In This Issue

ISSUE 8 * July 2013

net WORK

Purchase Order System

Measure, Manage, and Improve

FDC Solutions’ Purchase Order

System is the only comprehen-

sive purchasing product on the

market developed specifically

for Caterpillar dealers. The sys-

tem is fully integrated with DBS/

DBSi, including all functional ar-

eas as well as Accounting.

Items ordered on DBS Work Or-

ders, Emergency Parts Orders,

Stock Orders and Equipment

Orders can quickly and easily

be added to a new purchase or-

der with no double entry need-

ed. Order information is pulled

from DBS and the user can add

only certain items or the entire

order to the PO. An innovative

Quick Create process integrates

the PO creation directly into the

Parts Counter, Work Order, and

EMS workflows.

Advanced features include a

powerful search screen that is

accessible throughout the sys-

tem. Reports can be batch,

online, or e-mailed in spread-

sheet format and can be inte-

grated with e-mail and imaging

solutions.

Features include: Three-way match function-

ality ensures that what you ordered, what you received, and what you are being billed for are the same

Prevents works orders from being closed before all out-side costs are applied

Allows creation of purchase orders for items outside of DBS/DBSi

The system focuses on:

Integration with DBS workflows

Elimination of duplicate entry

Making it as easy as possi-ble and a useful tool to the end user

The system is a cost effec-tive and solid solution that increases productivity and efficiency. The system also includes important features such as issue-resolution, monitoring, control, and com-munication. Call and schedule a demo and learn how the Purchase Order System can provide you with a significant and early return on your invest-ment.

Pg. 1

Pg. 2

Pg. 3

Purchase Order System

Under Construction

Ask Six Questions to

Identify the Problem

New ERP Webinar

Series

DICE Team Projects

Update

From the FDC

Employees

CAT Dealer Visits FDC

Solutions

Pg. 4 Dealer Happenings

IBM i Security Tips

DICE Team Projects Update Latest Addition to FDC Staff

Warranty Claim Web Services

The Warranty Claim Web Service re-

places the current methods of submit-

ting claims through LU6.2, which will

be retired on January 31, 2014. This

required interface is now available to

our ERP Support dealers. We are cur-

rently working with all of our ERP sup-

port dealers on this initiative and

scheduling the implementation.

Bargain List Interface

The "Bargain List" is an electronic ser-

vice listing Caterpillar parts within the

inventory distribution system available

at discount prices. All parts are new,

sold with full warranty and shipped pre

-paid unless otherwise specified. The

database is refreshed weekly; there-

fore, items may come and go quick-

ly. To order Bargain List parts, dealers

must use their marketing region’s Bar-

gain List Web application.

The Bargain List Interface populates the

dealer’s business system with Bargain

List items for inquiry purposes only. The

Bargain List has three files that will be

delivered to CAT shared mailboxes. By

implementing this interface, dealers will

receive new, changed, or deleted parts

information each week.

We are piloting the Bargain List Inter-

face with some of our ERP Support

dealers. General availability for the inter-

face is planned for third quarter 2013.

MATCO Personnel & Members of FDC Staff

We are pleased to introduce the

newest member of FDC Solutions:

Mary Dickson. Mary joined FDC in

June. Her IT job experience includes

25 years on the AS/400 platform

specializing in systems analysis, pro-

gramming, and database manage-

ment solutions. Mary is an IT profes-

sional with comprehensive dealer

experience; previously working at

Holt of California for 11 years.

For the last 15 years, Mary has

performed a multifaceted role

working for a supermarket adver-

tising company as Sr. Program-

mer/Analyst. While working in

this capacity for the past six

years, she also managed and

supported their AS/400.

In her spare time, Mary enjoys

going to the theatre, watching

movies, and reading books.

MATCO—Obregón, Mexico

MATCO and FDC Staff feasting on Famous Dave’s Platters. YUM!

Today’s dealers are facing unprece-

dented times and, consequently, are

encountering new hurdles in their

day-to-day operations. To help dea-

lers maintain competitive advantage,

FDC Solutions is pleased to meet

and share its prospective solutions

on dealers’ pressing current IT cha-

llenges.

MATCO, the Caterpillar dealer in

Obregón, Mexico, recently paid a

visit to FDC Solutions corporate

headquarters in Peoria, Illinois.

The dealer’s visit consisted of

meeting with team members of

FDC’s staff in an effort for FDC

Solutions to understand the cu-

rrent IT issues and challenges

facing the dealer. The focus of

the visit was on systems and pro-

cess improvements. MATCO, a

non-DBS dealer, was very inter-

ested in obtaining additional in-

formation on the agnostic pro-

ducts and interfaces FDC offers

to dealers allowing them to ope-

rate more efficiently.

Under Construction Expand Knowledge of DBS/DBSi

Coming Soon

Este sistema web estará pronto

disponible en Español

(FDC’s Web site

http://fdcsolutions.com

will be available in Spanish soon)

Ask Six Questions to

Identify the Problem

Begin conversations geared toward

problem-solving by identifying the

problem and how it might be solved.

