EMDECS Software Blog

It is common, from time to time to deactivate unused parts from the Item Master. To ensure accurate reporting, it is important to avoid deactivating parts that are contained in open transactions. Before deactivating a part, make sure that the part is not included in any open work orders, purchase orders or physical inventory counts.

If you would like further information, do not hesitate to contact Perfit Support.

Here is a very useful tip for our fleet maintenance customers that want to supersede older parts with new ones.  By using the Item Master screen, and specifically the Supplier Catalogue section, the old part number can be placed there, while the main Item Code gets renamed to the new part number.

This small but easy step allows the users to continue with the new part number but also be able to search for the old part number.  All the while, being linked to one record.  This really helps clean out the inventory and helps reduce overall stock on-hand value caused by duplicate records.

For information on this useful tip, please contact Perfit Support.

A common mistake made when de-activating a former employee is checking to see if that employee was linked to a username. Usernames used to issue parts from inventory are linked to a specific employee record with authority to issue parts. If that employee is no longer employed, do not forget to link the username to an existing employee so that parts can continue to be issued by that username.

If you would like to speak to Support about this, please contact Perfit.

This morning, I was listening to the Dave Nemo show on XM Road Dog Trucking (171), and he was talking to Rob Abbott, American Trucking Association, VP of Safety Policy about CSA 2010.

Here's what I learned: In a nut shell, the idea behind CSA 2010 is crash prevention. And so it's a points system that can be applied to a motor carrier to determine the likelihood that the carrier will be safe. This way, FMCSA can use less resources on "safe" carriers, and focus on helping the "not-safe" carriers.

Overall, it was a very positive conversation, and I enjoyed learning about some of the challenges that motor carriers face.

Having said that, Rob mentioned the following site to help motor carriers ease in to CSA 2010, and to learn from other carrier's experiences from participation in CSA 2010 pilot sites.

www.csa-exp.com

They've got a live webinar on September 8, 2010, and I can see this as a must participate event!

If you'd like to find out more about EMDECS and what we're doing with CSA 2010, please contact us!