STREAMLINE AND INTEGRATE YOUR BUSINESS PROCESSES
TIMS Software Product Guide for Industrial Gas & Welding Supply Businesses
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction.........................................................................................2 Streamlining Your Business Processes.......................................3 - 4 Managing Your Assets..................................................................5 - 6 Additional Product Offerings.......................................................7 - 8 Productivity Tools................................................................................9 Tailor the Software for Your Business...........................................10 Support Services.......................................................................11 - 12 Contact Sales.....................................................................................13 TIMS Industry Partners.....................................................................14
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@CUsolutions | @TIMSindustrial © Copyright 2022 Computers Unlimited
Introduction
INTRODUCTION
Who We Are
“For me as an IT manager, working with
Founded in 1978, Computers Unlimited (CU) has evolved into a major software development company and is the leading provider of integrated software solutions serving the gas and welding industry throughout North America. We serve companies of all sizes by streamlining their business processes with a consolidated software platform.
Computers Unlimited has come to mean a rock solid alliance for my business. It is a company I have entrusted to support my company. My relationship with Computers Unlimited is critical to keeping my business healthy.” Joe Kirmes, Middlesex Gases & Technologies
What Makes Us Different With a unified ERP software, daily business practices become fluent. TIMS (Total Information Management System) Software provides one integrated solution, a cohesive system that from order to fulfillment to invoice, business processes are unified. TIMS improves the visibility of information so your staff can make faster and more informed decisions with centralized accurate data. You’ll never have to worry about maintaining and upgrading separate applications. TIMS is all-inclusive. We continually develop TIMS Software specifically for your industry.
provide solutions that strengthen their company and help them meet their current and future business goals.
From Our Team to Yours To meet the needs of our customer base, Computers Unlimited employs nearly 200 professionals dedicated to the development, documentation, implementation and support of the solutions we provide. Longstanding customer relationships are developed through a commitment to excellence. We are driven to continually enhance our products and services in order to offer customers the most cost-effective and advanced software solutions available.
Our Vision Our dedication to service and support has built an organization focused on delivering answers. Whether it’s training and implementation, data conversions or software customization, our clients rely on us to
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Streamlining Your STREAMLINING YOUR BUSINESS PROCESSES Business Processes To operate your business at the highest possible level of productivity, you need a fully integrated software system—a system that combines gas cylinder management and business software in one seamless product. TIMS enables you to efficiently serve your customers and easily track your cylinder assets while giving your staff the real-time information they need at their fingertips, and giving you the combined data you need to make informed business decisions. In the office, in the warehouse or fill plant, delivering gases and hardgoods, or making sales calls, TIMS goes with you.
Order Entry for Bulk, Packaged Gases & Hard Goods
Purchasing & Receiving— Process Backorders as You Receive Them
TIMS Order Processing system is a comprehensive Order Entry for bulk and packaged gases, hard goods and rental equipment. Order capabilities include: cash, on-account down payments/partial payments, credit card, credit returns, drop ships, leases, quick P/O’s, quotes, kits/assemblies, warehouse transfers, nonstock items, comment lines and message displays.
TIMS Automated Purchasing system scans central and remote warehouse locations for items at or below the reordering point and recommends optimal order quantity to minimize holding and ordering costs. It also allows you to create a warehouse transfer for overstocked items inside your vendor P/O.
