Changing the Body of an Inventory Report

Inventory Reports Basic Procedures

A printed report consists of several elements: the title, the company logo, column or field headings, and the body of the report. The body contains the customer or item data, sales figures, or other information that make up the actual report. You can control the information that prints in the body by changing the sorts or limits set up in the report selector. You can also add information to the body by adding detail lines to the selector.

Note: To change the body of a report, you should have a good understanding of report structure. For more information, see About Report Structure.

Once you type A at the Do You Want to Change All message, you can change your sorts, limits, or detail lines.

The Change Sorts prompt displays, along with the default sorts for your report. If you don't need to change the sort selections or add sorts for this report, press Enter and go to Step 11. To change the sorts for this report, type Y. The Fill Field Completely message displays.

Note: The Contract Report contains subtotals; therefore, you should not change the sorts unless you move the subtotal line using Report Writer

To specify a sort, enter the number corresponding to the sort order. For example, to make the item's UPC number the primary sort for the report, enter 1s in the UPC # field. You don't have to enter the sorts in order. For example, you can fill the Item # field with 3s before you fill the Desc field with 1s.
The Date field has duplicate sorts. Enter the same sort number in all three date fields (month, day, year) to use duplicate sorts for Date.
You can skip fields and groups as needed:
- To skip a field, press Tab.
- To clear a field, space through it, then press Tab.
- To skip a sort group, press Enter.

Note: You can enter the same sort number in more than one field. If you do, the fields are used together as a combined sort. The two sorts are treated as one long sort. Suppose you enter 1s in both the Name and City fields. The customer name and the customer's city sort alphabetically as one.

At the Break Page On Sort message, you can force a page break for a sort. To begin a new page on the specified sort, type Y. To skip this, press Enter.

Note: All characters, including letters, numbers, and symbols are sorted in the standard ASCII Sort Order.

At the Ascend Or Descend Order On Sort prompt, specify whether to sort in ascending or descending order. Ascending sorts words from A to Z, and numbers from lowest to highest. Descending sorts words from Z to A, and numbers from highest to lowest.
- Press Enter to sort in ascending order.
- Type D to sort in descending order.

Note: The five Sorts fields just above the print lines are quick references to the page break and sort order you set. The first part of the field references your response to the Break Page prompt. The second part corresponds to your response to the Ascending or Descending prompt. Refer to the Sorts fields as you complete the rest of the sorts for this report, as needed.

After you set page breaks and sort order for each sort group on the screen, the Do You Wish To Sort From History/Totals prompt appears. If you don't need to sort the report by history and/or totals, press Enter and go to Step 11. To sort this report from history and/or totals, type Y. As with previous sorts, the history sorts determine the order in which history information prints on the report. For example, if you sort by month-to-date sales, all of the information for each customer is grouped together and printed in alphabetical order according to customers' month-to-date sales. You can also specify page breaks and ascending or descending order for each history sort—however, you can only specify five sorts for a report.

Note: The Break Page On Sort and Ascend Or Descend Order On Sort messages repeat for each sort. This lets you set page breaks and order method individually by sort.

Once you set page breaks and sort order for each sort group, the Do You Wish to Sort From Item Detail prompt displays. To skip this step, press Enter and go to Step 9. Type Y to sort this report from item detail. As with previous sorts, the item detail sorts determine the order in which the item detail information prints. For example, if you sort by the extended item number, all the information for the item is grouped together and printed in numerical order according to the item's extended item number. You can also set page breaks and ascending or descending order for each item detail sort.
The Do You Wish to Sort From History prompt displays. To not sort this report by history, press Enter and go to Step 11. To sort this report from history and/or totals, type Y. The Inventory History/Detail subscreen opens.
Use the Inventory History/Detail subscreen to set sorts. Set History sorts as you did in Step 2. You can specify sorts in three different sort groups:
- The first is the Inventory Usage Record. It comes from the I-AUX file. For more information, see About Item History.
- The second is the History Record. The History Record contains information from the Monthly Quantity Sold boxes. For more information, see In the Item History History Tab.
- The Third is the Yearly Totals record. The Yearly Totals Record contains information from the Quantity through YTD Hits boxes. For more information, see In the Item History History Tab.

Note: The Gross Profit boxes are not part of Yearly Totals. However, they display with the Yearly Totals boxes. Gross Profit is calculated using the totals in the Cost $ and Sales $ boxes.

Use the Do You Wish to Sort From Alias/Contract prompt to determine the order in which the alias and/or contract information prints on the report. Use the Do You Wish To Sort From Alias/Contract prompt to determine the order in which alias and/or contract information prints on the report. For example, if you sort by contract number, all of the information for each contract is grouped together and printed in alphabetical order. To skip this step, press Enter and go to Step 11. Type Y to sort this report by alias and/or contract information. the Alias/Contract subscreen opens.

Note: You can sort with alias and contract fields only if you are printing the Item Alias Master Listing, the 13-Month Low-Stock Report, or a contract report.

