general purpose format without barcode but with much larger transaction type and no. Also has store no., Costcode is part of the description which includes as much detail as room will allow. Operator initials, customer name and ID No (hideable), and item-count are at the top. At the bottom in small type are pull-date (ex), logbook no. (for guns in USA), previous ticket no. (if a re-loan), storage location. and item count.














(above) Label format 3: 3" x 2". (JUMBO) Perfect for large TV's etc. Two consecutive 1" labels make up this 2" high label. The main feature is the HUGE ticket no. and very big customer name and ID. (hideable). The issuedate and pull date are very prominent at the top , along with the coded cost. A general description on the bottom half includes as much detail as room will allow. Operator initials, previous ticket no (if a re-loan), storage location, and logbook no are easily readable, plus there is a barcode for inventory.











(above) Label format 4: 3" x 1". A JEWELLERY ENVELOPE format with barcode and costcode, store no., Ticket-type and No., Has specific textboxes to clearly show WEIGHT, TOTAL CARAT WEIGHT, AND PURITY. Operator initials, customer name and ID No (hideable) A general description of the item, Issue date, Pull-date, and item count. A large letter (R) will appear in the top right if it is a re-loan. Also the previous ticket no. will be printed.











(above) Label format 5: 3" x 1". This one is for use in the USA with FIREARMS. Similar to the others with barcode and costcode, store no., Ticket-type and No., but has specific textboxes to clearly show MANUFACTURER, MODEL, SERIAL NO., CALIBER, ACTION, AND LOG NO. Operator initials, customer name (not hideable). Issue date, Pull-date, and item count. A large letter (R) will appear in the top right if it is a re-loan.










(above) Format 6: LIST OF ITEMS label. Designed as a useful extra label for sticking on JEWELRY ENVELOPES, so the entire contents can be documented. Also has customer name, amount of pawn (or buy), and ticket no. Coded cost of each item is shown.


INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE

The neat thing about the new label formats is -- Dazzle selects the one most suited to the type of merchandise on the ticket. EXAMPLE: if you are buying/pawning an XBox or Playstation, Dazzle will automatically print label type 1. If you are pawning Jewelry, it will automatically print type 5, etc.
This means your labels always contain the optimum amount of pertinent information.

But wait - there's more ... YOU can tell Dazzle what label types you want it to use for different types of merchandise.

To set this up, click on OFFICE / CONFIGURATION / CODES AND ABBREVIATIONS. Then click the tab marked "Merchandise Categories" (see below)










You will see one row for each merchandise category in your database. Each category has a TYPE, which is a broad description of the class of item, for example GENERAL, JEWELRY, FIREARM, etc. You will also see columns called "No. of labels" and "Label-Type"



At the bottom of the screen you will see an area where you can assign the label-format of your choice to ALL categories of a particular TYPE. You can also specify how many labels you want to print for each item of that type. For example, if you wanted two (2) JUMBO-sized labels for all GENERAL merchandise (TVs, games, bicycles, computers, etc) you would set it up as shown below, then click the GO button.



This will immediately assign the JUMBO format to all GENERAL merchandise and you will see the list change before your eyes. However, maybe you don't want the big jumbo labels on some smaller items like CD's etc. So what you would do next is -- go down the list and pick out the categories where you want something different, such as CD's, and simply select a different type of label for CD's. For example you might choose label type 1, and a label quantity of only one (1) label per CD.


Simply repeat this same type of procedure with the other types of merchandise and you will be all set.


Now you need to set up a few options for your labels, to customize things the way you like them. You must go to OFFICE / CONFIGURATION / MASTER CONFIGURATION and click on PAWNS.


You will see a section called LABEL OPTIONS. (see below)


























PRINT FIRST LABEL ONLY FOR JEWELLERY
No matter how many items you may have on a jewelry loan (or buy), only one (1) label will be printed, and that will be for the first item. Since all the items are going in a small envelope, there is not room to stick a lot of labels on the envelope, so just the first item label is printed. This applies no matter which format of label you are using for jewelry... you will still only get the first.


