iCube Supply1st is a powerful end-to-end supply management system software integrates with ACCPAC Advantage Series™ and ACCPAC Pro Series™ to automate the global processes from vendors, through the channel partners to the end customers for sales orders, purchase orders, production orders.

Using ACCPAC accounting systems, iCube Supply1st adds features, performance and end-to-end connectivity to integrate the global supply processes between suppliers, through all middlemen (distributors, resellers, retailers, etailers, service providers and transportation companies) and the end-customers.

The global supply automation cuts redundancy, propagates data and information, provides global communication and collaboration capabilities to deliver the following benefits

• Customers will have the full and instant order status at suppliers’ website or directly at their systems.
  
• Suppliers will be able to update the service order progress status at their systems which will further communicate to customers’ systems.
  
• Suppliers and customers are having the instant communication and collaboration to work on the corresponding purchase order, sales order and or work orders.
  
• The supply information including changes, updates, alerts, messages etc. are tracked with revisions, user and time stamp.
  
• Everyone in the supply chain, with the assigned privilidge right, will be able to know the order history, issues, progress and what to expect as outcome.
  
• Instant information updates and data propagation reduces surprises, discrepancies, errors, waste, overhead and cost.
  
• The streamlined system improve speed, productivity, profits and total satisfaction.

iCube Supply1st consists of the system manager, core modules and add-on components. The components are add-ons to the core modules with specific features or functionality. Once they are installed, they enhance the corresponding modules with the specific features.

1. System Manager (SYM)
2. SO# (SO#, pronounce as SO “Sharp”)
3. Self Service (SFS)
4. PO# (PO#)
5. Serial# (SRL)
6. Supply Chain (SPC)
7. Work Center (WCN)
8. SO Agent (SOA)
9. PO Agent (POA)
10. BOM# (BOM)
11. WO# (WO#)

1. Quotation (QUO)
2. AutoItem (AIT)
3. AutoPO (APO)
4. AutoReceipt (ARC)
5. ItemUpdate (IUP)
6. Scan# (SCA)
7. ShipLink (SPL)

1. System Manager (SYM)

This is the mandatory module to set up, administrate and maintain the system-wide database, functions, configuration and utilities of the entire product.

SO# is a powerful workflow oriented sales order processing system with tracking of order revisions and smart integration with suppliers and customers.

It tracks sales order from creation to shipping which icludes the following processes

1. Create/edit orders
2. Approve orders by sales
3. Approve orders by accounting
4. Pick orders
5. Ship orders
6. Invoice orders

It runs on top of ACCPAC Advantage and Pro series and enhances its Order Entry modules with the following benefits

1. Track change of orders with revision history
   Orders can be changed anytime at any stage before they are shipped.
   
   Each order revision is logged with the content of the order, who made the change and time stamp.
   
   Only the latest revision of order will be processed. Any change related to price and credit will be re-routed for sales and accounting approval.



2. Powerful process with flexibility to handle and discrepancies and exceptions
   Orders can be put on-hold when discrepancy occur to allow time to investigation without further processing, and released after resolution.
   
   All rejected orders will be bounced back to the order creation stage and the sales person will be alerted to work with customers for resolution.
   
   Product allocation rules can be pre-set for auto-allocation for items with insufficient supply.



3. Smart Integration with suppliers and customers
   Once the sales orders are shipped, the shipping info including the serial number and lot number, are available for customers to do auto-receiving. Along the process, sales order status are auto-notified to customers.

With the “PO#” module, SO# will be auto created from customers’ POs. With “AutoItem”, new items will be automatically created in ACCPAC.

This module allow your customers to request quotes, enter sales orders, check order status, inquire history of orders, invoices and payments on-line directly to your system.

It is installed on an in-house web server (currently support Microsoft IIS) that links directly to the back-office consisting of ACCPAC, iCube Supply1st and the databases. All orders entered and inquires are directly to and from the back-office system.

Customers are needed to be activated by the administrator, before they can access the system. Customers can maintain their password, and they can only access their own data.

PO# is a powerful workflow oriented purchase order processing system with tracking of order revisions and smart integration with suppliers and customers.

It tracks purchase order from creation to receiving which includes the following processes

1. Create/edit orders
2. Approve orders
3. Receive orders

It runs on top of ACCPAC Advantage and Pro series and enhances its Purchase Order module with the following benefits

1. Auto creation for regular and drop-ship purchase orders
   The streamlined order entry screen allows you to create purchase orders effective manually. It can also be auto-created from in-house requirement generated by sales orders and manufacturing orders.