Additional Features:
More Features:
| Purchase stock/non-stock and special items with drop ship capabilities
| Auto-calculated fees and shipping charges | Collate invoices and statements per customer preferences then fax, email or outsource on a per customer basis, reducing and/or eliminating postage costs
| Centralized or decentralized replenishment from vendor/warehouse | Item level order point calculations based on order history
| Credit Release system monitors credit hold and credit limit thresholds
| Receive vendor/warehouse purchase orders; process backorders and warehouse transfers
| Scheduled Delivery system uses cycle codes to streamline repeat orders
| Print receiving documents and bar code labels when receiving items
| Point of Sale (POS) system offers credit card processing and cash drawer balancing
| Process vendor returns efficiently for an accurate inventory level
”I’ve saved myself hours of looking through stacks of papers by simply reviewing a single report to use to contact the current vendor for credit on returned items.” Cari Niles, Weldstar
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Streamlining Your STREAMLINING YOUR Business Processes BUSINESS PROCESSES A/R Collections & Management | Rapid data entry of payments with 10-key input
General Ledger & Financial Management
| Comprehensive payment apply-to options and account adjustments
| Flexible G/L account code structure for complex business structures
| Manage past due accounts with workflow-based Credit and Collections and Dunning letters
| Robust interfaces from A/R, A/P and Payroll systems
| Tax write-offs integrate with your tax reporting
| Drill down on chart of account balances to view detailed source documents
| Standard journal entry, editing and adjustments
| Collection note capabilities with auto task reminders
| Comprehensive financial reporting system and custom schedules for balance sheet, income statement and cash flow analysis
A/P Processing
| Importing and exporting of transactions via Excel®
| P/O to A/P interface for automatic creation of vouchers
| Retain unlimited years of detailed transactions
| One-time setup of recurring payments with flexible payment options based upon cycle codes
| Real-time posting to the G/L
| Automatic calculation of vendor discount and due dates | ACH processing | Automatic bank reconciliation interface | Transfer payables to a credit card
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Managing Your MANAGING YOUR Assets ASSETS BEYOND CYLINDER TRACKING When your cylinders are managed using TIMS, they are effectively controlled. Manage assets by balance forward, serial number, bar code or RFID tag and sell gas by cylinder or volume. Handle empty, full and shipped quantities by item number. Use lot number tracking for quality control and recalls.
| Powerful kit and assembly system for multiple component part numbers
In Addition: | Powerful rental pricing matrix for unlimited rental rates, fees and billing periods
| Print bar codes for inventory items, prices and bin locations
| Control how to charge and what rate to charge for cylinders—per customer or per item | Lease system provides dynamic rental billing options
| Complete physical inventory using a mobile device or count sheet
| Generate rental invoices by summary or detail per customer
| MSDS tracking system to comply with government regulations | Wireless warehouse mobile applications to perform inventory counts, pick items for shipping and P/O receivings
| Automatically renew leases with invoices or renewal letters | Comprehensive analysis and reporting of cylinder activity and gas sales | Auto pay rental and lease with credit card
Inventory Pricing, Contracts & Fee System
Inventory Control— Gases & Hard Goods
| Item level list/cost multiplier streamlines price maintenance and protects margins
| Inclusive inventory control for single and multiple warehouse locations
| Column price levels and quantity break brackets provide flexible pricing schedules
| Item level control of SKU/description, unit of measure, UPC codes, lot/serial number tracking, bin locations, list/cost pricing matrix, inventory valuation method and purchasing parameters
| Robust contract pricing options accommodate unique customer pricing requirements | Future dated price and cost updates
| Additional item descriptions/memos (DOT shipping names)
| Flexible Fee system offers unlimited branch, customer and item fee combinations
| Part number equivalents and customer item cross reference equivalents
| Rebate system tracks customer purchases for vendor rebate opportunities
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| Identify and remove items that are no longer sold
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Managing Your MANAGING YOUR Assets ASSETS Electronic Catalog System
Truck Distribution
TIMS Electronic Catalog system streamlines maintenance of inventory pricing and part numbers by allowing you to maintain accurate inventory costs and protect profit margins with automatic cost updates. Update your vendor lines in minutes, not hours. Access the Electronic Catalog throughout the TIMS system to simplify part number maintenance and inventory item descriptions, UPC codes and pricing.
Print accurate DOT compliant manifests, trip reports, or load sheets quickly and easily. Your CSRs can easily choose which truck, route, and date to assign an order, and then organize and update deliveries as needed. Give your drivers the tools they need to make deliveries more efficient and precise.
In Addition:
More Features: | Route orders directly from TIMS Order Entry | New or changed orders flagged for delivery are instantly sent to the dispatcher
| Choose from hundreds of vendor catalogs | Catalog updates upload directly to TIMS (a Computers Unlimited provided service)
| Create pre-defined routes | Dispatchers can view created orders, orders out for delivery and completed orders
| Build new inventory items directly from the Electronic Catalog | Pull in items not defined in your inventory; ensure accurate price, cost, description and part number
“Using TIMS standard Inventory Management and Automated Purchasing, we were able to reduce inventory levels by over $300,000 in just 40 days.” Kevin Adkins, American Welding & Gas
What Does Integration Mean to Your Business? It means one software system, working completely and comprehensively to integrate the day-to-day mechanisms of your business. From Order Entry to A/R, from Purchasing and Receiving to A/P, General Ledger and Financial Management, Cylinder and Inventory Control, Business Intelligence tools and much, much more—all are part of one synchronized system. TIMS is a stable software environment where all of your modules constantly exchange information, keeping you and your employees engaged and informed in order to better serve your customers by increasing productivity. A single source of truth...