DO YOU WANT 3" x 1" CONTENTS LIST
If you select the "First label only" option, then you can also choose this one. This will print an extra "CONTENTS LIST" label, to stick on the envelope, showing a brief itemized list of contents. (See label type 6 above) This is an excellent security measure.


PRINT LABELS FOR PAWN REWRITES.
If you renew, extend, or re-write pawns or buybacks, you might want to print a new label with possibly a new contract no. and/or dates on it.


CODED AMOUNTS ON PAWN LABELS.
Select this to code your loan and buy amounts using your shop's cost code. Otherwise the amounts will be in plain text.


SUPPRESS ITEM NO
SUPPRESS CUSTOMER NAME
SUPPRESS CUSTOMER ID
These three are self explanatory. Be very careful if you print customer information on labels. You never know who might read it. What if you throw envelopes out in the trash (dustbin)? Someone could come along and read all kinds of confidential information. And of course if you put items out for sale and don't remove the pawn labels, you will be violating your customer's privacy.


FORCE ADVANCE TO NEW LABEL.
If your labels are not advancing properly in the printer, you should select this option.

That's it. You are now all set up to use the new labeling system. We hope you find it helpful.

---end---

Q: How can I filter my PFI's (Pulls) to show just the Pawns, or just the Buys. I click on the "redeemable" column but when I try to filter it just gives an error message.

A: To filter your pull-list you must use the "Ticket Type" column not the "Redeemable" column. After filtering, if you want to print the list, your printed list will also be filtered.

Remember, Remember ...

... the 5th of November.

To all our UK customers

Happy GUY FAWKES DAY!

Shrinking the toolbar causes loss of menu

Q: When we click on the "minimize toolbar" icon, the text menu disappears and only half the toolbar is visible. It used to work OK. What's going on?

A: You are right. This is an "oops." We switched a couple of lines of code accidentally. For those who don't know, when you click on the two little red arrows at the left end of the Dazzle menubar, the toolbar disappears and just the menubar remains. (see picture) That's what should happen anyway, but we screwed up, and now you lose your menubar and are left with a somewhat crippled toolbar. This has been corrected in 11.05(e) with our apologies.

(What should happen)

Part of menu is missing

Q: Sometimes the right-hand side of the Dazzle menu toolbars at the top of the screen get "cut-off" or disappear. How do I get them back?

A: Screen refresh, processor speed, graphics card and drivers -- all these things play a part in display of the menus, and how long it takes them to refresh if obscured. Fortunately if you ever lose part of your menus, there is an easy answer. Just press SHIFT F12 to bring then back like brand-new again.

Windows 7?

Q: Is Dazzle OK with Windows 7?

A: It's excellent. Windows 7, like Vista, can be run in 2 different ways -- as a 64-bit system or as a 32-bit system. At this time the majority of commercial software is 32-bit, including Microsoft "Office" which is the underlying engine of Dazzle Pawn. Therefore unless you have some compelling reason to use the 64-bit mode, you wil find it easier and less troublesome to use the 32-bit version of Windows 7. Our installation program will detect what version you are running and will make adjustments accordingly -- so you will have no problems with Dazzle in 64 bit. However you will find yourself severely limited in your choice of peripherals, printers, scanners, cameras, etc. 64 bit Windows has a much stricter set of standards for "driver" software, and a lot of present-day device drivers just won't work.
There is NO difference whatsoever in operational speed between 64-bit and 32-bit Windows 7 when running 32 bit software. The benefits of 64-bit computing are largely still to come.

FASTER PRINTING !!!

F-F-F-F-FASTER PRINTING !!!

What more need we say? Download the newest "serverupdate" release from the "download" page at the http://www.dazzlepawn.com/ website. Printing speed should increase by as much as 40% on older or slower hardware. We re-wrote the print engine to accommodate customers with slower hardware. Your password will be required for download.

ID Scanner won't read some drivers licenses properly

Q: My ID Scanner can't seem to read some new drivers licenses from Ohio and Michigan. What's going on?

