 
As you may have already heard, TopForm has moved its annual User's
Conference to the spring. We discussed this scheduling change with
quite a few of our customers and solicited their opinions in our 2001
User Conference Survey. The main reason for the change was to distance the Conference from the DMIA Annual Meeting and Inform Services, which is traditionally scheduled in the fall. We often times found ourselves sandwiched between this major industry event and the Jewish and Thanksgiving holidays. However, each year we hesitated to make the move. We didn't want to go a year and a half in between conferences but we were fearful of scheduling them too close together. Why is this year different? 2001 was different in a very dramatic way. September 11th left many people fearful of travel. Others just didn't want to have to deal with the difficulty and the uncertainty of the heightened security. Therefore, many have expressed that they would welcome the opportunity to participate in a conference that is scheduled sooner rather than later. Also, in the second quarter of 2002, we plan the release of TopForm, Windows Edition. Although, the TopForm programs themselves are the same, everything that the user sees will be different as far as the presentation. We will be preparing special training classes and training materials to "train your trainers". Your key personnel should be able to return to your office with the knowledge and supplemental materials to bring the rest of your staff up to speed. As promised, the character-based version of TopForm will continue to be supported for those who prefer this method of data entry. We plan to continue and expand the Executive Round Tables that were a successful addition to the 2001 User Conference. Some very exciting developments are now in process as a result of the valuable input of our User Executives. I would like to particularly recognize, Jim Worrell who offered his expertise in the development of preliminary functional specifications for our new Barcode Aided Warehouse Tracking System in development. Gordie Peterson gave the users insight into a Workflow solution that they might add to their product mix and ideas for the basis of a TopForm Document Imaging Solution. Soon, TopForm will be announcing the adoption of printXML as our standard for Internet interoperability. We have been working with Four51 and cXML to support the movement of order data from their Internet ordering system into TopForm order entry. And although we have had some measure of success, the limitations of the cXML standard for the needs of the typical Print Management Company has caused us to search out other standards. We believe printXML is our answer. We should be able to move forward, using this standard, to make more of our TopForm data accessible to your trading partners. We need executive input on your data sharing priorities. We will also be providing information for our clients on how to implement the new TopForm Variable Print Option of Web.ec, including how to create the variable print templates with the associated pdf's as well as many other great new features of TopForm and Web.ec. Does credit card processing get your interest? Nowhere can you gain more information that is specific to the way you run your business than at the TopForm Annual Users Conference. We hope that you will Spring Into Action and make our first annual User Conference to be hosted in the spring a big success. Julie Pritchard President 
The TopForm Golf Challenge is back by popular demand! We are arranging
a Best-Ball tournament for Thursday, April 25 with a Shotgun start
at 1:00 p.m. The championship golf course package will include green
fee, cart, range balls, tournament services and prizes. The foursomes
will be formed by your requests and skill level. Reserve your spot
today by contacting me, Anthony Mullins, at 770.239.5452 or amullins@topform.com. Further details are coming soon. Our newest customer, Kim Hostutler of We're Forms, says to, "bring your clubs and a sense of humor." Kim has obviously seen my golf game.  Kevin
Carver was recently hired to the position of Web Design Consultant.
His responsibilities will be to design and implement web pages for
customers using TopForm's Web.ec online solution. He will also take
over the role of TopForm's Webmaster. With 7 years of Internet experience,
Kevin is going to become an integral player in the future of TopForm.com.