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Additional Product Offerings Scheduling & Logistics TIMS mobile applications let you do business when, where, and how Make smarter scheduling and routing decisions with you need to, using smartphones or TIMS Scheduler or Roadnet by Omnitracs. Real-time delivery updates make answering customer delivery tablets. statuses easy.
TIMS Delivery
Cylinder Plant Production & Replenishment
Go paperless with an efficient way to record delivery of cylinders, hard goods and rental equipment with electronic proof of delivery and signature capture to eliminate disputes. Simultaneously track assets, maximize driver effectiveness and streamline dispatch with fewer steps and more hands-on information. Efficiently load trucks, optimize routing, reduce or eliminate paperwork, and evaluate driver and truck productivity.
Generate fill plant production worklists for fill requirements, managing customer orders and branch transfers. Calculate optimal cylinder inventory stocking levels to prevent excess cylinder inventory.
Advanced Cylinder Management (ACM)
TIMS Assistant, Your Office On The Go
ACM manages your entire cylinder fleet in real-time as it moves throughout the fill plant or is being delivered to a customer site. ACM doesn’t just count your cylinders, it tracks them from full to empty and is fully integrated with your TIMS Software system.
TIMS Assistant is designed to keep your sales team both connected and productive. Using a suite of standard TIMS APIs and the power of the cloud, features your sales staff need are on smartphones or tablets.
| Create New Orders in field in Real-time
Bulk Gas Manager
| Check Inventory Availability
Manage your bulk gas deliveries to maximize efficiency and minimize waste. Forecast and quickly create bulk orders, optimize routes, and view bulk gas account information within one program that is seamlessly integrated with TIMS.
| Review Contract Pricing | See Open Orders, A/R and Customer Contact Listings
TIMS Plant
Credit Card Processing
Bar code cylinder assets, verify and update cylinder information, fill cylinders, and perform transfers.
Improve cash flow and business automation by processing retail sales swiftly and securely. You can also automatically charge your customer’s credit card for recurring transactions like cylinder rent, leases and monthly invoices. Save time and reduce errors and liability.
TIMS mobile applications run on real-time and are fully integrated in your core TIMS system.
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Additional Product Offerings Rental Equipment
Imaging
Accurately bill your valuable assets by setting up existing and new rental options, and creating rental items. Quickly select orders for invoicing, review rental activity, purge sold rental items and run reports by customer or item.
Digitally scan all of your business documents, such as signed delivery tickets, vendor invoices, and employee information. The Imaging module automatically stores all TIMS documents. Plus, everything is secure and easily retrievable to quickly fax or email to your customer as needed.
EDI
UPS & FedEx
With TIMS, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) means you
Give your customers certainty and peace of mind. Add UPS® or FedEx® tracking numbers to open orders so customers can check the status of their order without having to call.
and your customers can be set up to send and receive documents, such as orders and invoices, electronically and securely.
Tasks TIMS Tasks keeps you up-to-date with the entire customer process by providing customer specific information at your fingertips. Implementing Tasks for customer service follow-ups, refund requests, collection disputes, vendor purchasing information and more. Create your own note templates and custom screens then assign tasks to various users and track their completion. Users can also create and monitor their own personal tasks.
Cloud Hosting If your hard drive system is outdated, consider eliminating high up-front new system costs and IT expenses by moving to the security of the cloud with Microsoft® Azure. Let TIMS do the heavy lifting.
“When I think back on my twenty-two year association with Computers Unlimited, two words come to the forefront—partnership and attentiveness. From my very first TIMS roll out with Project Management, Computers Unlimited’s corporate culture of caring was evident in both their efforts to ensure the successful implementation of the software and their willingness to listen to (and act on) suggestions to improve and make it more user friendly. Computers Unlimited knows their ‘users’ are more than customers; they consider them partners in growing their mutual businesses.” AWISCO Corp.