A: New licenses for some states are more complex because they being used in place of passports for travel back and forth to Canada. Make sure you have version 9.36 or higher of the ID Scanning software installed. In October, version 9.39 will be available which will contain even newer scanning capabilities. (Now available)

This picture shows you where to click to check your software version no.


To download the latest update, go to the Dazzle downloads site
http://www.dazzlepawn.com/freedownloads/idscan939setup.exe

download and save the installation file, then UNPLUG your scanner and double click the downloaded file to run the installation/update.
When the update asks for your Activation Key click the box that says "Don't need one; I have a Scanshell Scanner." Then select Scanshell 800R from the list.

How do I install Government anti-terrorism lists?

Q: How do I obtain and install government anti-terrorism lists? How do I install them? How does DAZZLE check names against these lists?

A: Both UK and US government provide lists of names. You are required to check your customers against these lists. Dazzle(tm) handles all this for you. Click here for instructions.

Barcodes not printing / Labels not bold

Q: Why do my barcodes print as big numbers, not as barcodes? Why are my labels not printing bold?

A: If the barcodes are missing on any of your DAZZLE(tm) printouts, or if they are printing as large numbers rather than barcodes, or if the numbers on your pawn labels are not bold, it means you have a FONT missing or not properly installed on your workstation.

Download our Fonts installation Utility from our website. Save it to your computer desktop then run it. You need to do this on every computer that is having fonts problems. Click here to download.

If this still does not work, Click here for a solution.

Q: How do I filter lists (and specifically what lists) in order to get a grouping of customers who have made purchases in excess of $200.00 this year?

Getting ready to send out invitations to our special customers sales event.
... cr

A: DAZZLE has a built in feature to let you select your best customers for mailings.
Just go to OFFICE-->REPORTS-->CUSTOMER REPORTS-->MAILING LABELS
You will see a list of all customers. Click the "Statistics" button to compile an up-to-date list of their buying and pawning totals. When it is done you will be able to sort and filter in the usual way to narrow down the list to the ones that interest you (according to your criteria).
Then click the PRINT button to generate mailing labels to just those customers. If you want you can also select the entire list, then right-click to copy it and paste it into Microsoft Word, for mailmerge.

Tech support

3-inch "slip printer" sales receipts

Q: Hi. How do I configure Dazzle to print the 3" slip-printer sales receipts instead of the A5 or half-page laser tickets? dg.

A: In Master configuration. See screenshot below.

Strange ID pics appear on new customer.

Q: If I start to enter a new customer, when I get to the photo/id tab, If I check the id "dot", some random picture id of someone else pops up as the id. ... steven.

A: back in August 2009 the ID subsytem was changed to allow multiple ID scans for customers. You can now have up to 26 ID scans, which Dazzle will automatically label A-Z. Part of this change involved renumbering your existing ID's to a new format. The format of an ID is now the prefix "ID" followed by a letter A-Z followed by an 8-digit customer no, padded with leading zeros if needed. Example: IDA00001234. The second ID for this same customer would be IDB00001234, etc. It sounds as though the renumbering process has not fuly completed on your system and you are getting some kind of numbering conflict. Check in your data folder under \graphics, and make sure all ID graphics have the format shown above. If not, you may have to re-run the update. ... support dept.

Follow Up: Oct 16th, all seems to be working OK now.

Express Pawn not asking for fingerprint

Q: The "Express" Pawn screen is not insisting on a fingerprint, even though we have re-validation set up to ask for a new fingerprint for every pawn.

A: Was a problem - but is now corrected. Download "ServerUpdate"

"MISC" SKU items on a sale - can't enter a cost.

Q: I just discovered that when ringing a .misc item that Dazzle does not ask for a cost. Since all the items do have a cost, usually a fixed percent of the sales price, I need the ability to enter one... ST.

A: We got into a big debate with another Dazzle user who is also a CPA. He was saying – what’s to stop an employee selling a $10,000 Rolex to a buddy for $10 as a MISC, and putting in a cost of $1? It’s a big security risk and there’s no way round it. He feels (as do many others) that employees have no business knowing costs.

