Road Trips and Trade Shows

Overview

Road Trips is an Enterprise Edition feature which allows you to take orders and enter them into SEOM while you are away from your home office.
You may take orders at trade shows or sell goods at conventions. Or you may have outside sales people who would like to enter orders while they are on the road visiting customers.
With Road Trips and Trade Shows you can enter orders and track inventory on the road, then import those orders back into your main SEOM database, along with new customers, credit card transactions, quotes, etc.

Summary of How it Works

The first steps take place at your home office:

Add a Road Trip. There are two kinds of road trips: trade shows and outside sales. Road trips also have a name, a start and end date, and a salesperson. The salesperson is required for outside sales and optional for trade shows. One Road Trip can include any number of trade shows. For example, you might pull a truckload of inventory and take it to several conventions in one trip, then check in the remaining inventory and import the results when you return to your home office.
Create Trade Shows. Next, create your Trade Show(s). (Note: Outside Sales Road Trips do not have trade shows associated with them.) Each Trade Show has a name, price level, start and end dates, the state where the show will be held, and the sales tax rate for sales at that show.
Assign Trade Shows to Road Trips. Next, tell the program which Trade Shows will be part of each road trip. (Again, Outside Sales Road Trips do not have Trade Shows associated with them.)
Create the Road Trip Data File. Create the SEOM data file to be used on the Road Trip. You can select which customers and products to include in the data file, or include all of them. SEOMknows when you are working with a Road Trip data file and will not let you perform certain functions, such as importing orders from a shopping cart, which should only be performed at your main office.
Pick and Export Inventory to Road Trip Data File. If you want to take inventory with you to sell on your trip, select the inventory products and quantities, and export a text file with the list (the Inventory Transfer File). The program will deduct from the inventory quantity on hand in your main store file and print a pick list that you can use to pull the items for the trip. This step can be repeated as needed to replenish your Road Trip inventory by having another Inventory Transfer File sent from the home office, along with the products.

These steps take place on the Road Trip:

Select the Current Trade Show. This lets you keep track of which sales were made at each show.
Import the Inventory Transfer File. This imports the inventory quantities you selected from your main data file into the Road Trip data file.
Check In the Inventory. Receive the inventory into the Road Trip data file.
Repeat steps 6, 7 and 8 as needed for additional trade shows and to receive additional inventory.
Enter Your Road Trip Orders. You can use the Manual Orders screen or the POS (Point of Sale) system.

When you return to your office after you return from the trip:

Import Your Road Trip Results. And check-in any returned inventory.
View Your Road Trip Data. View the Road Trip Data in your main SEOM data file.

Adding, Editing, Deleting a Road Trip

To open the Road Trips screen, go to Main Menu > Settings > Data Functions > Road Trips.

To Add a Road Trip

Go to the Add/Edit Road Trips tab, which is the default view of the Road Trips & Trade Shows screen.
Select Add.
Select the Type of Trip (Outside Sales or Trade Show) and then fill in the Name of Trip, Salesperson, and the Trip Dates (Start and End).
Optional: Enter miscellaneous information about the trip in Notes.
Select Save.

To Edit a Road Trip

Go to the Add/Edit Road Trips, which is the default view of the Road Trips & Trade Shows screen.
Select the trip you want to edit.
Select Edit.
Make the desired changes to the Type of Trip, Name of Trip, Salesperson, Trip Dates, or Notes fields. The Trip ID is generated by the program and cannot be edited.
Select Save.

To Delete a Road Trip

Go to the Add/Edit Road Trips tab, which is the default view of the Road Trips & Trade Shows screen.
Select the trip you want to delete.
Select Delete. Note: you cannot delete a road trip for which you have exported inventory information.

Adding, Editing, Deleting a Trade Show

To open the Road Trips screen, go to Main Menu>Settings>Data Functions>Road Trips.

