In the Back Office application, there are a wide variety of settings that be can be controlled and configured.
Open Configuration
- Login to the system
- Press on the 'Config' tile
Note - You will need staff permission to edit the settings in this module
- Configuration Module Overview
The configuration module houses all settings relevant to your store's the system account
| Section | Description |
|---|---|
| Store Settings | This page allows you to view and edit store settings and details. |
| Staff Members | This section is used to manage your list of Staff Members |
| Application Roles | This section is used to manage your Application Roles and Staff Members |
| Stock Categories | This page allows you to set up the way in which you would like to categorise your stock in the system |
| Stock Locations | This page allows us to view, edit and add stock locations to your store'sthe system account |
| Suppliers | This page allows us to view, edit and add Suppliers |
| Schemes | This page allows us to view, edit and add Schemes |
| Cost Prices | This section will allow you to add new Cost Price types to your system. |
| Adjustment Reasons | This page allows us to view, edit and add |
| Alerts | This page allows us to view, edit and add Alerts |
| Advice | This page allows us to view, edit and add Advice |
| Currencies | This page allows us to view, edit and add Currencies |
Store Settings
This page allows you to view and edit store settings and details.
It is divided into three sections;
- Store Settings
- Store Details
- Trading Hours
- Store Settings
Add notes/reference to orders and transfers before sending:
This tick box can be selected to ensure that notes /references are attached to orders /transfers before they are sent
Default Cost Price Description
Cost price types are created and stored in the 'Cost Prices' MAKE LINK TO SECTION' section of this module
Default Group
This is the group that will be automatically applied to a product when it is first created.
You can see in this example, we have set our Default Group to DISPENSARY L1 / DISPENSARY L2. Below you can see that when we try to create a product now, our Default Group is automatically populated in the Create a New Product screen:
Default Product Search Filter
This setting lets you select any of your customized filters, created in the Advanced Search module, to be automatically applied to a search when the Advanced Search module is opened.
N.B. This can also be set to 'None'
Default Product Search Items per Page
This setting specifies the number of products you wish to be returned per page in the Advanced Search module.
Default Product Search Type
This is the default type of search you would like to use when searching for a product in the list of products returned in the Advanced Search module.
In this example you can see that we have our Default Product Search Type set to Contains. As such, when we go into the Advanced Search module, Contains is selected by default for the search box in Advanced Search.
Default Reorder Method
From here you can select the stores default reorder method. (Manual, Reorder Level or Replacement). As with Default Group, this is the value that will be automatically applied when creating a new product on the system.
Default Status for Other Stores
This is used to set the status of products as they are created in HO. Using the drop-down we can select from active, discontinued, dormant and inactive.
N.B. this setting is only relevant to stores who are part of a group e.g. HO/LO.
Default Supplier
This is used to set the default supplier for new products that are created. By selecting the drop down we can choose the default supplier
Show accounts linked to this store only
This tick box can be selected to ONLY show the Accounts in the Back Office application that are linked to this store. If left unticked the Accounts linked to other stores can be viewed.
N.B. this setting is only relevant to stores who are part of a group e.g. HO/LO.
Store Price Point
This is used to select the price point attached to the store. Any number of price points can be created but only one store price point can be selected at a time.
- Store Details
This section simply allows you to enter general store details
General Store Details
- Name: The name of the pharmacy can be entered in here
- Owner First Name: This is used to record the owners first name
- Owner Last Name: This is used to record the owners last name
- Email Address: This is used to record the email address of the store. This email address is cc'd when using email ordering in the system
- Phone Number: This is used to record the Pharmacy's telephone number
Address Details
You can use Search for address to search against Google Maps for the pharmacy's address.
If it finds a match, you can select it and the system will populate the address fields with the address details.
If the address can't be found or you wish to enter them manually, simply fill in the details manually.
Financial Details
This information is setup by default. Please contact us if you need to make changes to this information.
