Canopy

Aspen Systems Canopy Windows based program utilizes the Microsoft Application Development tools and database environments.

• Runs on a number of Windows based platforms including NT, 2000 and XP.
• Aspen Systems utilizes all aspects of the SQL server database environment. Users can query their own database in an open systems environment.
• Runs in Client/Server OR Terminal Services environment, giving options for startup cost control.
• Users can pick and choose which modules they want to use for applications such as A/P, A/R, GL, Inventory Control, Order Entry & Invoice Processing, Purchasing, Production, Data Capture, E-Commerce, etc.
• Easy to use menu system, can be completely controlled by and secured by your administrator, to ensure important system and data controls.

Users have the ability to access functions numerically, by pointing and clicking with their mouse, or by using ýJumpý keys and arrow buttons to move around the multi-layered menus. Each module’s menu is surrounded by a number of handy features such as Cut & Paste, Print and Undo. In addition, standard application features are provided and available in each module, such as changing Colors, accessing Error Logs, and getting Help.

Canopy provides literally hundreds of reports standard with the application. In addition to the standard reports, any customized forms that your company requires might also be included. Aspen uses the latest in report writing tools to provide you with the most attractive and user-friendly means of outputting your data into a format which is pleasing to all users. All reports can be printed to the Screen, a Printer, or Exported to a number of different file formats such as Word, Text, Excel or PDF. When run to the screen a wide variety of searching and navigation tools are automatically provided.

Some competitors have released products which they tout ýlook like and feel likeý real Windows products. This is known as implementing 3rd party software programs to make the program look like ONE product. Aspen Systems has spent many years and many dollars completely re-writing its legacy system using only the latest in Microsoft Application Development Tools and state of the art proprietary concepts.

Aspen Systems use ONE product under one name…Canopy. Behind our powerful application sits the data environment of SQL Server. Not only does this database server work in specific harmony with our application, but it provides the user with the ability to easily query data that other applications simply will not give. To READ more about the specific Canopy Modules look at the applications below.

Accounts Payable

Our entirely Windows-based solution can be used to effectively manage all aspects of your Accounts Payable and Cash Disbursement activities. Utilize a barrage of typical reports to run your payables’ department, or export data in a variety of formats, allowing you to utilize your own software to massage and report on the data.

Features Include:

• Enter invoices by hand or set up recurring invoices for items paid on a normal cycle.
• Review all invoice or check data prior to posting to the General Ledger. Re-examine those batches of data even after posting, or re-print posted journals. Retain posted batches resident on the database for as long as you like.
• Use a wide variety of check cutting features to easily align your software with your own check paying habits.
• Use fast, on-screen methods of looking up historical data for vendors. Drill deep down into the data to see what invoices a check paid, General Ledger Accounts posted to, etc.
• Reconcile checks by range or on a check-by-check basis and use other reconciliation features to properly maintain bank accounts. Void any type of check and automatically re-open any associated items which were paid as well as automatically reverse entries made to the General Ledger

Accounts Receivable

A good Accounts Receivable system should be simple and user-friendly, yet provide all the flexibility to manage your receivables the way you want, while satisfying the particular needs of proper accounting, company executives and financial institutions. Using Canopy to manage your Accounts Receivable is the answer. Canopy allows you to be flexible with your receivables behavior on a Customer-by-Customer basis, while providing you with a simplified User interface.

Manage your customer accounts and set up an unlimited number of Statement Types for grouping invoices into ýbucketsý. Process an Age Analysis by type, or age all customers under a common type – something your financial institution will like! Trigger Late Charges, if desired, and quickly manage customer credit, indicating holds to place on orders once credit exceeds a predefined amount.

Use our flexible Cash Receipts function to post Cash Received via a variety of easy methods… simply check off items that are being paid, partial pay items, automatically spread a payment amongst a date range, or enter paid items by invoice number – allowing you to easily follow the customer’s check stub. Use Cash Receipts to make new Debit or Credit entries, as well as to record NSF checks.

Data Capture

As we think about what sets us apart from our competitors, many things come to mind – but the Data Capture module presents itself first. Aspen Systems has been the proven usher for its customers into the world of paperless and wireless communications through Radio Frequency (RF) devices. Being the leader offers our customers a cost effective paperless solution for receiving, filling and shipping of orders, production, and physical inventories. Currently, a high percent-age of Aspen’s customer base incorporates our RF answer into their questions of how to improve speed, accuracy and cost.

The training time and introduction of new personnel into your particular way of doing business can be slashed by as much as 80% when RF is the method. Your cost of correcting errors (not to mention the undefined cost to your reputation) can be drastically reduced as well, since little (if any) manual input is done by the operator. Or perhaps the very significant cost of the Physical Inventory process is something you want to tackle… your employees will point, shoot, and update the inventory in real time.

