RAMAC Systems for Inventory, Billing and Sales Analysis

One of the commonest uses of RAMAC systems is for a combined inventory, billing and sales analysis appli-cation. Food, drug, hardware and other wholesalers, as well as many manufacturers with widespread dis-tribution, have found that these systems are an excel-lent answer for many of their data processing prob-lems. While there are many approaches being fol-lowed, the illustrative procedure given below is typical of what can be done. It is based, for the most part, on the work being performed by a replacement parts dealer who stocks about 30,000 items and has about 4,000 customers. One 100-character record is used to store the name and address of each customer and another 100 characters are used for maintaining. their sales records. Provision has also been made to store the billing, inventory and usage data pertaining to each item on a 100-character record. How the records are addressed and how they are used is discussed be-low.

Addressing

The manner in which the computer uses the identify-ing part of an input card, such as a part number, to locate a record in disk storage is called addressing.

Several different methods of addressing have been de-veloped. Each of these methods has certain advan-tages and disadvanadvan-tages which vary in importance

ac-Part Number

Figure 75. Billing and Inventory Input Card

cording to the nature of the data composing the file.

The methods may be divided into two general cate-gories, direct addressing and indirect addressing. In the direct addressing method, certain information in each record is used, either directly or by a simple conversion process, to provide the disk storage ad-dress. This information is usually the control data of the record (i.e., an identifying part of the record, such as employee number, part number or account number).

In some applications, it is not practical to use direct addressing. These situations usually arise because no part of the records will directly be, or easily convert to, disk storage addresses. Also, there will be some instances in which direct addressing will not be pos-sible because the available addresses, if used, will re-sult in an excessive amount of wasted storage space.

In either case, it will be necessary to use indirect ad-dreSSing methods, unless it is found more desirable to renumber the records.

In the job chosen for illustration, catalog listings, pricing material, etc., were in the hands of customers and dealers, and the cost of reassignment of part num-bers and of the consequent redistribution of this ma-terial was prohibitive. It was therefore decided to use indirect addressing. Two weeks of experimenta-tion with various conversion methods resulted in the decision to use the indexing method, which provides for the location of a record by the use of indexes in disk storage. The approach adopted converts part number to a disk storage address by rearrangement, extraction, placement, and by prefix digits specifically

I . . .,

Part Number Part Number

related to disk storage locations and results in spread-ing the 30,000 inventory items over 40 disks.

Daily

As orders arrive, they are forwarded to the control desk, where the customer number, type of order, order number and shipping instructions are entered on the order. The control clerk also checks that there are part numbers for all items ordered; if any are missing, she consults the catalog and enters the correct part

( Naturally, the number of items that can be entered in one SO-column card depends on the size of the part number and the maximum quantities ordered.) In addition, if the order is nonstandard, it is necessary to punch ship-to and/or special data cards. As soon as the cards for an order are punched, they can be placed in the machine for processing.

The computer searches for the customer record (Figure 76) of the account that is to receive the order and punches the information into a name and address card which will be used to write the invoice. Then for each item ordered, the system:

1. Converts the part number to a disk storage ad-dress and locates the part record.

Customer

Name Address

2. Checks the catalog number for valid, obsolete or superseded numbers.

3. Edits the quantity ordered for a standard pack or for excessive quantity.

4. Determines whether total quantity ordered c~n be shipped, or whether allocation must be made to protect low stock position.

5. Determines allocation quantity if stock balance is less than a 30-day supply.

e. Back-order quantity (when applicable) 7. Calculates monthly usage (the volume of an item which has been sold in the 30 days just previous to the current day).

S. Edits for reorder pOint (less than gO-day supply), follow-up (30- to 60-day supply), or expedite (less

11. Punches extended item card.

After all the line items on one order have been processed, the invoice total, including any applicable allowances and taxes, is added to the accounts receiv-able balance maintained for each customer. This amount is checked against the customer's credit limit

Accounts Receivable Control

~

(predetermined by the credit manager and held in disk storage). If it exceeds the limit, a signal card is punched and the invoice referred to the credit man-ager. In addition to punching name and address cards, line item cards, and inventory signal cards, the com-puter also punches special data cards, tax and allow-ance cards, C.O.D. cards, etc., when required. All output cards are then sort-separated. The cards re-quired for invoicing are sorted by warehouse location and used to prepare the invoice. The inventory signal cards are used in the daily inventory analysis run discussed below. Figure 78 shows the daily process-ing just described.

Daily Inventory Analysis

At the end of the daily billing cycle, all recelvmg reports, credits for returned parts, and inventory ad-justments are punched and sorted with the signal cards produced during the processing of parts orders.

These then serve as the input for the inventory analysis run, during which the system:

1. Converts part number to disk address and locates the item record.

2. Updates all balances required for each transac-tion.

3. Computes and updates new unit price where nec-essary.

Order

Acknow- ... - - . . . j

ledgment

RAMAC System

Accounting Invoice Machine

Figure 78. Daily Order Processing

Stock Status Inquiries

To Daily Inventory Processing

Adjustments

Receipts

Stock

Analysis and RAMAC System

To Purchasing Department

Figure 79. Daily Inventory Analysis

I

4. Revises warehouse location where necessary.

5. Punches back-order release signal card where receipts to stock re-establish sufficient balances.

6. Computes inventory coverage in terms of months of stock on hand, based upon previous usage figures.

7. Calculates suggested order quantity for items re-quiring procurement action.

8. Prints an action report for all items with less than a 30-day supply remaining (Figure 80).

Inquiries

The data processing department is connected with related departments, such as the purchasing and order departments, by an interoffice communication system.

When requested, the machine operator makes in-quiries concerning the status of individual items by keying the item number on the inquiry keyboard. The typewriter then prints out the status of the requested