As many ARM Software users know, our product development team has been hard at work updating our rental management system for the past 4 years. This has been a huge undertaking for our team and we are extremely proud of the work we’ve been able to accomplish. We’ve dedicated a lot of time, money and customer feedback into this project, and we’re finally ready to share what we’ve been working on.
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Here’s a roundup of all the product enhancements we’re launching with this update:
Updates to ARM Rental Software
New User Interface
The User Interface has been completely updated throughout ARM and Sage 100. In addition to a modernized look and feel, the new UI has additional fields throughout the system. The UI can also be completely customized to match your company brand, favorite sports team, or whatever you like. You can also still view the classic UI if the changes are too much for you.
Visual Integrator
Visual Integrator can now access table through their associated business objects. This means that the same business rules which govern what data is acceptable during data entry will also be employed to validate any data imported into the table using the Visual Integrator module.
Expanded Customer Numbers
Customer numbers have been expanded to allow for more flexibility and efficiency during Contract and Invoice Entry. This means you’re no longer limited to the first 3 characters of the customer’s name followed by the last 4 characters in their phone number.
Expanded Item Numbers
Much like the expanded customer numbers, item numbers have been expanded in Contract Line Entry and Invoice Line Entry. It’s more than just having the ability to add more characters. This means you can keep your part numbers consistent with your vendors by using the same numbers.
Create National Accounts
A new feature has been added that allows you to create national accounts. National accounts allow you to create relationships between a bill-to account and its sold-to customers. Various fields have been added to Accounts Receivable Options that enable the use of national accounts.
- Use the new Bill To Customer Maintenance task on the Accounts Receivable Setup menu to set up relationships between a national account and its sold-to customers. Any customer can be a national account or be a member of a national account.
- Use the new Bill To/Sold To Maintenance task accessed from the Customer Maintenance window to create tiers of bill-to and sold-to customers.
- You now have the option to print bill-to/sold-to information on various reports and forms. Additionally, bill-to/sold-to information can be printed in Statement Printing
Updates to User Defined Fields & Tables
Creation of User Defined Fields (UDF) is now fully supported in both the Contract Header and Contract Detail tables. And, Sage 100 now creates the UDF directly in the named table instead of adding it to a supplemental file.
ARM also now supports line-based UDFs in contracts and invoices. For example, your items may have description, category, and cost. But let’s say you’re a medical equipment rental company and you need to note a patient room number a rental is for. You can add this information to the contract and have it flow to the invoice so your billing department can see what the patient was being billed for and which patient was using the item.
You also now can have UDFs on the serial level and ability to see them in tier distribution. Previously, you could only put in a serial number when you received a purchase order or when you were looking at it in Contract Entry to distribute it. Now when picking serial numbers to assign you can see more supporting data for that serial number like a description when you go to distribute it.
Much like adding a User Defined Field, you can now have User Defined Tables (UDT). You can use UDTs to populate data into UDFs or other fields on contract lines. This allows you to add another table to the system so that you can use that information in a contract or invoice.
Modify System Behaviors with Visual Basic
ARM Software users now have full scripting ability to modify behavior of the system using Visual Basic. Right now, every part in Sage 100 has a weight associated with it. Out of the box the system can calculate the total weight of an order to let you know if you’re exceeding the weight limit of a truck. But some industries use volume or “packing cubes” to determine how much physical space is being occupied in a truck. A custom script can tell you how many cubes your inventory occupies for that order. Much like calculating weight, this could tell you if an order fits in one truck or will you need to get multiple trucks involved.
Scalable Windows
You can finally take advantage of that large monitor – and we don’t just mean changing the resolution to make the screen bigger. With this version, you can make Contract Entry full screen and move fields around as need or add new ones. This also give you the ability see more information on longer contracts, including more lines on a grid.
New Reporting Engine
All reports in the Report Menu have been rewritten in Crystal Reports. This means you can modify the reports yourself based on your unique requirements or needs. Because all reports are now Crystal-based, end users can easily customize them without having to pay for a costly customization.
Updates to Contract Entry
ARM has a ton of new visual indicators to call out specific information in real time. For example, on the header screen for rental dates ARM will notify you there is a conflict with dates by highlighting the description and begin date fields red. Hovering over them will tell you why (i.e. shipping conflict, holiday closure, etc.) Same goes for the Purchase Order number field. PO numbers will turn red, to indicate that a customer requires a PO, but the user hasn’t put something in that field so that they don’t have to go back and do it again.
ARM has a new Rental Price Calculator like the item pricing screen for sales. So, when a customer asks how much it’s going to cost if they rent 50 widgets, you can quote prices based on billing profiles, bill codes, and quantity breaks. Then when you exit the screen the correct quantity and price will be added to the line.
