Objective

The goals for the participants of this session are to demonstrate knowledge of Equipment Barcoding, Creating Vending Equipment and Non-Vending Equipment. Please take notes on the subjects that are covered as everyone involved in this session will need to be certified upon completion.

Equipment Barcoding

Note: Open up VendMAX and login and go to the Run Report Function>Product Reports>Barcode Report>Filters: Barcode For: Click on the drop down  and choose Vending Equipment. If no other parameters are chosen all VEQ with a barcode will be shown.

Vending Equipment

There are two options to choose from to get started. You can use the Drop down Menu option or the Quick Link option on the left hand side of VendMAX screen.

You can go to Masterfiles/Vending Equipment

Click the + sign to add a new record

Choose a Zone >> to place the Equipment and the effective date

Then click on OK

Description field: Example (4 wide Snack, 5 wide snack 2 candy, 10 column beverage)

Code: (Used for Equipment Barcode labeling, should be numerically defined)

Category: Category is available as another way to group and sort Vending Equipment records. The values which are entered are user defined, and no value needs to be entered.

General tab

Equipment type – Click on the drop down arrow and choose from one of the following:

Generic – Can be used for any machine

Beverage – Generally used for Bubble front or Stacker type Vendors

Beverage Fountain – Coffee or Cold Drink (Fountain)

Beverage Glassfront – Glassfront Vendors

Changer – Bill Change machines (Non Revenue)

Snack – Snack

Food Cold

(Pick the most accurate as this will impact the POG view)

Serial Number – Assign information if known

Make – Assign information if known

Model – Assign information if known

Depreciation info– The following section is necessary if the customer wants to include deprecation information in expenses.

Finance type – Click on the drop down arrow and choose one of the available and appropriate options: Lease – If the lease option is chosen, the system will calculate an expense for each Vend Visit or Delivery Sale based on a fraction of the Monthly Payment amount described below.

Purchase – If Purchase is chosen, the system will calculate a monthly depreciation amount as ((Purchase Price – Sell Price) / Depreciation Months), and apply a depreciation amount to each Vend Visit or Delivery Sale based on a fraction of the month. In either case, these amounts will be shown as expenses on the Profit and Loss Statement.

No depreciation – If the “No Depreciation” option is chosen here, then there will be no depreciation expense calculated or attributed to Vend Visits or Delivery Sales to Points of Sale where this Vending Equipment is assigned

Purchase Price – Enter the purchase price here

Sell Price – Residual value of Vending Equipment

Purchase Date – Click on the drop down arrow  and choose the purchase date from the calendar or you can enter the date manually mm/dd/yyyy

Sell Date – Click on the drop down arrow and choose the sell date from the calendar or you can enter the date manually mm/dd/yyyy

Depreciation Months – Number of months used for depreciation.

Monthly Payment – If you choose a Finance Type of lease you would put the monthly payment in here.

Current Zone -Vending Equipment must always be either assigned to a Point of Sale, or placed in a Zone. When the equipment record is initially created, VendMAX will ask the user to assign a Zone where the equipment will initially be located. Vending Equipment can be placed at a Point of Sale by assigning it on the Point of Sale- Equipment tab. Once this has been done, the “Current Zone Field will be blank. If the equipment is subsequently removed from the POS where it had been assigned, this button is only active if the Vending Equipment is currently placed in a Zone. This button will reveal a dialog box that provides a lookup for a new Zone, and allows the user to select the date and time that the move will become effective. This is the proper method for transferring equipment between sites.

Vending Info – Tab

Key Code – Since most Routes will be keyed alike, this is a place to store the code of the key that is currently needed to unlock the machine. This is good information to have during machine moves, and perhaps for service or supervisory personnel who do not visit the machine often, and want to verify that they have the correct keys in their possession.

Changer Par – Shows the amount which the coin mech will hold when full. This is used simply for reference. While it may provide insight into field cash inventory values, or service call issues, this value does not appear on any reports, and does not participate in any calculations.