We’re weighing different ideas, and we’d appreciate any suggestions. Just passwording it is not useful because then employees will be asking for passwords all the time. For the time being, as a security precaution, asking for costs on these items has been disabled.

Did you know you can disable asking for all costs all the time? Go to MASTER CONFIGURATION --> OPTIONS, look for the line that says "NoCostPopups" and put a "1" (one) beside it. You can also prevent asking for cost on cost-averaged items by putting a 1 in the line that says "NoAskAverageCost"

By the way DAZZLE now has 3 built-in preset SKU's. They are: .MISC .TRADE And .DISCOUNT. You don't have to create these presets yourself they are integral to the system. (Note that they each begin with a dot). Use of the .TRADE or .DISCOUNT SKU's will automatically create a negative amount for that line on the sales receipt.

Please be aware that accepting a trade-in on a sale, using the .TRADE option without writing up a full BUY, and without seeing the customers ID etc., may possibly be a contravention of your local laws.

--- support dept.

"Quick Find" behaving strangely

Q: When we use quick find to enter a customer - the list of names comes up - then we choose a name down the list - the first customer on the list opens up everytime. We are double clicking the one down the list yet the first one is highlighted. It works properly when we choose the one down the list by clicking once to highlight then doubleclicking to open.
This is a problem because we are pulling up the wrong customer. Everyone is used to just double clicking... dan.

Q: When I come to a list of customer names. If I double click angela g smith it gives me angela f smith. It doesn`t give me the person I double clicked on. I can highlight the customer and then click goto and it will work. Just not the way it was, whatever that’s worth. ... brad

A: We confirmed this is happening. When trying to double click a name it ignores your choice and brings up whichever name was first on the list. It seems to be something that just started and we can't understand how or why because there have been no program modifications to this screen (except cosmetic ones). We will check into it.

FRIDAY OCT 16th: this behavior has now been corrected. The corrected version is on the website at www.dazzlepawn.com.
... support dept

New customer gets mixed up with old customer.

Q When you put a new customer in, the last customer you put in will come up on the screen instead of the new customer. Whatever name is in the quickfind is where it goes. That’s the best I can explain it. - brad.

A: this is related to the previous question. Do not use People-->New customer for this purpose. Update your system and the problem should go away.

Can't enter new customer. Screen blanks. Freezes.

Q: When putting new customer in, during the process you get stuck and you have a blank screen. Then you have to go back out and look up the customer you were trying to put in, then carry on with your transaction. brad.

A: Another customer reported the same thing, and we noticed the first thing he did was click on PEOPLE -->NEW CUSTOMER. Then he entered the new customer then tried to start a pawn. Then it locked up. Is this the way you are doing it?

We never intended PEOPLE-->NEW CUSTOMER to be used this way. It is just for entering a customer. Nothing else. You are not supposed to try and start transactions from there. The correct way to do ALL transactions is to click F10 and SEARCH for the customer. If not found, then you will have a choice of SSEARCH A DIFFERENT WAY, or ADD CUSTOMER. You then choose ADD CUSTOMER and continue. This seems to work perfectly every time.

A customer will often tell you he has never been in before but it is never safe to believe them. They may be in your database, and the PEOPLE --> NEW CUSTOMER method would cause a duplicate.

In v01.11.05 this feature has been changed so you cannot start a new transaction from here.

Can't find original sale when doing return/refund

Q: . We tried to do a return on a sale. When the box came up asking for a number, we entered the ticket number. The response was that no ticket could be found (we know the number entered was correct) -- CR.

A: there are several Questions about this on this site. But in the present version (01.11.05) we are not aware of any remaining problems with this, and we can't reproduce your error. Is anyone else having this problem?