2. Track change of orders with revision history
   Orders can be changed anytime at any stage before they are received.
   
   Each order revision is logged with the content of the order, who made the change and time stamp.
   
   Only the latest revision of order will be processed. Any change related to price and credit will be re-routed for approval.



3. Auto Item creation
   With the “ItemUpdate” component, new items can be auto-created during the PO generation.



4. Auto PO receiving
   PO receipts can be auto-created based on vendors’ shipment information which also includes the serial number or lot number of each received item.

This module adds serial number tracking capability for inventory transactions for receiving, shipping, inventory transfer and inventory adjustment. It comes with separate functions for these transactions that can send and receive the transaction data to other parties in the supply chain.

1. Build-in functions for inventory transactions
   The build-in functions consist of receiving, shipping, inventory transfers and adjustments; and they are compatible with ACCPAC. These processes are more streamlined, with capability to track serial numbers and the transaction data can be propagated along the supply chain.
   
2. Support sending of SO shipping data with serial numbers
   The shipping function can propagate the shipping data along with the serial number to customers such that they can just do a simple entry in their PO receiving and all shipped data will be imported to their receiving data without the detail entry and scanning of serial numbers.
   
3. Support receiving of PO receiving data with serial numbers
   The receiving function allows a simple entry of the PO number and all the receiving items and serial numbers will be imported to the system without detail entry item by item.
   
4. Support standalone bar-code data terminals
   With the “Scan#” component, the serial numbers from inventory transactions can be downloaded from the standalone bar-code data terminals which are freely carried in a warehouse environment to scan items

This module allows you to process the work order at other work centers of your company or to subcontract the work orders to other third-party subcontractors.

The other parties require the “Work Center” module to communicate with the “Supply Chain”.

1. Assign or subcontract part or all of the production processes
   You may perform certain processes in-house such as material kitting, final QC and to assign or subcontract the remaining processes to your remote work centers or subcontractors.
   
   The processes reassigned or subcontracted are tracked with a different job number such that you have the full visibility of what processes have been sent out for the related product, quantity, version, inventory consigned and schedule etc.
   
2. Track consigned materials
   This feature tracks the materials you consigned to them and the finished products you receive from them.
   
3. On-line communication and collaboration with work centers
   When the work centers update their production status with “Work Center” module, the information is communicated with “Supply Chain” through web services and XML such that you have the instant status update. You and the work centers can communicate through the “order note” window by posting messages to each other. All messages posted can not be edited and you may continue to post message even after the order is closed.

It is a standalone software used by your remote work centers or contractors to communicate with your “Supply Chain” module for the work orders you assign or subcontract to them. It is installed at their systems that integrate with yours through web services and XML.

1. Extension of your production system
   It is a simple version of “WO#” with work order processing capabilities plus the integration link to your system.
   
2. Easy deployment with smart integration
   “WCN” is hassle free to install at the work centers and it does not need to integrate with their internal systems. They get the item information, consigned materials and work orders from your system. While they process the work orders with “WCN”, the progress and status are automatically updated to your system.
   
3. Easy integrate with their internal system
   If your work centers have existing manufacturing systems that process your jobs, they can export the job status from their system to “WCS” such that the successive communication can be automatic.
   
4. Handle consigned inventory
   Your consigned inventory to the work centers are tracked such that you know the actual usage, what items and the quantity that have not been returned back to you, the fall out rate of each item.
   
5. On-line communication and collaboration
   On top of the automatic status update, you and the work centers can communicate through the “order note” window by posting messages to each other. All messages posted can not be edited and you may continue to post message even after the order is closed.

It is a standalone software installed at vendors’ systems to communicate with your “PO#” or “AutoReceipt” module through web services and XML. It is a simplified version of the “SO#” module that generates quotation, promotion notices, sales order and to track from order creation to shipping, with updates of progress and status along each process. It tracks serial numbers and lot numbers.

1. Extension to your purchasing system
   Your vendors’ sales orders can be generated from your purchase orders. Once the sales orders are shipped, the shipped information is available for your auto-receiving. The sales order status is automatically updated to your system.
   
2. Easy deployment with smart integration
   “SO Agent” is hassle free to install at the vendor side since it is standalone and does not need to integrate with their internal systems. It auto converts your purchase data to become its sales order. The progress and status of the sales orders are automatically updated to your system.
   
3. Generate and distribute quotation and promotion notice
   It has a powerful feature to generate sales quotes and promotion notices to customers by email/XML. Customers using “AutoPO” will base on the update pricing and offers from their vendors for selecting vendors for auto PO creation.
   