Has Recycler – The Bill Recycler functionality and over & short calculation has been added and optimized. Check the box ‘Has Recycler’ and select denomination value.

Sellout Allowance – The Vending Equipment Masterfile has a new field which allows a Sell Out amount more than 0 to be set. A number entered into this field will cause the system to treat each column as sold out when it reaches that level. For example, if this is set at 3 for a soda machine, it will treat the column as sold out even if there are 3 cans left in the drop’.

Has Coin Mech – This is where you can record the value of the coin mech in the Changer Par field

Has Recycler – When this box is checked you can enter the denomination of the bills below it

Has Cashless – Indicates if the vending equipment is configured for Cashless sales.   This could be credit cards or smart cards.  By default, these check boxes are unchecked.  When using cashless, be sure to also check “Use Card Cash Meter” on this screen. 

Non-Rechargeable device – This is checked when using traditional credit and debit cards.

Rechargeable device – This is checked when the consumer is allowed to add value to the smart card (ie. PayKey).  For example, a student adds $10 to the card for upcoming purchases.

When the vending machine is configured to accept both traditional cards and smart cards, the DEX file will report the data separately.  Select the appropriate DEX data field which corresponds to each cashless device.

Meters/Dex Section

Primary Accountability – Click on the drop down arrow  to choose the appropriate accountability. The options are None (Default value), Dex, Cash Meter, Vend Meter, Grouped Meter, Product

Cash Meter – The expected value of Cash Collected will be calculated as the incremental dollar value of increase of the cash meter reading. The current meter value must be recorded by the Route Driver during each cash collection for this method to function.

Alternately, if the “Copy DEX Cash to Cash Meter” flag is set ON, a valid DEX file can populate the cash meter value for the Vend Visit.

Vend Meter – The expected value of Cash Collected will be calculated as the incremental increase of the vend meter reading multiplied by the “Vend Meter Multiplier”. The current meter value must be recorded by the Route Driver during each cash collection for this method to function. Alternately, if the “Copy DEX Vends to Vend Meter” flag is set ON, a valid DEX file can populate the vend meter value for the Vend Visit.

This method is only accurate in single price machines, as there is only space to record a single cash value multiplier.

Grouped Meter – The expected value of Cash Collected will be calculated as the incremental increase of Grouped Meter 1, multiplied by the “Grouped Meter 1 Multiplier”, plus the incremental increase of Grouped Meter 2, multiplied by the “Grouped Meter 2 Multiplier”, and so on. The current meter values must be recorded by the Route Driver during each cash collection for this method to function.

This method is only accurate in machines with up to 4 prices, as there is only space to record 4 cash value multipliers.

DEX – The expected value of Cash Collected will be calculated as the incremental increase of the DEX value of “Bills To Stacker” plus the incremental increase of the DEX value of “Coin to Box”. This constitutes the DEX system’s calculation of the money available for collection when the driver arrived at the machine. The Route Driver must take a DEX reading when servicing the machine for this method to function. This therefore requires that the DEX Type field be set to either Cash Only or to Full.

Product – The expected value of Cash Collected will be calculated as the number of Products Vended multiplied by the Vend Price for each column. The product of this calculation is then added across all columns in the machine to produce the expected cash value. In this calculation, Products Vended = (Closing Inventory from Last Service – Opening Inventory from Current Service), and the Vend Price is the price that is set in the POS Plan-O-Gram.

Because this method relies on Product movement information, in either Item Level or Category format, it can not be used in Bulk machines, like Coffee and Cold Cup, and it can only be used when the Route Driver is taking recording product movement information.

None – There will not be any calculations made of Cash Over/Shorts for this machine.

Dex Type – Click on the drop down arrow  to choose the appropriate dex type. The options are None (Default) Cash Only, Full, and STS-Man

Full – In this case, VendMAX will expect to see Column Sales movement data in the DEX stream. If it does not exist, the file will be discarded. If it does exist, it will be used to automatically calculate the beginning inventory and added values for each column in the machine. This method turns the driver’s job into one of verifying and editing the information rather than data entry itself.

