Karmak Compass
Compass Home-Current Issue
Subscribe to Compass
Send feedback to Compass
Past Issues

Issue 10

January - February 2002

The purpose of Karmak Compass is to keep all our customers informed of current activities within the Karmak family. This newsletter is designed for both technical and non-technical readers. 

We are pleased to welcome ProfitMaker users to this issue. Items pertaining to particular Karmak systems are identified in the article titles and links below.

In This Issue:

What and When?
conferences: Legend Distributors, 
events, training: Legend, INFO 5, ProfitMaker		 Hot Tips
Legend, INFO 5, ProfitMaker
What's New at Karmak?
Legend, INFO 5, ProfitMaker, 
people in the news		 Did You Know?
contacting Karmak support:
Legend, INFO 5, ProfitMaker
About Karmak Compass

What and When?

Have your cake - and meet us too!
Karmak Legend Distributors' Conference 2002
Marriott Downtown
St. Louis, Missouri
March 14-16, 2002
Celebrating 20 years of partnerships with all new conferences for 2002
More on Karmak's 20th Anniversary in Issue 9
Legend Distributors, sign up online for the all new 2002 Distributors' Conference

Don't miss this opportunity to discover new tools and techniques to adapt, and prosper, in today's changing market.  

We have added another guest speaker to our lineup for the Friday morning Opening Session: Carl Hall, president of Enterprise Data Management (EDM), will speak on the topic of "Does Vendor Managed Inventory Work for Truck Parts?". 

Other conference highlights include:

Featured speakers:

Roundtable discussions with industry experts and experienced Karmak users:
  • eCommerce
  • Internet
  • Barcode Receiving
  • Improving Efficiency and Profits

And much more!  Click here for complete details. 

The registration deadline has been extended to February 21, 2002. Sign up today to reserve your space.

 
Top of Page

Karmak Home Page

  Karmak Training: Legend - INFO 5 - ProfitMaker

Legend
Come to our headquarters in Carlinville, Illinois, or attend a regional training session in Portland, Oregon in February.  Check out the new Legend Training Center schedule for 2002, which includes our newest class--Accounting New Hire Training. On-site and One-on-One training sessions are also available. Contact Barbara Mitchell, Manager of Training (1-800-252-7625). 

INFO 5 
There's something for everyone in our INFO 5 Training Center schedule for 2002.  Come to Karmak's office in Springfield, Missouri, for intensive training away from the daily distractions of your dealership.  On-site and One-on-One training sessions are also available.  Contact Jerry Osborn, Manager of Support Services (1-800-865-8991).

ProfitMaker
Customized training is now available to help you get the most out of your ProfitMaker system. Our trainers will explain ProfitMaker's powerful features and show you how to use them efficiently. Training is conducted over the phone using special software that allows our trainers to see your computer screen and walk you through each step. On-site training is also available.  Visit the ProfitMaker Updates website for details.

Upcoming Truck Industry Events
Check out our TruckRealm.com calendar of events updated for 2002.

What's New at Karmak?
INFO 5 Release 7.0B now in general release

Karmak's INFO 5 Release 7.0B is now in general release and can be loaded for clients who are running Release 7.0 or higher on RISC boxes.

Update manuals for 7.0B started shipping in early January. If you have not received your copy, please call our Help Desk and request one. With 7.0B we are offering "Update Assistance" to help guide you through the update process. The 7.0B CDs will not be shipped with the update manual--they will need to be ordered at least one week in advance of loading the update.

Release 7.0B contains many new features, which can be found in the "Overviews" section of the 7.0B manual. We encourage you to be familiar with these new enhancements to get the most out of your INFO 5 software. If you have any questions, please contact Applications Support Services at 1-800-865-8991.

Bar Code Receiving available for INFO 5

Bar Code Receiving is available with INFO 5 Release 7.1. This new module utilizes additional handheld laser-scanning hardware and PC-based software that interfaces with the INFO 5 package.

Using a handheld laser Trakker unit, receiving personnel simply enter the purchase order number they are receiving into a handheld unit, point and scan the items, and enter their quantity. Multiple purchase orders can be received at the same time. When you add this with the convenience of moving around the receiving area, it truly equates into a time- and cost-saving combination. 

Continued>

Keep current with Legend Version 5.6

Has your company loaded the latest version of Legend? Keeping your Legend system current makes it easier to upgrade to future releases and lets you take advantage of important software advancements. Version 5.6, our newest version in general release, must be loaded before you can upgrade to Version 5.7. Version 5.7 is scheduled for beta testing in March, and will add valuable features including alpha-numeric customer number, inter-branch customer remanufacturing, detail history enhancements, a new payroll interface, and more. 

For more on Version 5.6, see the article in Compass Issue 6. Contact Jamie Skinner (1-800-252-7625) to order your V.5.6 upgrade.

Legend online report explanations updated

Additional Lease and Rental reports have been added to the Legend report explanations located on our Customer Confidential website.  Explanations are available for more than 200 reports. These include a brief description of each report, a report sample, a description of each report column, plus information on the report options, control files, and central parameters, when applicable.

