Good to Know

The scenario - You are new to the Wessex Pricing Program. You want to get the best out of it. You need it to work for your business.

There are a number of key blog posts that will help you hit the ground running.

The first is the transcript of a talk about frame pricing made to a Fine Art Trade Guild meeting. 

Picture Frame Pricing Programs: Frame Pricing Talk (stevetheframe.blogspot.com)

The second link is about the general operation of the program.

Picture Frame Pricing Programs: 3 Steps to Heaven (well actually 8) (stevetheframe.blogspot.com)

The next 2 links are about performing a bulk update on the Mouldings records from an Excel file.

Picture Frame Pricing Programs: Updating Mouldings - Do it right! (stevetheframe.blogspot.com)

Picture Frame Pricing Programs: Creating a bulk update file (stevetheframe.blogspot.com)

Updating from a supplier's file is the area I get the most questions about. The above two posts are pretty comprehensive. The only recent point to add is -

If you are adding a supplier's mouldings for the first time then you will need to create one (dummy) record manually (Tools > Manage Database > Mouldings, then Select File > New Record). The supplier will then appear in the dropdown menu for you to select.

This is to stop the problem of a supplier ending up with two different names (ie. Rose&Hollis and R&H) the database will treat these as different suppliers, so giving rise to problems.

Obviously there are lots of other posts and points to make, but you should be doing things the right way if you've looked at those 4 links.

version 4.4.6

Wessex Pricing Program version 4.4.6 - so what's new?

Basic and Full versions
Well, the first thing corrects an anomaly where if you changed the default moulding markup only the mouldings added subsequently to the database used that new default. You would have to change the existing records individually if you wanted them to use the new markup. Not user friendly!
In the new version any moulding which has the old default as its markup will be automatically updated to the new default.

Full version
The database has room for 50 characters (inc. spaces) in the mount record (made up of the mount type and the colour(s)). It was possible to get all the way to the point where you saved the invoice only to find an error because in one job you had tried to use more than 50 characters in the mount record.
Now, if you try to use more than 50 characters you are warned when you try to add the job to the invoice.

Full version
The other noteworthy change in this version had me thinking "Why didn't I think of that before?"!
The workticket has two dates - the date the work was received and the date that the job needs to be completed by.
Now, when the work is collected and you edit the workticket to tick the "collected" box, the complete-by date is changed to that day's date, thus giving you a record of when the work was taken by the customer.

You can view collection records by going to "Tools" > "Manage Database" > "WorkTickets" and then click "Find Record". Initially "Find Records by" and "invoice number" is shown. Click the downward pointing arrow and choose "Collection Date". Then you'll be able to pick a date to see the jobs collected on that day.
The program knows when you installed the update, so only worktickets after this date are changed. (ie. worktickets before that date will still read "Collect on" and the original completion date. Only records after that date will have the actual collection date.)

New Program

I'm pleased to reveal that after 2 years development Wessex Premier Professional will be released at the Spring Fair in February 2010 at the NEC.
It's a major redesign of Wessex Premier, as well as being two programs in one. You can start off with the Basic version which issues prices and just uses the Mouldings part of the database. Then, when ready, you can upgrade to the Full version which keeps track of Work Tickets, Invoices and so on. All the records, labels and values from the Basic version are carried across thus making upgrading as painless as possible.


Above is a screenshot of the main form of the Basic version.
The main form of the Full version will be familiar to all who know the original Wessex Premier. Its layout has proved to be easy to use and understand as well as being versatile.

The Full version has many new features, which I won't detail here except to say that none of the features have been included for their own sake - they all help to make the program quicker, more productive and easier to use.

For those of you interested in the technical details - The program has been written in VB 2008, and uses the .Net Framework 2.0. This enables the program to be restarted programmatically, and I don't need to use a third party control for the menustrip customization.
Perhaps the bit I'm most pleased with is something you hardly notice - the buttons, I haven't counted but there must be about 50 of them in the program. Previously the graded shading on them was achieved calling a sub-routine every time the control was "painted" (ie. many time a second). Now I've written a custom control which does this and more (the lettering moves to indicate the button has been clicked and a dotted line appears when the button "has focus"). By including this new control the final compiled program was some 25% smaller, all contributing to the efficiency of the new program.


We've been using this new version of Wessex Premier in our shop since the summer and have been really pleased, I certainly wouldn't go back to the previous version.
So I look forward to talking about it to people at the Spring Fair.