To Add a Trade Show

Go to the Add/Edit Trade Shows tab.
Select Add.
Fill in the Name of Show, Main Menu Label (what SEOM displays on the Main Menu when using the Road Trip’s data file), select a Price Level, enter Show Dates, Sales Tax State and Rate.
Optional: Select Tax Shipping Charges.
Optional: Enter miscellaneous data in Notes.
Select Save.

To Edit a Trade Show

Go to the Add/Edit Trade Shows tab.
Select the show you want to edit.
Select Edit.
Make the desired changes in the fields at the bottom of the screen. The Show ID field is assigned by the program and cannot be edited.
Select Save.

To Delete a Trade Show

Go to the Add/Edit Trade Shows tab.
Select the show you want to delete.
Select Delete.

Associating Trade Shows with Road Trips

Note: This step only applies to Trade Show-type Road Trips.

To open the Road Trips screen, go to Main Menu>Settings>Data Functions>Road Trips.

To Assign Trade Shows to a Road Trip

Select the Assign Shows tab.
Select a Road Trip.
Select one of the Available Trade Shows.
Select the Right Arrow to assign the selected Trade Show to the selected Road Trip.

Note: A Trade Show can only be assigned to one Road Trip, but multiple Trade Shows can be associated with a single Road Trip.

To Remove a Trade Show from a Road Trip

Select the Assign Shows tab.
Select a Road Trip.
Select one of the Trade Shows on this Road Trip.
Select the Left Arrow to remove the selected Trade Show from the current Road Trip.

Creating a Road Trip Data File

Go to Main Menu>Settings>Data Functions>Road Trips.
Select the Create Data File tab.
Select a Road Trip.
Select All next to Customers or Products to include all customer and inventory records in the Road Trip’s data file. Otherwise, choose Selected and click Select to limit the customer and or product inventory records included in the Road trip data file. The Search for Customers screen or the Select Items screen opens. Enter your selection criteria to choose the records to include in the data file.
Select Create File Now.
Enter a name for the Road Trip data file and select Create File.

Pulling Inventory for a Road Trip

This step is only necessary if you want to take products to sell on your trip. If you do not take products, any orders that you enter will be treated as backorders. You can fill them after you import the data from the Road Trip data file into your main SEOM data file when you return to your home office.

Select the items to take on your trip

Go to the Pick & Export Inventory tab.
Select a Road Trip.
Choose Select. The Quantity for Trip screen appears.
Scroll through the list of your inventory or use the filters to display specific items. Fill in the Quantity for Trip column with the quantity of each item that you want to take with you. The quantity you enter cannot exceed the On Hand quantity.
Select OK to return to the Road Trips screen.
At this point, the items you have selected are just “planned”, and have not yet been deducted from your inventory. You can leave this screen and return later to continue planning the trip without losing any of your work. Items can be planned and pulled multiple times for the same trip.
The Show radio buttons let you select which items to view:
1. Planned: Items that you plan to take, but that have not been pulled from inventory yet.
2. Pulled: Items that have been pulled from inventory and exported into an XML formatted text file for transfer to the road trip’s data file.
3. Returned: Items that have been returned to inventory following the end of the road trip.
4. All: All of the planned, pulled, and returned items for the current road trip.
5. Net Quantities: For items that have been pulled, this shows the quantity pulled, returned, and net quantity out (assumed to have been sold or otherwise disposed of).
Use the Delete and Revise buttons to make any changes.
Select Cancel to start over, deleting all data for the selected road trip and returning any pulled items to inventory.
To pull the current Planned inventory quantities from inventory, select Export.
In the Pull inventory now? message box, select OK to create the Inventory Transfer File (XML-formatted) that you will later import into your road trip data file. Give it a name you will remember and a location that you can access from the road.
Choose Yes or No to print a pick list to use for pulling the actual items from your warehouse.
If the Printer Menu is displayed, select Print to send the report to the default printer, or choose another printer and paper source before selecting Print.
The program issues a message indicating the process is Done! and the location of the XML inventory file. Select OK to end the process.