Cash Only – In this case, VendMAX will only use the Cash Collection and Meter reading values from the DEX file. Any data about column level sales will be ignored if it exists. Under these circumstances, if the POS is set up for Column Level Sales, the data will be handled manually by the Route Driver.

Space to Sales – This setting is no longer used as the Full setting will accommodate this during POG setup.

Bill to Stacker Multiplier – This field should be left at “Parser Default” under most circumstances. It is available as a setting to correct a few unusual DEX data errors if they exist. This field should only be changed after a consultation with Streamware Technical Support.

Meters – Any of these Meter Values which are turned on will appear on the Route Driver handheld or Route Cards with a blank space for the Driver to record their values. Additionally, there will be space provided in the Vend Visit Transaction screen for this data to be input and/or reviewed.

Use Cash Meter

The Cash Meter is the most commonly used method of Cash Accountability. If it is available in the equipment, this should be turned on and used. If the machine also has a DEX interface, and you would prefer that the driver not be required to record the Cash Meter value manually, check the “Copy DEX Cash to Cash Meter” flag described below.

Use Vend Meter

The Vend Meter is an alternate method of Cash Accountability for those machines which do not have a cash meter, but do have a vend counter. If it is available in the equipment, this should be turned on and used. If the machine also has a DEX interface, and you would prefer that the driver not be required to record the Cash Meter value manually, check the “Copy DEX Vends to Vend Meter” flag described below.

Use Grouped Meter 1

Grouped Meters are essentially User defined Vend Meters. These are most commonly set up in Coffee or Cold Cup machines which have two or three vend prices. See Grouped Meter Accountability for a further explanation of how these meter values are used.

Use Grouped Meter 2

Same as Grouped Meter 

Use Grouped Meter 3

Same as Grouped Meter 1

Use Grouped Meter 4

Same as Grouped Meter 1

Use Card Cash Meter

If the machine has a card cash meter, check this box.

Resettable

Check this box if the card cash meter is reset to 0 when you take a manual read. If this box isn’t checked, VendMAX will assume that the meter works cumulatively, just like the cash and vend meters.

Copy DEX Cash To Cash Meter

This flag can be set under the circumstance where the Equipment is capable of taking a DEX reading, and you want the Cash Meter value, which is part of the DEX reading, to automatically populate the Cash Meter reading field. This would be the most common setting for DEX equipped machines. If you would prefer that the Driver manually record the Cash Meter reading, leave this field un-checked, and the Handheld or Route Card will show an area for the driver to manually enter the data. When the DEX type is set to “Full”, or “Cash Only”, this box will always be checked.

Copy DEX Vends To Vend Meter

This flag can be set under the circumstance where the Equipment is capable of taking a DEX reading, and you want the Vend Meter value, which is part of the DEX reading, to automatically populate the Vend Meter reading field. This would be the most common setting for DEX equipped machines. If you would prefer that the Driver manually record the Vend Meter reading, leave this field un-checked, and the Handheld or Route Card will show an area for the driver to manually enter the data. When the DEX type is set to “Full”, or “Cash Only”, this box will always be checked.

Copy DEX Card Cash to Card Cash Meter

Check this box when the equipment is capable of taking a DEX reading, and you want the Card Cash value, which is part of the DEX reading, to automatically populate the Card Cash field for the vend visit. This would be the most common setting for DEX equipped machines. If you would prefer that the Driver manually record the Card Cash Meter reading, leave this field un-checked, and the Handheld will show a field for the driver to manually enter the data. When the DEX type is set to “Full”, or “Cash Only”, this box will always be checked. 

 InfoVend Type– Not used

Columns Tab 

The following information can be shared as a preview or edit tool if desired.