Use the Alias/Contract subscreen to set sorts. Set your sorts the same way you did in Step 2. You can specify sorts in three groups:
- The first is I-Alias Selections. It contains the Customer # through Co fields. These fields come from the Inventory Alias dialog boxes, and are stored in the file I-ALIAS. For more information, see Item Aliases.
- The second group is Contract Selections. It has the Contract Number through Contract Cost $ fields. They come from the Inventory Contract Price window and are stored in the CONTRACTS file. For more information, see Contracts.
- The third group is I-DB-Index Selection. It has the Direct Buy Vendor $ through Co fields. They come from the Direct Buy box in the Item Master tab. This information is stored in the I-DB-INDEX file
When the Change Limits prompt appears, all fields on the screen fill with question marks. If you do not need to change the limit selections for this report, press Enter and go to Step 21. To change the limit selections for this report, type Y. The Inventory History/Detail subscreen to set limits.
At the Entering Limits From prompt, you can define limits for the report. Enter the beginning range in the appropriate field. For example, to limit the report to include only item numbers 1000 to 2000, enter the beginning range of 1000 in the Item # field.
You can skip fields as needed:
- To skip a field, press Tab.
- To skip to the next sort group, press Enter.
The Entering Limits To prompt displays. Tab to each field that you selected as a beginning limit and enter the ending value. For example, to limit the report to include only item numbers 1000 to 2000, enter 2000 in the Item # field.

Note: The fields that you selected as limits display the beginning ranges that you entered in the From fields.

The Do You Wish to Limit From Item Detail prompt displays. To skip this step, press Enter and go to Step #. To limit this report from item detail information, type Y.
Enter limits the same way you did in Step 2.
The Do You Wish To Limit From History/Totals prompt appears. If you do not need to limit the report from history and/or totals, press Enter and go to Step 19. To limit this report from history and/or totals, type Y.
Enter limits the same way you did in the earlier screen.
Use the Do You Wish To Limit From Alias/Contract prompt to limit the report by alias or contract fields. You can limit by alias and contract fields only if you are printing the Item Alias Master Listing, the 13-Month Low-Stock Report, or a contract report. To not limit the report by alias and/or contract information, press Enter and go to Step 30. To limit this report from alias and/or contract information, type Y.
Enter limits the same way you did in the earlier screen.
At the Add On Detail Fields prompt, you can add information to the report. Each new detail field creates an additional column on the right side of the report. If you don't need to add detail to the report, press Enter and go to Step 30. To include additional detail on the report, type Y. The format loads and the cursor moves to the Item # field.
At the Fill Field With Characters To Select prompt, fill the field with alphanumeric characters. As with sort fields, the number of characters you enter determines the portion of the field that prints on the report. If you completely fill the field, the entire field prints on the report.

Note: Some detail fields accept only numbers.

For each detail field you add, the Enter Column Text message appears. It lets you specify a heading for the detail field. The text you enter appears on the report as the column heading for this information. Press Tab if you do not need to enter a heading. You can enter up to 30 characters of text. However, the number of characters that actually print on the report is determined by the number of characters you entered in the corresponding detail field. For example, if you enter five characters in the detail field and a 15 character header, only the first five characters of the heading print.
The cursor moves to the next detail field. Select any additional fields by entering characters as described above. To skip a field, tab to the next one.
Press Enter until The Do You Wish To Add On From Item Detail prompt appears.
To not add fields from the Item Detail screen, press Enter and go to Step 27. To add information from the Item Detail screen, type Y and select the fields as you did earlier.
Press enter until the Do You Wish To Add On From Detail/History prompt displays.
To not select history detail fields, press Enter and go to Step 29. To add history detail fields, type Y and select detail fields as you did earlier.
Press Enter until the Do You Wish To Add On From Alias/Contract prompt displays. To not select alias and/or contract detail fields, press Enter and go to Step 30. To select alias and/or contract detail fields, type Y and select detail fields as you did earlier.

Note: You can select alias and contract detail fields only if you are printing the Item Alias Master Listing, the 13-Month Low-Stock Report, or a contract report.

Header text is a subheading or other descriptive text for the entire report. It prints between the report title and the column headings on the report. For example, if you sorted this report to display sales and usage for each salesperson, you might enter DECEMBER INVENTORY SALES ANALYSIS AND USAGE REPORT for the heading. You can enter a heading of up to 60 characters. To enter a heading, enter the first 20 characters in the Header Text 1 field. Per the example above, you would enter DECEMBER INVENTORY S. The Enter Header Text 2 prompt appears.

Note: To skip entering a heading, press Enter at the Enter Header Text 1 prompt, and go to Changing the Inventory Print Line.

Enter the next 20 characters of your heading. Per the example, you would enter ALES ANALYSIS AND US. The Enter Header Text 3 prompt appears.
Enter the remaining characters for the heading, as needed. Per the example, you would enter AGE REPORT.
If you are printing the Contract Report, press tab at the Enter Customer Name For contract prompt, as it does not apply to this report. Go to Changing the Inventory Print Line.
If you are printing the Contract Report for Customers, enter the customer's account number at the Enter Customer Number for Contract prompt. The customer's name, billing address, account number, and department number print at the top of the report. To exclude this information from the top of the report, press Enter and go to Changing the Inventory Print Line.