Six questions should guide your

actions:

1. Is X important?

2. If so, how well should we be doing

with X?

3. How well are we doing with it?

4. If we are not doing at least as well

as we should, how can we im-

prove?

5. What is stopping us?

6. How do we remove, blast through,

or tunnel under any obstacles

stopping us from improving X?

Adapted from Cage-Busting Leader-

ship, Frederick M. Hess, Harvard Edu-

cation Press.

FDC Solutions is proud to an-

nounce the establishment of our

new ERP Webinar Series. Dedi-

cated exclusively to our ERP Sup-

port dealers, this monthly webinar

series was developed to help deal-

ers expand their working

knowledge of and maximize utility

with DBS/DBSi.

Facilitated by a member of FDC’s

team, the ERP Webinar Series

supplies a high level conversation

about topics spanning every func-

tional area of the dealership. Fo-

cusing on a subject from a different

functional area every month, the

Webinar Series is intended to pro-

vide insight, information, and spur

ideas and dialogue to the benefit of

all that use DBS/DBSi. Monthly

topics are sourced from dealer

feedback and the experience of

FDC’s Support team, ensuring that

all sessions are fresh, timely, and

relevant to the dealer community.

Topics from our initial webinars

include:

Sell Rate Efficiency

Trade-In Process (Charge Code Method)

FDC offers this forum to our

ERP Support Dealers as anoth-

er value-added service free of

additional costs. Our ERP Sup-

port Dealers are encouraged to

take advantage of these ses-

sions and pool their knowledge

with our team’s 800 years of

CAT experience in order to gain

added fluency and use DBS/

DBSi to its full extent.

As always, dealers are wel-

come to contact our team with

questions, suggestions, or feed-

back as this initiative takes fur-

ther shape.

Dealer Happenings

New Dealer Implementations The implementation of our product appli-

cations has grown tremendously over the

past year. This change reflects our com-

mitment to ensuring that we build what

you need not what we think you want.

Disable Hierarchical Access (SAP)

MacAllister Machinery

Indiana

May 2013

Freight Module

Kramer Ltd.

Canada

June 2013

Marketing Claims for Flat Rate

Workorders

Cashman Equipment Co.

Nevada

May 2013

Purchase Order Module

Butler Machinery

North and South Dakota

July 2013

Training In most dealerships the education and

training for change is a critical part of the

plan for new learning. FDC Solutions has

delivered training courses to dealers and

provided the opportunities for key users

to learn, practice, and apply the specific

skills and activities required to effectively

use the Purchase Order System and the

Dealer Business System (DBS). Purchase Order Training

Kramer Ltd.

Canada

June 2013 DBS Training

Cogesa

El Salvador

June—July 2013 Gentrac Belize

Belize

June—July 2013

Contact us:

FDC Solutions Inc.

456 Fulton Street, Suite 298A

Peoria, IL 61602

(309) 676-7795

info@fdcsolutions.net

Lock Up Your System Values

Loeber, Rich. “Lock Up Your System Values.”

E-mail 7 June 2013. www.kisco.com.

When implementing your company’s

security policy on your IBM i, often

the first thing you do is review your

system values. System values define

global, system-wide settings on your

IBM i platform. Many of these system

values pertain to how you want to

implement system security. This tip

will review how to look at these set-

tings and how to lock them in place

so that they cannot be changed.

Many of these system values are

security related that the OS design-

ers provided as an easy way for you

to review and work with the security

settings. This is done by using the

“Work with System Values” com-

mand (WRKSYSVAL) with the

“System Value” (SYSVAL) parameter

set to the special value of *SEC. The

command looks like this:

WRKSYSVAL SYSVAL(*SEC)

Setting the OUTPUT parameter to

*PRINT will produce a listing of the

security system values for you. Or,

you can just run the command with

the OUTPUT parameter blank and

the system will bring the security

system values up for you to re-

view. A similar review function is

available from iSeries Navigator, but

the security functions are spread out

over several different selection tabs

(at least on my version) and you

have to go several places to find

everything that is available from the

single *SEC review ability of the

WRKSYSVAL command. When

working with the values interactively,

you can review the current setting

using option 5 or you can change the

value using option 2. The list of

system values displayed shows

the name of the value and a text

description. Often, this is not

enough information for you to

determine exactly what you’re

looking at. When I find myself in

this situation, I put a 5 next to it,

then position the cursor over the

current value displayed and

press the HELP (or F1) key. The

help text that comes with this

command is quite comprehen-

sive and very helpful.

Changing any of your security

system values should not be

done on a whim. Planning and

preparation are the watchwords

for this process. It is all too easy

to shoot yourself in the foot by

making a security change on the

fly and then losing, for example,

the ability to log into your sys-

tem. All security changes should

be researched in advance to

determine the exact impact on

your system. If you’re not sure,

do the work to find out what is

needed rather than just trying it

out without knowing the impact.

Once you have your security

system values set along with the

other system values (and there

are loads of them), it is a good

idea to lock them in place.

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