Load Column Setup – click on this button to view the geometry and setup that has been assigned to this piece of equipment

Grid View – Button toggles between Grid View and PlanOgram View. Data can not be edited in Grid View.

Copy From – If you have another Vending Equipment record created already which has the exact geometry layout, column numbering and Par quantities as the Equipment you are now setting up, you can choose this button. A dialog box will be revealed which provides all of the typical VendMAX search opportunities. By selecting another Vending Equipment record here, the column data will be copied into the current record.

Column: Hover the pointer over the column in the PlanOgram and the column description will appear. Double click on the column to reveal a dialog box that will allow you to edit this data.

DEX Column: Hover the pointer over the column in the PlanOgram and the DEX column description will appear. Double click on the column to reveal a dialog box that will allow you to edit this data. This column should almost always be left empty. This area is available to help solve an obscure problem with DEX files from some AP 113 series snack machines. Please consult with Streamware Technical Services before entering data in this field.

Capacity: Hover the pointer over the column in the PlanOgram and the capacity will appear. Double click on the column to reveal a dialog box that will allow you to edit this data.

Creating / Editing Columns

All options are found under a menu of options which can be revealed by a ‘right click’ of the mouse, while positioned in the PlanOgram area of the screen. The effect of any of these changes is VERY dependant on where the mouse is positioned when the command is issued. The location is referred to as the ‘current column’ This is defined as the existing column that the mouse is positioned on before ‘right clicking’. The following options are available:

New Shelf – 10 Column

This option will insert a new row of product columns BELOW the ‘current row’. When this option is chosen, the user will be presented with a dialog box to make the setup easier. The dialog will ask the following questions:

Column Prefix – The first Letter or Number of the column name, (which will be consistent on each column of this row), (Ex. A1, A2, A3… = A)

Column Start – This is the number of the first column to follow the Prefix defined above. If the first column is A0, then this should be 0.

Column Multiplier – This indicates the number of steps to take between each column number. (Ex. if the columns are named A1, A3, A5… then set this to 2).

Capacity – If the capacity of each column in the row is to be set to the same value, you can enter it here and VendMAX will copy to each of the new columns.

If you would prefer to setup all column data manually, just hit OK at this dialog without entering any values. Each column will be named <New> and can be edited in the same way described for ‘New Shelf 1 Column’ below.

New Shelf – 5 Column

This option works the same way as the ‘New Shelf – 10 Column’.

New Shelf 1 Column

This option will insert a new row of product columns BELOW the ‘current row’. The new column will be named <New> with a Par level of 0. To edit the description or par level, double click on the column to reveal a dialog box with the current values for these fields. They can be edited at this time. In this dialog box there is also a place to enter a value for ‘DEX Column’. This column should almost always be left empty. This area is available to help solve an obscure problem with DEX files from some AP 113 series snack machines. Please consult with Streamware Technical Services before entering data in this field.

Add 5 Columns to Current Shelf

This option will insert 5 additional columns in the current row. The new columns will be inserted to the left of the ‘current column’. The new columns will be named <New> with a Par level of 0. See the explanation in ‘New Shelf 1 Column’ for editing the column data.

Add 1 Column to Current Shelf

This option will insert 1 additional column in the current row. The new column will be inserted to the left of the ‘current column’. The new column will be named <New> with a Par level of 0. See the explanation in ‘New Shelf 1 Column’ for editing the column data.

Remove 5 Columns to Current Shelf

This option should be used carefully. While it says that it will remove 5 Columns from the current shelf, it will actually remove the next 5 columns to the right of the ‘current column’. If there are not 5 columns to the right of the ‘current column’, it will begin removing columns from the beginning of the next row.

Remove 1 Column to Current Shelf

This option will remove the ‘current column’.

Remove Shelf

This option will remove all of the columns in the ‘current row’.

Placement History – Tab of the Vending Equipment record will display a record of all placements of the equipment over the life of that record.  The user will see a chronologic record of the placements of this equipment at each Point of Sale or Zone where the equipment has been placed.