4. Shipping information available for your auto receiving
   The shipping information including the serial numbers of items shipped are available for your auto PO receipts with just a single entry to save time and efforts.

It is a standalone software installed at your customers’ systems to communicate with your “SO#” module through web services or XML. It is a simplified version of the “PO#” module that tracks the entire PO processing from issuing POs, approving POs to receiving POs with inquiry and analysis functions. It supports regular and drop-ship POs, and tracks serial numbers and lot numbers.

1. Extension of your sales order system
   POs generated from “POA” will be converted to your sales orders. Once the sales orders are shipped, it will be available for your customers to do auto-receiving including serial numbers and lot numbers, instead of scanning item by item for receiving. Your sales order status is automatically update to their “POA”.
   
2. Easy deployment with smart integration
   “PO Agent” is hassle free to install at the customer side since it is standalone and does not need to integrate with their internal systems. If they want to integrate “POA” with their purchasing system, import and export features the available.
   
3. Auto-generate of regular and drop-ship PO
   It has a powerful feature to generate sales quotes and promotion notices to customers by email/XML. Customers using “AutoPO” will base on this data for vendor selection with the best pricing in the process of auto PO creation.
   
4. Auto receipt of regular and drop-ship PO from your shipping data
   The receiving function supports importing of information of the received items including the serial numbers and lot numbers. Just with a single entry of the PO number, all items to received are automatically saved to save time and efforts.

It is a web-based Bill of Material (BOM) management system to process the creation, revision and approval of bill of materials. It has the following major features.

1. BOM presented in tree structure
   Creation, revision and view of bill of materials are in tree structure. Starting from the root (the finished item), and by clicking on the nodes (semi-finished items) that displays all sub-nodes underneath, you are able to view the entire tree with all the end-nodes (components) that build up the finished item of the BOM.
   
   This feature gives you an easy way to view the entire BOM in multiple layers. You may turn on/off of any branches to view at the specific portion of the tree.
   
2. Control of creating and revising BOM
   All new or revised BOMs are routed through approval process before they can be officially formed. The entire processes are tracked from start to end, with time and owner stamp, reasons, notes etc. All official BOMs will be notified by email to a pre-defined distribution list.
   
3. Track revisions
   All new or revised BOMs come with a revision number. Revised BOMs are advanced to a new revision. All BOMs with all revisions are kept such that you do not lose the previous information when you revise a BOM.
   
4. Engineering Change Order (ECO)
   This feature controls the revision process of bill of materials by assigning an order number (Engineering change order number) and to track from start to end, with details of who makes the change, for what product and revision, reasons to change, what are the changes, how it is affecting the new BOM, who approves it, the date and time for all transactions etc. The ECO number relates this information to a BOM with revision number and the associated documents.
   
5. Auto notifying of new BOM
   Any new BOM, ECO are emailed to authorized personnel for their notification.
   
6. On-line processing
   Each BOM and ECO comes with documents in multi-media format (text, graphics, video, audio) that can be accessed on-line for authorized personnel.

Creating, viewing, approving BOM and ECO are easier than ever. You have the complete information and access anywhere, and you can offer certain features to your partners in the supply chain for easier process, communication and collaboration.

It is a work order processing system to track production of products by orders from start to end with smart integration to contractors, off-site work centers and customers for easier and on-line communication and collaboration.

The processes include

1. Creating order
   
2. Approving order
   
3. Kitting order
   
4. Producing with options of
   
   a. In-house production
   b. Production involving remote work center
   c. Subcontracting
   
5. Closing order

All processes are tracked with time and user stamp, with internal and external notes. The actual production processes are also tracked with all the material in and out of each process, the quantity, serial number, lot number etc., the process time, labor hour and yield rate.

For production involving remote work centers or subcontractors, you need to have the supply chain module and the parties to do production requires the work center module.

Add-on supplements are enhancements to modules. By installing an add-on component to a module, the module will be upgraded with the specific features produced from the supplements.

They normally come with specific features that are not commonly required in the modules themselves. Putting these specific features out from the standard feature list of the module, and to individual components make the standard modules easier to learn and operate, faster and with lower implementation cost while maintaining upgrade path in the future.

Add-on supplements can not be run by themselves, they require the modules that they adhered to in order to run.

This supplement adds on to the “SO#” module to provide tracking and processing of customers’ quotations.