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P roductivity Tools PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS Customer Centric
Business Intelligence Tools
| Data Tools – sort, filter, display and export information in a variety of ways with options for printing, faxing and emailing
| TIMS Reports – choose from hundreds of standard TIMS reports with comprehensive search, filter, sort, display and print options
| A/R – view invoices based upon user-defined aging buckets; drill down from a summary to a detailed view of individual invoices, payments and deposits with powerful search and filtering capabilities
| BI Cube Reporting makes data accessible in easy to generate reports by branch or fill plant for cylinder forecasting and replenishment
A unified view of your customer provides superior service.
| Cylinders – view current and historical cylinder ship and return transactions with detailed tag ID information; line item rental rates and rental methods via a cylinder rental summary and the complete terms of individual cylinder leases
The right analysis tool to make faster and more informed decisions.
| Analysis tools give a complete picture of business performance by transforming a wealth of valuable transactional data into easy-to-use analytical cubes. | Microsoft Business Intelligence – SQL Server Reporting Services, SQL Server Analysis Services, Office/Excel®
| Sales – view current and historical orders and quotes; item level sales history with comparative period and margin analysis and individual invoice and corresponding proof of delivery images | Rental Equipment – view current rental equipment activity, balances and rental agreement details | Contracts – view all special price contracts by contract type, price and duration | Customer Pricing – quickly retrieve customer item prices and quantity breaks | Tag Lookup – view individual cylinder bar code tags and a complete transaction history
Notes—A Centralized Database | View and create customer notes and correspondences | Create unlimited notes that integrate fully with individual TIMS modules | Control where individual notes display and print based upon user-defined note categories and behaviors
“Customer Centric is great. You have all
| Edit notes throughout TIMS based upon user privileges
of your customer information you need in
| Link a single note to multiple customers
one place. Plus, the History tab in CCI
| Search note types and categories for viewing, printing and exporting to Excel® and .PDF
is a huge timesaver.”
| Manage end user note capabilities through a flexible security authorization system
Ray Cusson, Maine Oxy
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A T ailored System A SYSTEM BUILT ON STANDARDS BuiltTO to YOU Suit Your Needs TAILORED Centralized management of usernames and system resources ensures system security and end user flexibility. | TIMS Management Console – streamline setup and maintenance of usernames, passwords and printer definitions with full integration to Microsoft Active Directory (AD)®, a central authentication and authorization foundation for resources, services and users
| TIMS options – tailor individual software modules and processes based upon your company’s business environment | Authorize a group of users for an entire module and/or individual programs | TIMS Identifiers – grant and revoke access to specific program functions by username | Perform comprehensive system auditing of database tables down to a username level
MAKING THE MOVE—A TURNKEY SOLUTION Computers Unlimited offers professional project management by assigning a team of technicians to manage each facet of your company’s system implementation. You become part of the team, led by a project leader who coordinates the process and serves as a liaison throughout the start-up phase, guaranteeing a successful implementation. To further ensure a smooth transition, a Computers Unlimited systems implementer works closely with you, providing on-site support during the live segment of your system implementation.
Electronic File Conversion Transferring information from an old system to TIMS and verifying its integrity is an important aspect of your conversion. A programmer and a project leader work hand-in-hand to accurately convert as much data as possible, electronically. Our two-pass approach allows you to review converted data long before actually using the new system for daily processing, thus providing plenty of time for maintenance or application of additional specifications.
Data Conversion Turn to our team of highly experienced data conversion specialists for small or large scale data conversion and manipulation projects. Our staff of experienced programmers can analyze, filter and export data in any PC compatible format. Data can also be imported from spreadsheets or reports and manipulated using complex combinations of tables and criteria.
Server, Peripherals & Data Communications—Installation & Support A highly-trained Computers Unlimited systems technician oversees each company’s server, peripherals, and data communications network installation. We are also readily available to provide training and services for system managers on system utilities, optimization and resource management.