Inventory Search not working right

Q: Am still finding that when working with items for sale sometimes P- will find the item, sometimes P1- finds the item. Can not figure out a pattern for this. Yes we have a colon not a dash as the range separator. --CR

A: we cannot reproduce this error. Is anyone else having this problem? BTW the range separator is not relevant here.

your general journal codes failed to update

Q: I did the 01.11.03 update, when you bring up dazzle on a work station you get a box with "sorry, an unexpected error has occurred" in the box "your general journal codes failed to update properly"

A: This error message with 11.03 is annoying but harmless. You can just ignore it. It was corrected with later releases.

How do I create a daily police report in BWI format?

BWI (BusinessWatch international) is the most complex of all the police formats. Fortunately DAZZLE handles it with ease. Check out this 5 minute instructional VIDEO to learn how to do it.

How to do ATF quarterly report?

Question from DAZZLE user:

Q: We do a quarterly report to the ATF and we need to print a report by date pulled.
The report is for pawn forfeited and buy firearms. The info we need printed is
PAWN DATE, MFG, MOD, SER#, CALIBER, TYPE, .
We printed an “Inventory recently out of pawn”, it would find all the guns, and the only info needed on that report is the serial number. Is there a place in the program we can add fields??? --ross.

A: To get that info Most people just go to WORK WITH INVENTORY-->ITEMS FOR SALE -->CUSTOM SEARCH
Click CLEAR ALL a couple of times then specify ItemType = FIREARMS AND New = FALSE (white not grey) and First Entered = 06/01/09:09/30/09 (don’t forget the colon in the middle) and click FIND.

Save this query and name it whatever you like by clicking the SAVE QUERY button. Next time just change the dates.

You’ll see it produces a spreadsheet of inventory information which is too much info for the ATF but SORT IT and FILTER IT as needed, then left-click the top left corner of the spreadsheet (see below) to select all rows and columns. Then right-click and choose COPY then open Excel or Word, and PASTE, then remove whatever you don’t want, format it, give it a title, etc. and give to ATF. (see picture)

the Fingerprint SENSITIVITY setting

Question from customer

Q: Our current fingerprint scanners have a hard time getting a good fingerprint from some people. I tried to adjust sensitivity. What does the word HARDER in the setup mean? Is it more sensitive? --as.

A: The sensitivity setting has no bearing on scanning a print. It refers to the degree of similarity required for a “match”. Those Digital Persona readers can be troublesome as they age. When they wear out, replace them with Futronics FS80's. They are cheaper, more durable, and give a good reading.

Why do I need the Sale Ticket No. to do a return/refund?

From a user:

Q: I attempt to return an item and the window that opens for me to look up the invoice # only shows 2 sales for the month of October (that are dated today) and no sales for previous months.
How do I return something with Invoice # from my old DOS Program?
Hopefully you have a method for me to turn off the requirement of an invoice # for a return. -rr.

A: There is no means to turn off this requirement. It's just good business to know WHEN you sold it, WHO you sold it to, IF you sold it, HOW MUCH you sold it for, HOW it was paid for, etc. Without this basic info you can't really issue a refund or return. The orig. sales ticket gives you all that info. You can look it up by no. or by month, or by year, or for all time. However, only sales for the customer in question are shown... not all sales. What would be the point of that? That's probably why you only see 2 sales.
If it was an "ANON" cash sale, you can still look up all cash sales during the month in which the customer purchased it, and quickly identify the sale by the SKU of the item. If it is a Bucket SKU and you sell a lot of them,, then it really doesn't matter which one you "return".

If you don't know the SKU, you pretty much have to be able to find the original sale.

If you really have to issue a return on a sale with no orig ticket no., you can take the returned item in TRADE on a new ticket, (use the SKU No. ".TRADE"). You will have to manually adjust inventory quantity. Or you can issue a BUY which will re-stock the item.

How to create a report of all active inventory (video)

Q: How do I see all my active inventory for sale, and print a report of it? --alan.

This silent 3 min video walks you through the steps of finding all your inventory and printing a report.

What exactly is on a DAZZLE jewelry tag?

Q: We cannot figure out exactly what is on the butterfly tag. Can you explain? --lb.

This diagram should help explain the butterfly tag