Preparing Your Computers for the Road Trip

Install SEOM on the computer(s) that you will take with you on your road trip. If you plan to use more than one computer at the same trade show, you should arrange to network them together so they can share the same data file.
Copy the SEOM data file that you created for the road trip onto one of the computers that you will take on the road trip. If you will be using multiple computers, that computer will act as the file server for all of them. It can also be used as a workstation.

On the Road: Selecting the Current Trade Show

Note: The steps in this section are not required for Outside Sales Road Trips. They are only required for Trade Show Road Trips when you take products to sell.

In SEOM, open the Road Trip data file. (Go to Main Menu>Switch Stores. Click the link to the Road Trip data file or select the Folder icon and navigate to the file.)
Open the Road Trips screen. (Go to Main Menu>Settings>Data Functions>Road Trips.) Because you are using a Road Trip data file, you will see different options at this screen:

Select the current Trade Show and select Save. Be sure to repeat this step every time you start selling at a different trade show so SEOM can track the sales from each show.

Receiving Inventory

The program lists the items in the transfer file:

Select OK.
Check in the inventory. There are three ways to do that:
1. Select Receive All to set the quantity received for each item to the quantity expected.
2. Enter the received quantities by typing them into the Qty Received column.
3. Scan the items with a barcode scanner. The scanner must be properly configured for use with SEOM (See Barcodes and Barcode Scanners for more information.)

You can also:
1. Select Clear All to reset the quantity received for all items to zero.
2. Select Delete All.
Once you have set the quantity received for everything, set the following options:
1. Select Replace QOH to replace the quantity on hand for the items listed on the screen with the quantity received. Note that the QOH in road trip files always starts at zero, and is increased when you import an inventory transfer file. If you only import one transfer file, Replace QOH and Add to QOH will give you the same results.
2. Select Add to QOH if the inventory transfer file represents additional or replenishment inventory received during a road trip.
3. Cancel Items with Zero Received option: Clear this box if you expect additional deliveries for the current Inventory Transfer File, or if you have not logged everything in yet and want to continue at a later time. If you select this option, the program assumes that anything with a quantity received of zero is missing, and will not be received.

Select the Post Data button to complete the process and update the quantity on hand in the Road Trip inventory data.
Select Exit.

Selling on the Road

Launch SEOM and open the Road Trip data file.
Use the Manual Orders screen and/or the POS (Point of Sale) screen to enter orders during your road trip.
If you have taken inventory with you on your trip, the program keeps track of your inventory. Otherwise, the program creates backorders for the items are orders that can be filled when you return to your home office at the end of your trip. You can also create quotes on your trip; they will be imported along with orders, customers, transactions, etc. when you return.

Importing Your Trip Data

When you return to the office, open your main SEOM data file. Make sure that you have the final copy of the Road Trip data file available. (If SEOM is still linked to your road trip data file, go to Main Menu> Switch Stores and choose your main store data file.)
Go to the Import Trip Results tab. The screen starts out mostly blank.
Select Open Database to Import From. Browse to the Road Trip data file and open it.

The screen lists the items pulled for the trip (if any), and some information about the orders and inventory information in that file.

Enter the quantity of each item that was not sold by the end of the trip and is to be returned to your main inventory. You can use the Receive All and Clear All buttons, or enter data directly into the Returned column, or use a barcode scanner to log in the items. (Obviously, you can skip this step if you did not take any inventory on your trip.)
When you are finished, select Post Data to import the inventory data, orders, customers, quotes, etc. from the Road Trip data file into your main data file.

Viewing Road Trip Data

You can see the name of the Road Trip and Trade Show where an order was taken on the Miscellaneous tab of View & Process My Orders>Orders or Items tabs.

You can also search for orders from specific Road Trips or Trade Shows by using the Additional Search Fields tab of the Search for Orders (Orders Filter) screen.

When you import orders from a Road Trip, SEOM assigns them a new order number. The original order number from the Road Trip will be treated similarly to a Web order number. It will appear as RT-, plus the Road Trip ID Number- and the Original Order Number. For example, order number 1234 from Road Trip 34 would have a Web order number of RT-34-1234.

Updated on December 14, 2022

Was this article helpful?

Yes No