Customer Confidential is our website exclusively for Legend and INFO 5 users.  This site offers helpful tips, online Legend and INFO 5 documentation, online ordering of price tapes and computer supplies, Karmak customer e-mail links, and convenient access to information on Karmak products and services.

To receive your Customer Confidential user name and password, or to list or update your e-mail address, contact Lisa Beachler.

ProfitMaker customers have their own website

To serve our expanding ProfitMaker customer base, the ProfitMaker Updates website was created to provide easy access to the latest downloads and other ProfitMaker services. Information on support, training, and consulting is available, in addition to answers to frequently asked questions and convenient program downloads. 

Check it out at http://pmupdates.karmak.com/.

Karmak customers nominated for Dealer of the Year

Congratulations to the following Karmak customers recently nominated for ATD Dealer of the Year:

  • Ken Yacobozzi - Chicago Mack Sales & Service, Summit, IL
  • Terry Young - Volvo & GMC Trucks of Carolina, Charlotte, NC
  • John P. Niebauer Jr. - W.W. Engine & Supply, Kylertown, PA
  • Marshall Cymbaluk - Kenworth Northwest Inc., Seattle, WA

Does your company have news to share with other Karmak customers?
Use our Feedback Form to send it to Karmak Compass.

Karmak welcomes new consultant


Scooby Barbre		 Carroll “Scooby” Barbre recently moved from the Legend Training Department to become Karmak's newest consultant. Scooby has visited more than 100 businesses as either a trainer or consultant in his career with Karmak. His areas of expertise include inventory control, purchasing, pricing, and service. He also has extensive experience with accounting in areas related to parts and service. 

For information on Legend and INFO 5 consulting services, contact Bryan Horstman (1- 858-547-7591 or 1-800-622-6311).

For information on ProfitMaker consulting services, contact Barbara Mitchell (1-800-252-7625).

 

Top of Page

Karmak Home Page

Did You Know?

Contacting Karmak support

E-mail support is available for Legend and INFO 5, in addition to our regular phone services. Use the e-mail addresses below for a convenient and efficient way to contact our support groups for non-emergency issues.

LEGEND SUPPORT

INFO 5 SUPPORT
Accounting: acct-support@karmak.com
Parts & Service: pass-support@karmak.com
Systems: sys-support@karmak.com
Vendor Communications: vendcomm@karmak.com		 Applications: i5app-support@karmak.com

Systems: i5sys-support@karmak.com
These and other Karmak e-mail links can be found on the Contacts page of the Karmak website.

For more on using e-mail support, see the article in Compass Issue 7.

ProfitMaker users, see the ProfitMaker Updates website for phone support procedures.

 

Top of Page

Karmak Home Page

Hot Tips

Legend - General Ledger tips

  • Q:  How can I see a breakdown of the invoices that posted to a general ledger account?
    A:  Select Display A/R Invoice G/L Hist (AR820) from the Additional General Ledger menu. Enter the general ledger account information; the program will respond with the individual invoices.
  • Q:  How can I see a list of all the general ledger accounts that a particular invoice posted to?
    A:  Select Display A/R Invoice G/L Hist (AR820) from the Additional General Ledger menu. Enter the invoice information; the program will respond with the general ledger accounts.

     - submitted by Richard DeBiase, Accounting Support Specialist

INFO 5 - Purchase Order tip for PC users

  • When entering several items on a purchase order, have one session open with the purchase order screen and another open with the items you are entering on the purchase order, such as a work order or counter ticket.
    Instead of having to write down the part numbers and sequence numbers of each item on the work order or counter ticket that is being ordered, you can make the purchase order update automatically when it is received by pressing the ALT + TAB keys to flip back and forth between your sessions. It is much faster than trying to write everything down. 

- submitted by Dane Long, Applications Support Representative

ProfitMaker - QuickBooks out-of-balance tips

  • Out-of-balance errors are typically caused when you don't have an account code, sales type, or tax code set up to hit a QuickBooks G/L account. This usually happens when you have the accounting interface disabled in System Setup and then start to set up these codes before enabling it. Once it's enabled, you can't add an accounting code, sales type, or tax code without assigning a QuickBooks G/L account.
  • Make sure that accounts in QuickBooks are set up without commas. For example, "Ohio, Dept. of Revenue" will cause an out-of-balance because the import function puts "Ohio" into one column and "Dept. of Revenue" into the next column. Once you correct all the accounts in QuickBooks, they will import correctly.

    - submitted by Barbara Mitchell, Manager of Training and New Accounts

 
Top of Page

Karmak Home Page

 

  About Karmak Compass

This newsletter is designed to bring Karmak customers useful information using the convenience and speed of the Web.

Use our Feedback Form to send us suggestions, comments, or news items for publication.

To subscribe, update your e-mail address, or unsubscribe, use our Subscription page. Subscriptions are free to all Karmak customers.

© 2002 Karmak, Inc.
One Karmak Plaza
P.O. Box 680
Carlinville, IL  62626