We also now support Contract-specific memos that allow you to create notes about a contract, such as delivery or pickup instructions. This information will flow into the contracts history and follow the contract throughout its lifecycle into the invoice.
New Reservations Tracking System
The Rental Reservations Tracking System has been re-engineered with a new UI. The new Reservations system also has some additional fields in the line detail, including an “Created by/Updated by” field so you can see who created or modified a line last including the date and time.
There’s a new calendar function when looking at it from the menu. The system now shows a 3-month period instead of 1-month period as well as the dates from today out as the default. You can easily browse with buttons to see next month, the previous month, next year, etc.
ARM Reservations Tracking lets you know when you are going to be short on equipment so that you can determine if you need to purchase new equipment or sub-rent during peak periods. You can go as high as 95% or as low as 45% utilization to show you how much of your equipment will be rented. If the day turns red you’ll know if you’re going into a shortage period.
Updates to Equipment Usage Maintenance
The Equipment Usage Maintenance System also been re-engineered. It has a period posting table so that revenue and times rented are tracked by physical year and period. Before it was just under Period-to-Date or Year-to-Date so that when you got to a new year it just cycled through. Now you can retain that information and scroll back. There are also new data fields in header.
You can now have consolidated equipment usage records by part number and serial number. All transactions move with the serial number and all the rental history moves with the item from warehouse to warehouse. Before, the warehouse was part of a key so you would end up with multiple records if equipment was shipped to another warehouse.
Increased Printing Performance
Printing speed and performance has been dramatically increased. This is because a single work table is created from all the associated tables, which needed to be linked and which slowed down the print process. The quick print process has also been streamlined. We removed the window for report settings when you click Print or Accept. Now you have the option to skip this step and print automatically.
Rate Table Billing Built into the System
We created a rate table to enhance the way you bill customers and allow for some added flexibility to billing schedules at the item level. You can now automatically escalate billing rates by dollars if you choose so that you don’t end up over-charging your customer.
New ARM Software Integrations
We love partnering with technology companies that help our users run their businesses and do their jobs better, faster, and smarter. With this big update, we have some stellar additions to ARM Software integrations to help with all stages of managing your equipment or event rental business.
SQL Database Support
ARM now supports SQL as a backend database. This allows ARM to integrate with other applications using the SQL platform. So, for other apps that use SQL, you’ll be able to pull info from that table and integrate it into ARM.
Web Services Support
With the new business framework, there is much greater potential to interface with other applications via web services.
Scanforce Warehouse Management Solution and Multi-Bin Handheld Support
Rental items can now exist in a multi-bin environment. Users can track multiple bin locations for each of their inventory items. Tracking, picking, bar code scanning and reporting are completed in a way that optimizes warehouse and order processing efficiency, optimizes capacity management, and minimizes inventory shrinkage. The new multi-bin and warehouse management solution will allow bin numbers to contain “smart coding”, so the user can define warehouse zones, aisles, etc. Put-Aways, Transfers and Physical Counts will be supported, and a wide array of reports will be available. Learn more about Multi-Bin Handhelds
Positek TextileTrack RFID Support
The TextileTrack integration gives us completely RFID functionality to track owned, bulk, and rental assets. ARM can receive pushed data from any RFID station, such as status, RFID tag scans, or receipt information. Items can be scanned with handheld devices and are administered through a web-based portal. Learn more about Positek TextileTrack.
Roadnet Anywhere
The Roadnet Anywhere integration allows you to save costs and run routing operations more efficiently. You’ll be able to dispatch more efficiently with less staff and equipment as well as save reduce driver over time and idle time be efficiently mapping delivery routes. Roadnet also helps you pack delivery trucks in an efficient manner so that nothing has to be unloaded and reloaded to pick out a single item.
When you create a contract in ARM the data is uploaded to Roadnet Anywhere where the route is calculated and mapped for your drivers. Then information is sent back to your dispatcher containing information such as estimated delivery time, idle time and even if the driver Is deviating off the planned route. Because the data is integrated with ARM Software, you can look up your customer when they call in and know where the driver is at, what’s holding them up, and their expected delivery time. Drivers can even use their smart device to take signatures to confirm delivery or pickup of rentals.
Roadnet also has some unique features such as being able to upload information not typically available on other dispatching software systems. For example, you may have one driver or dispatcher who has knowledge of local traffic conditions, shortcuts or back roads. You can upload this information to Roadnet and it will automatically factor in this knowledge share into your route planning. Learn more about Omnitracs Roadnet Anywhere
What’s Next?
Automated Rental Management 2016 is currently being beta tested by a number of customers already with a scheduled release date for the end of June. The 2017 version of ARM Software is also in beta and the scheduled release date is sometime in late July to early September. If you have any questions about upgrading, please contact your Account Manager or give us a call at (800) 882-6705.
