1. Update the order list.  "Return", "do crordlst".  This takes about a minute, and requires exclusive access to lots of files, so it's best done before we open.  If you're careful, you can do it in the middle of the day when we're not busy.  Besides updating the order list (adding new stuff to order, etc.) it also re-indexes the "find customer" and "find inventory" indexes and others. It also moves the entries for invoices which have been reconciled that day from ordtran to oldords.
2. Ready the order list.  From the Cactus menu, "Ordering", "Stock Ordering", "Ready Order List".  Things to keep in mind when readying the order list:
   • Economic order quantities.  This is a balancing act between the urgency of getting merchandise here on time, and the various costs of processing every order.  Those costs include freight (which is higher per item for small orders), invoice processing time (such as filing, writing a check, etc.), receiving time (printing receiving report, reconciling the invoice, tagging and shelving one of each as opposed to tagging and shelving five of each, etc.) payment time (writing a check, stamp, etc.).
   • Urgency of getting the stuff.  You've got lots of information on the screen having to do with how many we have, how many are already promised, and how often we sell the item.
   • If you discontinue an item that's on the Internet computer pricing list, make sure you edit it out of both lists.  If you change models, make sure you change the list.  If you add something cool, and it's appropriate for the computer pricing list, it's usually a good idea to add it to the list when it comes in, not when you order it.
3. Place the orders.  You won't always get the time to place all of the orders in a day.  So do the most urgent ones first.  Keep in mind that some of your vendors are on Central time and a few are Eastern.
4. At the end of the day, run the financials.
   • In the Cactus menu, "GL", "Financials", "Compute Financials".
   • In the Cactus menu, "GL", "Financials", "Print Financials".
   • From the Cactus menu, "Sales", "Return".  Then "do cyincome" and then "do cactus"
   • Check out the results.  From the Cactus menu, "GL", "Financials", "Financial History".
   • If the results are way off the trend, look for COD's that haven't been checked in, bills that have been paid twice, A/P entries that are wrong, etc.  Most of these things will eventually fix themselves, so don't spend too much time on them.  Serious stuff, like bills paid twice, needs finding.