Hook up an unlimited number of Production Lines in your facility to Data Capture. Use the software to Receive, Produce, Fill and Ship Orders, and perform Physical Inventories. Attach an unlimited number of devices to the process, such as scales and scanners which sit at various spots on your production line. Many times, we’ll adapt to your current devices if they provide communication ports, and our staff of expert hardware representatives who are very familiar with in-plant layouts are available to make it happen for you.

E-Commerce

At Aspen Systems, we can point to a number of areas in the Canopy product that we feel give us a business edge over our competitors. And in all these years of business, we’ve strived to provide products that give you the business edge over your competitors. Canopy’s E-Commerce highlights the competitive edge for both Aspen and its customers.

To show our prospects that we can provide them with a fully integrated system that includes a module whereby their own customers would be able to access their accounts, create and edit their orders, get the status of a shipment, etc., over the Internet gives Aspen Systems a major edge over its competitors.

And the same holds true for you. Humanity now more and more wants to conduct business online. It is an area of technology that has crept its way into many of our everyday lives. You, too, should be able to provide your customers with the ability to do business with you in this arena, and have a solid software company behind you to help you accomplish it. Aspen Systems is your E-Commerce solution.

E-Commerce is fully integrated with all the appropriate parts of the Canopy system. Allow customers to manage their accounts and see account detail or summarizations. Let them update their own data, such as their address and phone. Have them place, edit or cancel an order, all based on parameters that you dictate. Let them view their history and print reports, such as their own Statement and Bid Sheets.

General Ledger

Aspen Systems has always held the highest standards with regard to our products when it comes to integrity… and Canopy is no exception. Integrity as it relates to a system’s ability to properly post transactions to a General Ledger is indeed paramount.

Canopy’s General Ledger is really a resting place. It relies on all the other Canopy modules to properly post to it. This is one of the areas where Canopy’s design yields powerful results when it comes to integrity. Each module that accesses the general ledger does so by using the same routines. What this means to you is that you can rely on the software’s ability to post to the General Ledger, regardless of whether the transactions are coming from Payables, Invoice Processing, or being made by hand in the General Ledger module.

Maintain all General Ledger accounts and Inquire for any current, future or historical period in an unlimited number of Fiscal Years. Run multiple Companies and unlimited Divisions, with Intercompany Payables. Set up simple or complex Budget parameters. Automatically allocate ending balances to other accounts based on your account and percentage parameters. Set up Recurring and automatic Reversing entries. Print a variety of General Ledger Reports for the proper tracking of Account Total, Transaction and Budget data.

Communicate with a variety of Financial Report writers (such as F9) or export your transactions in a variety of file formats to aid in the creation of your very own specific financial reports.

Inventory

With any purchase of a complex software system, an obvious question that should be asked is, ýHow will the system pay for itself?ý Canopy’s Inventory Control module is just one of the areas where this starts to happen immediately.

Use a comprehensive Receipts to Stock function to properly record receipts of any item to your inventory, either by receiving on an item-by- item basis, or receiving off an entire Purchase Order. When you use this process, the probability of catching costly mistakes while your shipment is arriving drastically increases. Place Canopy right out on the docks to maximize your receiver’s efficiencies.

Make use of a large number of standard Inventory Reports designed to provide you with precisely the data you’ re looking for… be it Inventory Value or detailed Movement of product. If you use Lot Tracking, you will always know the precise movement of that product… when, where and how.

In addition to being a great Receiving package, Inventory Control provides you with all the expected abilities. From setting up and inquiring on Products, to Transferring inventory between multiple locations. Full cost controls are provided, along with the ability to quickly change any number of costs at will, either at the product level or the lot level. Make regular use of Canopy’s Physical Inventory functions in a simple-to-use, high speed entry environment to maintain the proper inventory levels and to weed out costly discrepancies or missing product.

Invoice Processing

Provided with Canopy’s Order Entry module are the Invoice Processing functions. Whether your facility processes a few invoices per day, or a million line items per month, Invoice Processing will handle whatever situation you present it with… expediently, accurately, and via easy-to-following step-by-step procedures.

You will use Invoice Entry to Fill those orders, enter any Catchweights, Print them, run Shipping Manifests if used, and make any Adjustments prior to posting them through the system.

The necessary processes are presented to your operators in a step-by-step process, with the next process available only after the successful completion of the prior, removing the possibility of skipping an important function.

Invoice Processing provides for a number of methods of Printing your documents, such as Invoices and Shipping Manifests. They can be printed on an invoice-by-invoice basis, at the same time adjustments are being made or lines are being filled; or you might choose to run them in batches, once a day or throughout the day. This can work closely with your Routing structure giving you the ability to process only those Routes that might depart your facility earlier than others.