- Trading Hours
This is used to record the pharmacy trading hours. These values are currently for reference only and do not have any functionality attached to them.
Staff Members
This section is used to manage your list of Staff Members. For more information on using this section of Config, please see the Staff Members section of this Help File.
Application Roles
The Application Roles and Staff Members sections of Config are very closely linked in terms of functionality. Due to this, for more information on using this section of Config, please see the Staff Members section of this Help File.
Stock Categories
This page allows you to set up the way in which you would like to categorise your stock in the system. Upon the installation of the system in your store, the stock category 'Group' will automatically be set up which is used for categorising products based on their Sales Group e.g. Front of Shop, Analgesics, Makeup etc...
Sales Groups are extremely useful for reporting e.g. breaking down profipageility based on different areas of your business.
While the product category 'Group' (fragrance, skin care, vitamins etc.) is the most widely used stock category,you can set up other stock categories from this page (For Example: Price Range).
If you wish to look into setting different kinds of product categorisation aside from Group, please contact TouchStore Support for more information. The steps below will only go through configuring your categories underneath the core Group category.
Product categories are divided into Levels. A Level 1 category is the most general product category.
Every Level 1 category can have subcategories/levels under it (Level 2- Level 5).
If we take an example of a product to further explain this, let's look at a Baby Monitor. You might decide to categorise it in the following way:
- Level 1: Baby Care Dept
- Level 2: Baby Accessories
- Level 3: Monitors
- Level 2: Baby Accessories
From this information we can tell that you have products in your Baby Care Dept and you have setup a subcategory within this group for Baby Accessories. Lastly, underneath your Baby Accessories subcategory you have a final sales group subcategory specifically for monitors. If you had a number of different models of Baby Monitor available, using this sales group category structure will allow you to run reports on just those products quickly and easily without having to run separate reports or look specifically for those products by name.
Now that you know how Sales Groups are used, below you will find steps on how to set them up and apply them to products yourself.
- Set Up a New Sales Group
In these examples we are assuming that you are starting off without any existing Sales Group categories however even if you already have some set up, these steps will show you how to add more or make changes. We are also going to continue to work with our example product of a Baby Monitor.
Step 1: Create the Sales Group
In the Stock Categories page:
- Select Group from the dropdown
- The screen displayed below will appear
- Enter the name of the Level 1 Sales Group you would like to add in the text box that says "Add a new value to the list..."
- N.B. if you are still learning how to use the system, it may be a good idea to add the level of the Sales Group to the name of the Sales Group in order to allow you more clearly and quickly see what level it is without having to check against your list of Sales Groups each time e.g. call a Top Level / Level 1 Sales Group something like "Baby Care Dept L1"
- Click the
button
The window displayed below will then appear temporarily confirming that the top level Sales Group has been added successfully.
If you have other Top Level / Level 1 Sales Groups to add, simply repeat the above steps to add more top levels to your Sales Groups. Depending on your business this might look like categories such as Analgesics or Maternity Clothing or even Hair Care. If you think about the ways you divide up the sections of your business based on what kinds of products you are selling, your Sales Group category structure will probably become quite obvious to you.
Once you have added at least one Top Level / Level 1 Sales Group, we can now move on to add subcategories.
Step 2: Add Sales Group Subcategories
In the Stock Categories page:
- Select Group from the dropdown
- The screen displayed below will appear showing all the Top Level / Level 1 Sales Groups you have already setup
- Click on the Name or the Code of the Sales Group that you wish to add further levels to
- In our example we are clicking on Baby Care Dept
- A screen similar to the one shown will appear allowing you to add L2 / Level 2 Sales Groups beneath your selected Top Level / Level 1 Sales Group
- Enter in the name of the L2 / Level 2 Sales Group you would like to add in the text box that says "Add a new value to the list..."
- Click the
button - The window displayed below will then appear temporarily confirming that the new L2 / Level 2 Sales Group has been added successfully
If you have other L2 / Level 2 Sales Groups to add, simply repeat the above steps to add more of these Sales Groups to your system.
