A recent survey of over 400 firms by WSJ Pro Research points out all too clearly that small businesses are far more vulnerable to cyberattacks, and that manufacturers (as well as retail and government) were behind other industries in important areas.

As pointed out in the survey, highlighted recently in The Wall Street Journal (6-22-20), “organizations aren’t necessarily prepared for the threats they are most concerned about.”  Nearly 80% of respondents viewed ransomware as a high risk, but only 70% felt prepared to deal with it.  (It’s real, and we have several clients who’ve suffered painful consequences.)

Small companies tend to lag behind large ones in preparedness, probably to no one’s surprise.  63% of companies under $50M sales have a cybersecurity program (compared to 81% of larger firms).  Worse still, 15% of companies have no plans to put one in place.

Several measures were found to be crucial indicators of companies’ preparedness:

– Companies with cyber insurance were likely to perform better on other aspects of preparedness.  Simply having insurance, The Journal noted, “suggested businesses have assessed their risk, understand their critical data assets, and are aware of the potential for disruption if attacked.”

– Companies receiving executive level training were more likely to have identified and protected critical data.

– Industrial and manufacturing companies appear to struggle the most with third-party risk, and fewer than two-thirds of manufacturers have a cybersecurity program.  Manufacturers even planning to have programs in place also lagged other industries, and 63% lack any cyber insurance.

Sadly, results showed in many cases that a company’s “perception of risk” outweighed its “perception of preparedness.”  In other words… we know it’s out there, we just haven’t done much about it.

Finally, suggested actions include:

– having an in-house cybersecurity program
– have a dedicated budget for cybersecurity
– hire qualified cybersecurity employees
– identify and protect critical data
– pursue ongoing cybersecurity training
– have an incident response plan
– purchase cybersecurity insurance
– get exec-level education

The threats are real.  We’ve seen them firsthand at client sites.  It doesn’t take a lot to begin to take basic preparedness actions.  Which will be it be for you: an ounce of protection… or a pound of cure?

Do you need help with your processes or managing your supply chains?  We’re here, we’re local, we know the territory… and we’re here to help!  We invite you to contact PSSI directly at 877.273.2444.

This month TIW Technology President Rod Hatcher shows how to perform ‘drop shipments’ in ALERE, and how to export your data to an Excel worksheet.

Drop Shipments with ALERE 
A drop shipment takes place when a company takes the title of the product but does not actually handle, stock, or deliver it to the customer. Instead, the supplier receives instructions to ship directly to the company’s customer. In ALERE, sales orders handle drop shipments.

There are four, possibly five, items to be addressed when preparing to handle drop shipments.

• In inventory on the Item tab screen check the item attribute Drop Ship check box for any items that can be dropped shipped.
• At a minimum, also check the Purchase and Sellable boxes.
• Assign a location to use as a default for the item on the inventory Location tab.
• Add any suppliers that can handle a drop shipment for the item on the Supplier tab.
• If a company uses permissions to create accepted drop ship purchase orders, then assign them the appropriate permission. The permission type is PFAO.

Use the Line Items tab on a sales order to enter orders for drop ship items. This permits the Ship ID and Ship Locn of the supplier fulfilling the drop ship order to be designated. Items being drop shipped are labeled, clearly in red, as illustrated on the screen below.

Start by entering the account from which the funds will be taken. Choose the Transfer (circled in red) radio button and enter a reference and an amount. The GL Journal Entry screen is displayed when the Post button is clicked.

A purchase order for the item can be created and automatically emailed to the supplier when it is released on the sales order. The purchase order contains the customer shipping address.

Even though drop ship items do not move through inventory, their activity is captured. They will show up on the Log of Activity and Future Activity screens and on any usage and analysis reports. General ledger postings for drop shipments will be made to accommodate the slightly different path than standard sales items because no physical inventory moves through the company. Other accounts, such as sales discounts and shipping, are added in the normal fashion.

Exporting to Excel from ALERE 
Often there is the desire to take the information generated by an ALERE report and perform further calculations on it. Sometimes a certain format is required by a company to meet special report requirements. Then, there are the occasions when data from different reports or sources need to be combined for the information to be visible. Since the most common vehicle for these various requirements is Excel, all of the reports in ALERE have an Export button to convert into to Excel.

The Export button will create a spreadsheet, in XLS or XLXS file type, which can be opened and edited in Microsoft Excel. It is automatically compatible with the 64-bit version of Excel. The information will be exported even if Excel is not installed on the workstation. The file automatically names and stores in a default location. However, both can be changed to allow full control over what to call the file and where to store it.

When exporting a report the formatting and grouping are not exported. Any calculations made by the report will therefore not be present. This method of exporting is followed because it allows the data to be manipulated. If the report were to be exported in a formatted manner, as is done when the report is printed, the data would be all placed into one cell on the spreadsheet and the ability to edit it would be lost.  Having the ability to export any report to Excel greatly enhances report functionality.

Questions about Excel exports?  Just call us!

Want to Learn More About ALERE?  

TIW has a 7 minute “Manufacturing Overview Video“ on YouTube that gives a concise summary of what manufacturing software can do for you.  Click the link below to see why ALERE may be a great fit for your manufacturing operations.

• Interested in a trial version for your organization?

PSSI can work with you to understand better what a manufacturing software system can do for you.  For information on obtaining a trial version, contact Larry Lukasik at the number below.

To learn more, call us any time at 877.273.2444, or visit us on the web.