Each quotation is assigned with a unique number and is tracked from start to end. Quotes can be revised and each round of change is tracked with revision number. All quotes come with an expiration date and they will be automatically closed when they are hit the expiration date. Quotes can be extended. Closed quotes can not be revised but they can be converted to new quotes.

Quotes can only be converted to sales orders if they are approved by authorized personnel and accepted by customers.
This component consists of the following process

1. Issue quote
   This process issues a quotation request by sales person and is assigned by a unique quotation number. Customers can also request quotes on-line on their own.
   
2. Approve/reject quote
   This process is to approve the quote. The approval or rejected status will be emailed to customers.
   
3. Edit quote
   Quotation can be revised as long as they are not closed nor accepted. Each revised quote will be assigned with revision number and required to be re-approve and re-accept.
   
4. Accept/reject quote by customer
   This process is for customers to take the quote or not. Accepted quotes will be converted to sales orders. Rejected quotes will be stayed rejected until customers change their mind or to be automatically closed when they are expired.

This supplement adds on to “PO#”, “AutoPO” and ACCPAC “IC” modules to auto create new items in ACCPAC.

Items are classified in groups by category + subcategory. Each group comes with a template to pre-define the default values of the attributes. During item creation, fields with default values will not be prompted for entries unless you overwrite it.

Automation can be done by importing the non-defaulted attributes from external XML files or by web-services provided by your suppliers. Imported items can be routed for the optional approval process before creation.

This supplement adds on to the ACCPAC PO module to auto-create POs to meet the purchase requirements generated from open sales orders, work orders and purchase re-order quantity.

It collects all purchase requirement by items, sorts them by vendor, and creates POs for each vendor. It also supports drop-ship POs, and each ship-to address would require one drop-ship PO. Criteria of choosing a vendor can be by the default setting, from the last PO, from the best purchased price within a pre-defined range or from electronic quotes or promotion lists from vendors generated by “SO Agent”.

The optional approval process allows the buyers to review and edit the PO content. The generated Pos can be emailed or FTP to vendors.

It also automates the PO receiving process, by importing receiving data from vendors’ shipments or invoices generated by “SO#” or “SO Agent”.

It is a good alternative to “PO#” if you do not generate POs to purchase.

“AutoReceipt” takes the vendors’ electronic invoices or sales orders, either in predefined XML, email or by web access; retrieves the shipping items, quantity and unit price, and to retroactively generate the PO to receive the shipped items from vendors.

It also builds in part of the “AutoItem” feature. If there are new items that are not defined in ACCPAC, the system will prompt for these new items, allow you to review, and to auto create the new items in ACCPAC if the information is provided in electronic file.

The optional approval process allows you to review the converted POs and to make any adjustment if necessary before they are posted to ACCPAC.

Then, it will auto-create PO receiving transactions, with optional approval process info for you to review and to make any adjustment before they are posted to ACCPAC. Serial# and lot# information is also created if applicable.

It is a subset of “AutoPO” to track vendors’ offers (by quotes, promotions or updated product catalog) for you to select a vendor for purchasing.

All revised offers by all vendors are tracked and only the latest offer if not expired are used for analysis. The offers are sorted by item number and further by vendor with the least price.

With “AutoItem”, if there are new items that are not defined in ACCPAC, the system will prompt for these new items, allow you to review, and to auto create the new items in ACCPAC if the information is provided in electronic file.

This supplement adds on to “SO#”, “PO#”, “WO#” and “Work Center” modules to support scanning of serial numbers by standalone bar-code terminals for inventory transfer, receiving and packing of sales, purchase and work orders.

iCube Supply1st supports bar-code scanning as input entries provided a bar-code scanner is attached to a workstation running the system, with wired or wireless connection.

Scan# enables the import and export facilities at the receiving, packing and inventory functions of iCube Supply1st to communicate with the scanner. The export functions upload the required transactions to the bar-code terminal, such that a worker can carry the scanner freely with the predefined transactions to process, and to scan in the required bar-codes (serial#, lot#, item# etc.) These scanned bar-codes would then be downloaded back to the system with the import functions to complete the receiving, packing and inventory transfer transactions.

This supplement is an add-on to the “SO#”, “PO#” and “Work Center” modules to create intelligent links within the shipping functions with the Starship manifest system by v-technologies for UPS, Fedex, Airborne and other carriers.

With “ShipLink”, shipping info such as shipping address, ship via, shipping method etc. are automatically transferred to “StarShip” such that shipping labels and related documents are printed from StarShip and the appropriated shipping charge are recorded to the carriers. In return, the tracking numbers from the carriers are automatically transferred to the modules

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