Step 3 - Add further Sales Groups e.g. L3, L4
If you find that you need even more specific categorisation of your products Sales Groups, you can add more subcategories to your Sales Groups from Level 2 down to Level 5.
To add more subcategories at these lower levels, simply follow the instruction above for Step 2 but ensure to then select the correct L2 / Level 2 Sales Group that you wish to add L3 / Level 3 Sales Groups to.
- Add a Category to a Product's File
Once you have enough Sales Groups set up so that you can start categorising your products, you will need to attach your newly created Sales Groups to your products so that the system will know which products belong under which groups.
To add (or change) a Sales Group against a product:
- Begin by scanning the barcode or typing the name of the product in the search bar of the the system homescreen
- You should then see the General Information screen for the product in question
- Select the Categories page from the left-hand menu
You will now see a list of the available Stock Categories you can apply to the product. In this example we only have Group to choose from as we are only working with our Sales Groups
There are TWO (2) different ways to find the Sales Group in question:
- Type in the name of the Sales Group
- Click the magnifying glass icon
Type in the name of the Sales Group
If you type in the name of the Sales Group, you will see a list of Sales Groups that match your search. It's important to note that you may not see what Level the Sales Group is before you select it but if a search result is for a Sales Group that is not a Top Level / Level 1 Sales Group, then the Sales Group directly above it will appear in brackets.
Click the magnifying glass icon
If you click the magnifying glass icon, you will see a dropdown box appear allowing you to choose from the list of the your Top Level / Level 1 Sales Groups.
If the category you selected has subcategories of Sales Groups below it then a dropdown box will appear allowing you to specify the group of the product further.
Whether you choose the Sales Group via the name or the magnifying glass icon, if the Sales Group you select has Sales Groups above it, then they will be automatically selected against that product.
Once you have selected the category of your choice, click 
The window displayed below will then appear temporarily confirming that category has been applied to the product's file successfully
Now your product has a Sales Group assigned to it and any reports you run based on categories will reflect that depending on how often they are generated.
Stock Locations
This page allows us to view, edit and add stock locations to your store'sthe system account
Once successfully added, these locations can be applied to a product's file
Every stock location has four components
- Aisle/Location
- Bay/Gondala
- Shelf
- Other (this is simply an additional field allowing you to add any extra information about this specific location)
The following section details the steps in setting up stock locations for your store
- Step 1: Create Aisles
The first step in creating a new Stock Location is creating an Aisle. In the Stock Locations page:
- Click the
button - A window, similar to that displayed below, will now appear allowing you to add aisles to your store
- All pre-existing aisles are also visible from this window
- Click the
button - A window, similar to that displayed below, will appear
- Enter a code for the new aisle in the 'Code' field and a description of the aisle in the 'Description field
E.g.: In the below example, the aisle/section in store is actually a wall. An example of a code for this could be 'W1' and the description may be 'Outer' or 'Near Window'
- Please note that that the 'Code' field is restricted to a Maximum of 3 Characters
- Click the
button - The window displayed below will appear temporarily confirming that the aisle has been successfully created
A window, similar to that displayed below, will now appear allowing you to add aisles to your store
- Step 2: Create Bays
The second step in creating a new Stock Location is creating a Bay. In the Stock Locations page:
- Click the
button - A window, similar to that displayed below, will now appear allowing you to add bays to your store
- All pre-existing aisles are also visible from this window
- Click the
button
- A window, similar to that displayed below, will appear
- Enter a code for the new aisle in the 'Code' field and a description of the aisle in the 'Description field
- Please note that that the 'Code' fieldis restritcted to a *Maximum of 3 Characters
- Click the button
- The window displayed below will appear temporarily confirming that the bay has been successfully created
- Step 3: Create a Shelf
The third step in creating a new Stock Location is creating a Shelf. In the Stock Locations page:
- Click the 'Add a new Stock Location' button
- The screen displayed below will appear
- Select the Aisle and Bay for the stock location from the relevant drop down
- The 'Shelf' field permits you to type in the shelf you would like to assign to this stock location
- Use the 'Other' field to enter any extra details about the stock location
- Press 'Save'
- Please Note: the Code field is automatically generated by the system
- For the above stock location the code generated will be A1B3S1
- A1 -First aisle, B3- Third Bay, B- Shelf S1
- Add a Stock Location to a Product's File
Once you have enough Stock Locations set up in your system so that you can start adding them to products, to add a Stock Location to a product:
- Begin by scanning the barcode or typing the name of the productin the search bar of the the system homescreen
- Select the Stock page located on the left hand side of the screen
- Navigate to Product Location
- Select this product's stock location from the 'Product Location' dropdown
N.B. the locations displayed in this dropdown are those that have been previously created using the steps outlined in Step 3: Create a Stock Location.