Equipment Placement History – The data in this list area of the screen can be sorted

Eff Date: This field will show the date and time that the equipment placement history item became effective.

Add/Remove: This field will show either Add or Remove to indicate what action was taken.

Moved To / From: This field will display the description from the   Zone or Point of Sale where the equipment was moved to or moved from.

Non Vending Equipment Tab 

You can add non vending equipment to the vending equipment here

Misc Info Tab

The Misc Info Tab primarily contains data fields reserved for users to define and maintain specific pieces of data which were not included in the VendMAX data model.  In addition to the user-deifned fields, the Misc tab often contains other data.

In Service Date

This field can be left blank. It is a place to record the date when the Equipment record is first established.

Out of Service Date

In VendMAX, most Master File records cannot simply be deleted, because other table records in the VendMAX database refer to them. As an example, If there are Vend Visits which have been created against a POS, that POS must remain in the database forever. However, Vending Operators sometimes lose an account, reduce the number of POS’ at an existing account, or sell a vending machine. Therefore, there needs to be a way to leave the record in the database, and still make it disappear from all reports and lists within the system. That is accomplished by entering a date into this field. This date will establish when this record is no longer to appear in these reports and other lists.

This record can be brought back into service simply by erasing the date from this field. In order to view this record, for reference, research, or to bring it back into service, see Configure Search for more information.

User Defined Fields

The Miscellaneous tab allows you to setup and maintain 15 User Defined data fields for Vending Equipment. Most Master Tables in VendMAX provide a place to create and maintain 15 User Defined data fields. The use of these fields is optional. For information on activating and defining User Defined fields in VendMAX, see User Defined Fields.

Service call History

The service call History Tab is designed to give a quick view of Service Calls which have been placed against this piece of Vending Equipment.

Every Form View detail tab of Vending Equipment data maintains the header information shown below. For more information on the data fields contained in this header area, see Vending Equipment – Header.

Limit To

If check box is left blank all service calls for this Vending Equipment will be shown. If you check this option box, then the next three parameter fields can be used to filter the list of Service Calls which will appear. These options will allow you to limit the Service Calls in this list to those with an:

Opened Date

Dispatch Date

Promised Date

Closed Date

Void Date 

Between the first and second dates entered into the field. These settings have no effect if the Limit To box is not checked. This is illustrated in the graphic below.

Load History

When the Service Call History tab is initially opened for a piece of equipment, no data will appear in the grid view of service calls. If you decide to limit the list of calls by setting a date Used if the Limit To check box is checked. Once parameters have been entered, hit this button to show the filtered list of service calls. If you do not wish to filter the list, leave the Limit To check box unchecked, but you will still need to select the Load History button to retrieve the data.

Vandalism History

The Vandalism History tab is used for recording and viewing reports of vandalism.  Vandalism can be recorded by the driver on the handheld or it can be entered here.

Creating Vandalism Types

 Click the double chevrons to add new and maintain existing vandalism types.Enter new records or edit records using the pop-up window.

Creating Vandalism Records

Press the (plus) sign to add new records.  

Non-Vending Equipment

There are two options to choose from to get started. You can use the Drop down Menu option or the Quick Link option on the left hand side of VendMAX screen.

You can go to Masterfiles/Non-Vending Equipment

Click the + sign to add a new record

Choose a Zone >> to place the Equipment and the effective date

Then click on OK

Description field: Ex. Refrigerator, Condiment Stand, Microwave

Code: (Used for Equipment Barcode labeling, should be numerically defined)

Category: Category is available as another way to group and sort Vending Equipment records. The values which are entered are user defined, and no value needs to be entered.

General Tab

Serial Number – Assign this information

Make – Assign this information

Model – Assign this information

Depreciation Info – This section is the same as the Vending Equipment.

Placement History – Tab:

Misc Info Tab: User defined if used.

Service Call History Tab: Covered later if applicable