Confirming adjusted invoices for posting through the system can also be done on an invoice-by-invoice basis, or in a batch mode. Confirming in bulk saves valuable time and only picks up those Invoices that meet the criteria you specify. Obtaining your Sales Journal and posting to the General Ledger is also a breeze.

Order Entry/Filling Orders

Whether your business employs a room full of Order-takers, or a single individual initiates the order process for your customers, Canopy’s Order Entry function is the solution for you.

No other process could be more intimidating for a shipper than accurately and swiftly getting your customer’s orders into a system to kick off the many processes an order must go through prior to it reaching the destination.

Aspen Systems is the industry leader in taming this highly volatile ýbeastý. Without the proper features, controls and reliability behind your ordering process, you might as well let your customers come and grab their own products off your shelves at will. Aspen has spent nearly two decades perfecting the process and its abilities, and you can be assured of Order Entry’s reliability and seamless communication with all other modules.

With a module that has so many ýsignificant featuresý, it becomes virtually impossible to choose the high-points. Nevertheless, they would include a comprehensive-yet-easy Order Entry function, complete with secure Credit Checking, easy Code Lookup and Selection, and many versatile features to ensure you encode every bit of important data with your order.

Easily print Picking and Labeling documents either one at a time or in bulk. Use Order Tracking to ensure no customer is forgotten, and set up Recurring Orders for those customers who generally order the same thing periodically. Use Standard Orders to drastically reduce Order Entry time.

Production

Producers like you are faced every day with calculating accurate costs based on a complex mix of ingredients. In addition to updating your finished products with accurate costs, you need to properly affect the various inventories that these formulas represent. We at Aspen Systems, Inc. believe that when choosing a software solution for handling the production aspects of your organization that you should look at a formula based system that allows entry of raw materials, by-products, labor costs, overhead costs, and finished products.

These formulas would then allow you to calculate accurate finished product costs along with adjusting inventories based on your shift’s production. These production entries should also provide you with valuable information comparing standards to actual production activity.

Canopy’s production module solves all these issues for you, and more. And as a side-benefit, the dollar savings in labor to perform all those tasks manually will quickly pay for the production module.

Production’s Formula Maintenance allows for an unlimited recording of Ingredients, Packaging Material, Cost, Finished Products, Labor, Overhead and Yield Codes. Upon the finalization of your Production Entries, inventory on materials is reduced and inventory on finished product is replenished with the simple click of a button. Costs for Finished Product are automatically recalculated (if desired) based on the individual cost parameters you have indicated in your formulas.

Separate from Maintenance, Formula Inquiry provides a vast array of historical data you can look up with a touch of a button, either in a summarized format or very detailed transaction data. Production can be forecasted based on the outstanding orders in your system, and Production Scheduling can help you manage the load on your individual production lines. If Cut Yield is an issue in your plant, Cut Yield Testing is a function in Canopy you’ll like.

Purchasing

A software system must be built to withstand the test of time. At Aspen, our products routinely replace systems that simply do not do that – and one of the most common complaints that causes a system to fail the test of time is the lack of an inter-relationship of data across modules. Canopy’s Purchasing module ties together data in several other modules, most notably Inventory Control and Accounts Payable. Once you decide your facility is going to enter Purchase Orders, you unleash the power of a significant number of features.

Suddenly, the ability to enter Promotions that your Vendor gives to you ensures that you actually take that promotion. No longer will a promotion be ýforgottený, because your Purchase Order Entry function will see the promotion on file and automatically use it.

In addition, using the Purchasing module makes Receiving Stock to Inventory a breeze… by receiving the entire P.O., stopping to adjust only those items that need adjustment. The relationship to Accounts Payable ensures that all P.O.'s ultimately tie to an Accounts Payable Invoice, leaving nothing falling through the cracks.

Use Purchase Order Entry to kick off the whole process, and set up Standard Products that you buy from your vendors to make that entry process a breeze by eliminating the need to enter product codes. Have Purchase Advice tell you what you should be buying based on inventory levels and sales history. Use Vendor Promotions to ensure you take advantage of specials. Print a myriad of purchasing reports.

Scaling System

What occurs on your production line if a system suddenly goes down? With the Stand Alone Scaling alternative from Aspen Systems, continued production, transactions, and labeling is what occurs if that line is affixed with Stand Alone options.

Meet Aspen’s answer to backing up your production lines, or for a simple application not requiring immediate connection to a system. The Stand Alone Scaling System is completely independent of any host system, and will store records for later transmission and it can also be set up for real time updating of inventory.

Set up any number of configurations, including the abilities to input Product Codes via a Fixed Mount Scanner, Keyboard Wedge Scanner, or by way of manual input.

In addition, these rugged, industrial designs have the ability to withstand washdowns.