-
Click the
button -
The window displayed below will appear temporarily confirming that the bay has been successfully created
- Add a Stock Location to Multiple Products at Once
If you want to change the Stock Location against multiple products in one go this can be performed in the Advanced Search module
- Please see the Advanced Search module LINK for further details onuse this module
- In this example, we have searched for all products with the group 'DISPENSARY L1' assigned to it
- Click the
button as indicated in the below image
- A window, similar to that displayed below, will now appear allowing you to add a stock location to all the products returned by your search
- Use the 'Stock Location' drop down to select the stock location you wish to assign to these products
- Click the
button - The window displayed below will appear temporarily confirming that the products have been successfully updated
Suppliers
- To access the supplier's module open the system and select the Config Module.
- Select Suppliers from the drop-down selection located on the Left-hand side of the screen
- On the page that opens, we can see all suppliers that have been set up.
- The page defaults to only show operational suppliers, to view all Suppliers select the Show All button located on the top of the page
- To use the quick search function, select the search box and type in the required name.
- Create a New Supplier
To create a new supplier:
- Click the Add a New Supplier button
- This will open the supplier maintenance page.
- Next, we enter in the Suppliers Details.
- N.B. these details are shared across all stores. If you are in a group environment e.g. HO/LO then these details are the ones set for all stores in the group.
Supplier Details
The Supplier Details consist of the following details:
- Name
- Shortname - a shortened version of the supplier name, normally just initials e.g. "UD" for the "United Drug" supplier - this is shown in areas of the system where there is limited space available for text
- Trading Currency - does this supplier trade in Euro or Sterling?
- Phone Number
- Email Address - this should be the email for contacting the supplier, this address is not the one that will be used for Email Ordering
- Notes - any notes you want to add against this supplier e.g. "John is on leave in June, we should email Emily instead"
Below those details are some settings you can apply to this supplier:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| This is a supplier | If this record is going to be used as a supplier to order products, tick this box so that this record will show up in the list of Suppliers on your system. |
| This is a wholesaler | If this supplier is a wholesaler of products, tick this box. |
| This is an agent | If this supplier is an agent for products, tick this box. |
| This is a manufacturer | If this supplier is a manufacturer, tick this box. Supplier records who have this box ticked will show up in the list of Manufacturers throughout the system. |
| Use the case size when ordering products from this supplier | If this box is ticked, when an order for items under this supplier is sent, any quantities will be rounded up to the next Case Size. E.g. if you order 5 units of a product with a Case Size of 10, the order quantity will be rounded up to 10 when it is sent to the Supplier. |
| Require orders to be approved before sending them to this supplier | If you are in a group environment and Head Office must approve orders for this supplier before they are sent, tick this box. |
| Update products for this supplier when doing an IPU Upload | You can use this tickbox to control whether product information will be updated for products under this Supplier when the IPU Upload is applied to your system. |
Once you are finished filling out these details, click Save Supplier. When the supplier is saved it will create the Supplier (Store Specific Details) section and display it for you to fill out.