He's worked on such sites as Miss Universe, NASCAR and CNN and we're
glad he's now a part of our team. Please check out Kevin's work by visiting our new website at www.topform.com . If you like what you see and would like to put Kevin's talents to work for you, please contact Jean Dudek, at 770.239.5334 or jad@topform.com, for pricing and scheduling Now that all of our TopForm Users will have expanded ODBC capability, we are getting lots of requests for ODBC support and training. Sign up now for our next ODBC class to be held on March 20 & 21, 2002 To Register please call or email Karyn Ibert at kibert@topform.com The Renaissance Waverly Hotel pictured above shows the beautiful facility we have booked for this grand event. Mark your calendar now to be with us in Atlanta April 25-27. Spring holds the promise of new and wonderful things and this year's Conference will not be an exception. Atlanta is always beautiful and glorious in the springtime so don't miss out! Conveniently located in the heart of Northwest Atlanta's business district, the Renaissance Waverly Hotel is the focal point of the Galleria shopping and office complex. The hotel is connected to the Cobb Galleria Centre, which is a 280,000 sq. ft. convention and trade show facility. The Renaissance Waverly Hotel is easy to find at the intersection of I-75, I-285 and US 41 (Cobb Parkway). Downtown Atlanta is 9 miles from the hotel, while Hartsfield International Airport is just a 25 minute drive. A shopper's delight, the hotel is connected to the 40 fine shops of The Galleria Mall. Also, just across the street, connected by a skywalk, the Cumberland Mall features over 150 stores anchored by Macy's and Rich's easily accessed by the hotel's free shuttle. There is a wide selection of restaurants located in both malls, in addition to an 8-screen movie theater at the Galleria. The Fitness Center has state-of-the-art equipment plus indoor and outdoor pools. The spa located in the Fitness Center offers a wide variety of massages, manicures and pedicures. Over the years, TopForm has added many different options to alert your staff when special handling procedures may apply. You can take advantage of options that fit your needs by setting the appropriate flag in your TopForm Parameters. Some options, offer additional navigation while others just prompt the operator. Credit checks warnings to be given during Order Entry. TopForm can notify the operator when a customer is over their credit limit, on credit hold or on monitor status, or if they have a past due invoice. In addition to the warning, the operator can press a key or click a button to see all the open invoices or view the credit history panel. Depending on your application by security parameters, following this warning, the operator can either be restricted or allowed to continue with the order entry process. Customer Item Notes? As you may know, at any point in TopForm, you can press the F1 key, and then the F6 key for notes. You can then choose to add or view a note about a customer, a vendor or an item. It is this third option that is affected by this parameter. If you say yes to this parameter question, any notes that you have added to an item will automatically display when the Operator enters an order or a requisition for that item, or when the operator enters that item number in the customer master, Form or item master files. Message in Req Entry if item is now below ROP? With this parameter set, the operator can be warned during Requisition entry that the item has fallen below the established reorder point. Allow vendor messages? Y Enables you to enter messages in the Vendor Master file that are triggered by certain processes. A message entered under the "Invoice Entry Message" section will automatically display when you enter that vendor code in A/P invoice entry. One entered under the "Order Entry Message" section, will display when you enter that vendor code in Order Entry. The other two options are for messages to display upon selecting invoices for payment and for opening the vendor master file. Location's requisition maximum exceeded warning? And, Order maximum quantity along with requisition maximum warning? If a particular cost center has been set up with a maximum that they can requisition during any one period, a warning can be displayed when they have exceeded that monthly maximum and the maximum amount that was set can also be displayed. This feature has recently been added to Web.ec. Notepad upon entering existing order in O1 & D1. This parameter automatically displays the order notepad anytime the operator enters (or calls up) that order number. They do not have to open the order notepad to see the messages there. Prompt in req lines entry to return to order header? This parameter provides a prompt and the navigation to get back to the order Header screen in the event the operator remembers or notices something that should be changed. Warn if order exists for same item/ship-to, when item is out of stock? Let's say perhaps you have customers who order so regularly from you that they might forget that they had already ordered a particular item. This tendency might even become exaggerated if an item is out of stock. The customer knows that they need an item so they order it a second time. With this parameter set, TopForm will check to see if this location already has an open order or backorder for that customer location, so that you do not duplicate the order. For these and other parameter options, you shrould occasionally review the available parameter questions. Be careful, however, before changing any system parameters, as they can sometimes change how data is collected and used within TopForm. If you have any questions or need any assistance please contact support. |