Implementation Training Computers Unlimited’s implementation training gets your company up and running quickly on TIMS. We dedicate a systems implementer to your company who addresses each of the basic application areas in a hands-on environment. This provides the knowledge and practice necessary to utilize TIMS confidently and efficiently.
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Customer Support Services
CUSTOMER SUPPORT SERVICES Application Support Providing quick and effective solutions to procedural and technical questions is the goal of our support group. Our support center specialists connect directly to your system, quickly diagnosing and solving problems. In turn, an automated call tracking system records each problem and solution, providing a growing base of knowledge that allows us to resolve future issues faster.
Technical Support Technical Support specialists respond to questions regarding hardware support, telecommunication issues, data backup and system optimization. Providing a critical link between the operating system and your business, our staff delivers the best in technical services and support. We tailor the setup of TIMS Software to your business, determined by your network, company size and even the way you do business with other vendors.
New customers begin with Technical Support for hardware setups and, if needed, data conversions. The relationship continues for day-to-day issues, whether to solve a technical problem, or simply to find a better way to manage the system.
24-Hour Support When circumstances require you to work beyond normal business hours, our support staff is always available offering extended service hours, including weekends and most holidays.
Support specialists are available from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm Mountain Time to coincide with all regular business hours in North America.
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Company Services
COMPANY SERVICES Ongoing Learning—Customer Portal
Steering Committee
Our customers have exclusive access to the TIMS Community Portal and Forum. The portal includes specific module documentation, videos, tutorials, release notes, presentation slides and resources such as ways to contact support and view support tickets.
Steering Committee members are TIMS users who are also industry leaders, and act as the voice of TIMS users. The committee works closely with Computers Unlimited to enhance and improve the product. Members meet twice per year and discuss financial, communication and planning issues. The committee ensures a good line of communication between the software users and Computers Unlimited, and they also assist in the planning of the annual Users Group Conference.
Audit, Analysis, Onsite Consulting & Training A professional, onsite system/software audit can pinpoint productivity and efficiency problems, offering solutions that optimize the software’s potential. In addition to implementing training, we offer ongoing training programs to maximize employee productivity and realize all of the benefits of TIMS Software.
Users Group—Educating & Networking For over 30 years, Computers Unlimited has held annual Users Group conferences, providing a forum of support and education for customers and our company. We gain valuable input and direction on the software features that are necessary to successfully run businesses in a cost-effective manner.
Staying Informed
Applications Training Take advantage of focused training services and additional software education held at our headquarters, over the Internet, onsite, through webinars or at a training facility.
Custom Software Development We realize that one size does not fit all. The core TIMS system includes hundreds of system configuration options designed to meet your company’s unique business environment. For the unusual instance when software modifications are necessary, we can tailor the core product based upon your unique business needs.
Sign up for weekly emails and blogs, along with valuable webinars, ebooks and articles on TIMS. Be informed on the latest releases and upcoming tradeshows information.
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Questions
Frank Haskett, Sales Consultant 406.255.9506 | FrankH@CU.net
Tracie Hunt, Sales Manager 406.255.9615 | Tracie@CU.net
www.TIMSsoftware.com/Industrial
“What really differentiates TIMS is that they are willing to work with their users. TIMS values the information brought by their users and meshes that with the design of the software to develop it forward.” Linda Fette, VP of Operations, Helget Gas
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Industry Partners
INDUSTRY PARTNERS
Partnership with leading industry trade associations provides crucial insight regarding industry trends, emerging regulatory requirements and business issues that impact our customers. In turn, this helps guide our software development e orts.
TECHNOLOGY AFFILIATES An Evolutionary Approach to Software Development Computer Unlimited’s modern software applications operate with current industry standard Intel and AMD processors, Microsoft® Windows® Server and Microsoft SQL database platforms. System backup and data recovery methods are enhanced with immediate, redundant systems using Keep It Safe and Veeam technologies.
All brands, products and services mentioned are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.
Moving Our Customers Forward Each new release of TIMS incorporates innovative features, functionality and performance. Based upon the evolving needs of our customers, the market at large and Computer Unlimited’s vision of future software requirements, we also recognize the importance of partnering with leading hardware and software providers and integrating third party software systems to capitalize on their areas of expertise. We support multiple versions of our software product while providing forward movement to the latest version of TIMS Software.
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Our Customers Say It Best...
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