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Inventory / Cost / Profit / Sales Tracking Web-App


BobTHJ

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I'm entering the vending world from an IT job - so rather than purchase software I've programmed my own web-app to track sales, profits, inventory, etc. It has been very useful to me so far in tracking all sorts of information. I'm posting this here to determine if anyone would have interest in web-based tracking software for their business? If so I might polish it up a bit and release it for public use (for a nominal fee).

Here's how it works at present:

The tracking software stores each of my machines at each location. For each machine I enter what product is in each coil/selection, and the price and capacity of that coil/selection.

When I service a machine I input the total collections and the quantity of each item added to the machine. Using this information the app calculates inventory, and determines the monthly net profit for each coil/selection/compartment. It then makes recommendations for which products should be replaced due to low sales as well as which products would do better if given an additional row. All this information is summarized to give you a quick overview of the machine. It also calculates income, cost of goods sold, taxes, commissions, and net profit for each machine over a variety of time periods and averages.

On Mondays when I order product the app generates a "shopping list" with quantities based off my current inventory numbers telling me exactly which products to order and in what quantity. It gathers this information based on an estimated vend rate for each product in each machine ensuring I have enough product to service all machines due for service that week while not overstocking and risking expired product.

When I'm ready to head out I can quickly print a route list that shows each machine in need of service and the amount and type of product to pre-kit for that machine based on estimated usage. The app uses data collected from past services to determine an optimum service frequency for each machine - determining the best time to restock the machine to ensure product does not remain sold-out and that too much money is not left sitting in the machine, while at the same time maximizing the amount of time between services to reduce fuel costs and time investment. Each machine is assigned a priority value that determines how important it is to service that machine. When I select the day's route I can see each machine on that route and the importance that I hit that machine that day. I can quickly add or remove machines from the day's schedule and then print a final list to take with me. The route list also contains any notes related to the machine or location that are pertinent (door codes, names of contacts, addresses, etc.) as well as specific notes from the last service (customer product requests, maintenance issues, etc.).

Of course, all auto-generated numbers (such as estimated vends for specific product/machine, backstock levels for a product, or priority for a machine service) can be adjusted manually to fine-tune for unexpected or unusual circumstances.

I use this app to track both my full-line and my bulk machines all from one location. I'm also in the process of adding support for honor boxes as I expect to be acquiring an honor box route soon. Would anyone be interested in using a web-app like this?

Oh yeah - I also use it to track sales calls. Whenever I speak with a customer or potential customer I input it into the sales log and specify a follow up date. I can quickly pull up a list of all location leads I need to follow up on and the history of my interaction with that location.

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Sounds like a great program. There are several here interested in something like this. In fact, due to the interest, a few of our members have suggested that they were going to put something together but nothing has materialized yet.

Although one member I believe is close to rolling something out.

Sent using Tapatalk for Android.

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I would be interested. Especially if you add honor box functionality. I'm not a programmer so I don't know what it would entail, but you might consider a mapping feature to plan out the fastest route and order to hit all your scheduled stops at. I do it manually with Google maps right now, but I would never turn down a program that would save me time by doing it for me :)

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I would be interested. Especially if you add honor box functionality. I'm not a programmer so I don't know what it would entail, but you might consider a mapping feature to plan out the fastest route and order to hit all your scheduled stops at. I do it manually with Google maps right now, but I would never turn down a program that would save me time by doing it for me :)

thats a real pain, ive done it before you have to use weighted graphs...honestly my GPS does it id never want to mess with writing a route optimizer again lol if he puts it in, more power to him

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I agree with Dogcow - a mapping feature is a real pain to program. At present I assign each location a route and sequence number. Then when I print my route sheet it shows all the stops in the correct order. I only have to do the work of plotting out the route once on the front end and the system remembers it from that point on.

@Mission: No - it isn't excel based - it is a web application accessed via your browser. This makes it semi-handy as I can access it from my Iphone when I'm on the road servicing machines.

My intent here wouldn't be to compete with the big boys - I'm horrible at design so it probably won't look real pretty and it likely won't ever have the feature-set of the expensive paid vending software. However, I also wouldn't plan to charge much for it either - $10/month max, probably less - just enough to cover my time and expenses in programming/operating it. Hopefully that would make it a low cost option for small to mid-size operators like myself.

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I would like to see a "sevice scheduler" App. I have looked for one, but can't find one. I think most software includes too much commitment as far as time and info. All I want to do is set a schedule then "service" them (click done) in the App and set the date of the next service. In the morning its a list of stops in the order I want them. As I complete a stop I would click complete and it would prompt me to schedule the next service in # of days or just let me select a day from a calendar. This way when I service a weekly account that is slow I could put it on an 8-9 day cycle, or if its sold out I could put it on a 5-6 day cycle with out loosing my mind. If I miss the last stop or two of the day it would put them on the top of the next days list.

JD

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