Store Specific Details
Whether you are an individual store or part of a group, you will need to fill out the Store Specific Details section in order to specify how the Supplier is going to be used and how orders are to be sent to them.
The first thing to choose is your Order Method. The available options are:
- Broadband - if this supplier accepts order via BBO / PIMS choose this option. If you select this option, more fields will appear for you to fill out:
- Transmit To - the system has pre-populated list of BBO-supported suppliers. Choose the correct supplier from this list.
- Username - this is the Broadband Ordering username provided to you by your supplier
- Password - this is Broadband Ordering password provided to you by your supplier
- Alternative Supplier - this is used for sending Exceptions / Shorts to another supplier to be automatically ordered. This dropdown will show you any other suppliers you have set up in your system with an Order Method of Broadband.
- You will also find a setting called Always use my own cost prices when ordering from this supplier - if this is enabled then the Cost Prices in your system will be used for checking in items instead the price sent back by the supplier via PIMS
- Email
- Use this if you want the system to send an email of your order to your supplier
- Phone
- Use this if you will be phoning / faxing in the order to your supplier
- Postal
- Use this if you will be posting the order to your supplier
Once you have chosen your Order Method you may need to fill out the information for the Sales Rep for the Supplier.
If using an Order Method of Email it is extremely important to fill out the correct Rep Email Address as this is the address we will send the order information to.
There are also a few more settings at the bottom of the screen that should be reviewed.
- Generate orders automatically for this supplier based on Replenishment Levels
- This setting allows you to use Replenishment Ordering on this supplier if turned on
- Replenishment Days
- If using Replenishment Ordering on this supplier, this setting details how many days worth of stock you want to be basing your ordering on
- Reorder Level Days
- This setting can be ignored and left at 0
- Reorder Qty Days
- This setting can be ignored and left at 0
- Automatically move items that are short back to Waiting to Send
- If this setting is enabled, items that are short e.g. the supplier cannot deliver them, will be automatically pushed back into the Manage Orders page in the Orders Module so that they can be reordered as needed
- This supplier is active
- If this setting is turned on then the supplier will be available for the store to use for ordering
- If it is turned off, it will not be available for ordering
Once you have filled out all of the required details click Save Details. Your Supplier record is now updated.
- Delete a Supplier
To delete a supplier:
- Navigate to the Suppliers page so you can see the list of all of your suppliers
- Use the Filter textbox or the navigation options at the bottom of the screen to help find the Supplier record you want to delete
- Once you've found the record you want to delete, click the Bin icon located at the far right of the supplier details in the list
This will then show you a confirmation screen with two options:
- Yes, Delete this Item!
- Nope, I want to keep it
Choose your option and the supplier will either be deleted or not depending on your selection.
- Replenishment Ordering
This method is used for suppliers who supply you on a set periodic basis.
With such suppliers you order all their products at the same time and you do not usually reorder them until the next order is given to that supplier.
With this method, if a product is out of stock you are not usually in a position to order that particular product on its own.
Note With Replenishment Suppliers, in the Manage Orders page you have a “Generate Order” option once the supplier has been selected. On clicking this button the system then generates a purchase order as follows:
- The system searches all products assigned to the supplier in question and any products which have a replenishment level greater than zero and whose current stock is less than the replenishment level is placed on the order.
- The quantity ordered is equal to the replenishment level less the stock level rounded up to the nearest case quantity.
There are many suppliers from which shops can only order from on an order cycle basis – once per month or indeed once every two months.
When this is the case, then the only suitable method is the replenishment level method.
The logic behind this method is that each product is ordered in such quantity as to bring the stock levels up to the quantity which will be sufficient to ensure that there will be enough stock until the next order from that supplier arrives on the shop floor.
Schemes
Both Private and Public Schemes for Dispensing have configurable settings against them in the system. You can Add, View and Change Schemes information from the Schemes page.
for more information on managing Dispensing Schemes, please see our Scheme Maintenance section.
