Nearly every aspect of your CounterPoint System--its appearance, content, and behavior--can be customized.

For a truly tailored fit, CounterPoint can be customized to meet your unique business needs. You can easily customize LookUps, Filters, Zooms, menus, toolbars, fonts, color schemes, Touchscreen Ticket Entry, table views, and grid layouts.

Nearly every aspect—its appearance, content, and behavior—can be customized using CounterPoint's built-in tools.

For example, you can:

• Customize reports, field names, field sizes, warning messages, and more
• Skip unwanted/unused fields
• Add new, user-defined fields to the system
• Add new, user-defined screens or attach custom programs to the CounterPoint main menu
• Print a report that identifies any customized columns, tables, triggers, stored procedures, etc.

Detailed function-level security is provided for each user. Function-level security determines whether a user is authorized to view costs, void tickets, enter returns, override credit limits, enter transactions for previous years, and much more.

CounterPoint can be password protected. Passwords can be required and can have a minimum length and an expiration date. Users can be forced to change their password after logging in. You can also see who is logged into CounterPoint at any given time, and, in many cases, which part of the software they're using.

For additional security, you can assign users to limited menus with fewer selections.

Menus and Toolbars

Multiple toolbar schemes are also available. An authorized user may select a toolbar scheme or design a custom toolbar. Toolbars can be the same or different for each screen.

An easy drag-and-drop design interface allows authorized users to change the appearance and behavior of toolbars and menus, including:

• Toolbar visibility
• Toolbar position
• Button/Menu images
• Button/Menu text
• Shortcut keys
• External programs

Touchscreen Interface

A pop-up keyboard is available in Touchscreen Ticket Entry as well as from all standard maintenance forms, report parameter forms, and filter forms. With pop-up keyboards, users can enter information using touchscreen workstations that aren't equipped with a keyboard.

Table View or Record View

On each CounterPoint screen, you can choose which view to use when editing and maintaining your data. Use the standard Record View to work with a single item, customer, etc., at a time. Or switch to Table View to view and edit multiple records at a time.

Zooms

Zooms display additional details throughout CounterPoint. Zooms are available for items, customers, A/R documents, vendors, stores, users, gift certificates, store credits, locations, location groups, PO's, receivings history, ticket history, serial numbers, transfers, and more from virtually anywhere.

For example, while entering a ticket, the Item Zoom displays information about the item, quantities available, recent sales, vendors, monthly history, substitute items, notes, etc. The Customer Zoom displays the customer's contact information, current balance, recent sales, ticket history, etc.

Advanced users can use the Zoom Dictionary to create new Zooms and to control the appearance, content, and behavior of existing Zooms.

LookUps

LookUps let you view a list of valid records (e.g., items, customers, vendors, etc.). LookUps are available from any field in which information can be "looked up" from a list of valid choices.

For example, when an item LookUp is requested, the LookUp window displays the complete list of items. The items can be ordered by item number, barcode, category, vendor, description, etc.  

With user-friendly keyword searching, CounterPoint matches a keyword to any field designated as a keyword search field. Keyword searching finds, for example, an item based on a partial match of any keyword field (category, description, vendor, etc.).

All LookUps are customizable. From within a LookUp, you can zoom in on detailed information, or set Filters to display only the items you want. Authorized users can even add on-the-fly or make changes to existing records.

Filters

Filters allow you to set conditions that limit the records that display. For example, you could choose to display only the "items in category GOLF with a primary vendor of ADAMS."

Indexes

For example, if you have tens of thousands of items on file, and you frequently look up items by sub-category, you may want to define a sub-category index to speed up the Item LookUp.

Crystal Reports

New forms and reports may be created, and standard forms and reports may be customized using Crystal Reports Designer (purchased separately). Custom reports may be used in place of any standard report, or they may be added to custom menus and used in addition to the standard reports.

Quick Reports

You can create a Quick Report from any LookUp window to preview, print, or save the information. Quick Reports can easily be added to a customized menu and function like standard reports. You can also export the information from the Quick Report to another application, such as Microsoft Excel.

Automatic Workstation Updates

To simplify the installation of periodic software updates, newer software need only be installed on the server. Each CounterPoint workstation automatically detects the newer software version and updates itself as required.

Triggers

For example, you could define a Warranty Repairs trigger for billing the manufacturer (not the customer) for repair work. When a customer brings in an item for repair, the clerk enters a normal point-of-sale ticket, and the warranty work is paid for with a special A/R pay code. The trigger automatically charges the manufacturer's A/R account. At the end of the month, a statement of how much money the manufacturer owes you for the warranty work can be printed and mailed to the manufacturer.

Batches

For example, two people at the same location can concurrently enter and post inventory adjustments or cash receipts. Posting one user's batch of data will not affect the other user's batch.

Workgroups

Workgroups are also beneficial for grouping users in wide area networks and Multi-Site configurations.

Messages/Reminders

With the Message Center, you can send electronic messages to other users to inform them about system changes, daily specials, etc., or you can schedule repeating reminders. Messages automatically display when a user logs into CounterPoint.

Renumbering Utilities

Importing and Exporting Data

Data can be exported using CounterPoint's Database Export utility or other applications such as Excel, Crystal Reports, or Microsoft SQL.

Upgrade Utility

You can also convert data from third-party applications into the appropriate CSV format, and then use the Upgrade Data utility to convert that data for use with CounterPoint SQL.

Data Dictionary

You can also define rules to control screen behaviors, such as specifying minimum or maximum values for numeric fields.

Custom Fields

Custom fields allow you to easily record, track, and view additional information on existing CounterPoint forms. Custom fields are automatically available throughout CounterPoint in Zooms, LookUps, and Filters.

For example, if you wanted to track the name of the person who referred a particular customer and the date on which the referral was made, you could define custom fields for "Referred by" and "Referral date" and add them automatically to the standard Customers screen.

Custom Screens

Custom screens allow you to create new, user-defined screens within CounterPoint. Custom screens fully support LookUps and Filters.

For example, if you wanted to track customer-specific item numbers, you could create a custom screen that includes fields for the customer number, item number, the customer's item number, and a description.

Custom screens can be attached seamlessly to the CounterPoint main menu, to a Touchscreen Ticket Entry button, or to any toolbar. You can even add a button to the toolbar on the Customer maintenance screen that, when clicked, displays the customer's unique item numbers.

Custom Programs

You can create a user-friendly front end for your own custom programs. Custom programs and applications can be created using any number of development tools and can be run from the CounterPoint main menu for a consistent interface.

For example, you may create a Visual Basic application named Batch Price Changes that changes the Price-1 values for a group of items up or down by a specific percentage.

Using a "standard looking" CounterPoint screen, you can specify the category, subcategory, or vendor to change, as well as the percentage by which Price-1 should change. CounterPoint then passes these values to your Visual Basic application which changes the Price-1 values for the group of items.