Cost Prices
This section will allow you to add new Cost Price types to your system.
By default, the system maintains the following Cost Price Types:
Average Purchasing Cost
- The average cost of purchasing this product, this is calculated by averaging the purchasing cost of the item when booked into stock from the orders module
List Cost Price
- This is the listed cost price provided by the supplier, in the case of IPU updated products, this reflects the IPU cost price. To update this price enter in the new cost price in this field.
Latest Cost Price
- This is the most recent cost price the product has been purchased for, based on the cost of the item when booked into stock from the orders module
These Cost Prices are broken down in more detail in the Pricing section of this Help File so if you want more information on these please visit that section to learn more.
If, for example, you wished to keep track of the Cost Price of a particular item from a specific Supplier so that you could choose to order from them as long as their price is better than other suppliers, you could add a new Cost Price Type in this section of the Config module.
Once your new Cost Price Type is set up, e.g. "ALLEGRO List Cost", you can then go to the products you may wish to order from that supplier and set up that price against the product.
Adjustment Reasons
- To Access the Adjustment Reasons open the system
- Select Adjustment Reasons from the drop-down menu located on the left-hand side
- This will open the stock adjustment overview page.
- Here we can use the quick search function to filter the existing stock adjustment reasons
- To do this select the search box and type in your selection.
- The page can also be filtered further by selecting the Filter function.
- Select Apply filter to search.
- To print out the Product adjustment reasons select the print icon
- Adding/Deleting a new Stock Adjustment Reason
- To Add a new Stock Adjustment Reason select the Add a new Stock Adjustment Reason Button.
- In the Product Adjustment Reason enter in the reason for adjusting the stock level.
- Select Save to save the adjustment Reason.
- A pop will appear to say that the Adjustment has been saved successfully.
- The new reason will also appear in the list of prior adjustment reasons
- To delete the stock adjustment, select the Bin Icon located at the end of the adjustment message.
- On the pop-up message that appears select either
- Yes, Delete this item
- Nope, I want to keep it
A pop up message will appear to say that the stock adjustment has been deleted.
Alerts
- To access the Alerts open the system and select config.
- Select Alerts from the drop-down selection menu located on the right-hand side.
- This will open the Alerts overview page. Here we can see alerts that have already been created.
- To use the quick search function select the search box and type in the alert.
- To further refine the search criteria select the Filter button and insert the required details and select apply filter.
- Adding/Deleting a new Alert
- To add a new Alert message, sellect the Add a new Alert Message button
- Enter the Alert message into the text box. Sellect Save when finished
- A pop will appear to say that the Alert has been saved successfully.
- The new Alert will also appear in the list of previously saved Alerts
- To delete the Alert, select the Bin Icon located at the end of the Alerts message.
- On the pop-up message that appears select either
- Yes, Delete this item
- Nope, I want to keep it
- A pop-up message will appear to say that the stock adjustment has been deleted.
- The Alert message will now have been removed from the existing list of Alert message.
Advice
- To access Advice open the system
- Select the Config module.
- Select Advice from the menu located on the left-hand side
- This will open the Advice overview page.
- Here we can use the quick search function to filter the existing advice messages
- To do this select the search box and type in your selection.
- The page can also be filtered further by selecting the Filter function.
- Select Apply filter to search.
- To print out the Advice Messages select the print icon
- Adding/Deleting a new Advice Message
- To Add a new Advice Message select the Add a new Advice Message Button.
- In the Advice, Message text box enter the Advice Message
- Select Save to save the advice Message
- A pop will appear to say that the Advice Message has been saved successfully.
- The Advice Message will also appear in the list of previously created Advice Messages
- To delete the stock adjustment, select the Bin Icon located at the end of the adjustment message.
On the pop-up message that appears select either
- Yes, Delete this item
- Nope, I want to keep it
- A pop-up message will appear to say that the stock adjustment has been deleted.
- The Advice message will now have been removed from the existing list of Advice messages