About
QBS Barcoder
Q.
Is QBS Barcoder exclusive to
Sybiz Vision?
A.
Yes. Version
5.1 has been designed to
work with all versions of Vision, and from May, 2008
has been upgraded to accommodate BOTH Australian and
New Zealand taxation environments.
Q.
Is
it multi-Company?
A.
Yes. The programme
caters for the Vision Demonstration Company, plus any
other Companies created within Sybiz Vision. New
Companies are automatically added, but the user is
able to de-select Companies for which barcoding is not
required. Companies can be
either GS1-registered Members or
not. However, the programme carries
only one GS1-registered member prefix, and one
(randomly generated) non-member prefix.
Q.
Is
Serial Numbering of Products available?
A.
Yes, if required, as an added feature.
Some customisation is required to the user's
requirements. Serial Number barcodes are
created in Code128 barcode format, which is
alphanumeric. These barcode fonts are
supplied as part of the QBS Barcoder software
package.
Q.
Can Prices be
suppressed on the labels?
A.
Yes. For all labels carrying
prices, or in
specific instances.
Q.
How
can products be selected?
A.
By Product Name, Product
Code, or by scanning from a
product's Barcode. Also, by
selecting one or more Purchase Orders or Invoices,
labels for the products in those documents can be
printed. Invoice/Order product quantities
can be edited before printing labels.
This feature can be turned off if not required.
Q.
How does it give barcode numbers to the products?
A.
One-by-one, or all without numbers, at the click of a
button. When the programme starts
up, it examines and identifies each product barcode as
to its "type". It
stores this barcode type and creates barcode
font-readable string values, ready for label-creation
when required. If the number
is not an identifiable UCC/EAN barcode number, it will
be overwritten with a valid EAN13 number during the
numbering process. For Vision
versions earlier than Version 2.40, any
"formulas" stored in the stock file's
"REMARKS" field (which was, then, where the
barcode number was stored) are preserved.
Q.
If some of my products already
have barcodes, how should I approach the task of
barcode numbering?
A.
It is better to store these barcodes
first. Some product suppliers will provide
a spreadsheet file of their products, complete
with barcode numbers. Importing these
could save a great deal of time. The
QBS Barcoder programme will validate all of these, and
will only apply new numbers where no number, or an
invalid number exists.
Q.
The barcode field in Vision is
indexed. What are the implications
of this for barcode numbering?
A.
It is essential that Vision's Inventory Ledger be
re-indexed from within Vision, following the fresh
allocation of numbers. QBS Barcoder cannot
do this, and indexing should not be made
automatic. There are warnings to operators
about this prior to allocating barcode numbers.
About
Barcode Standards
Q.
What is GS1 Australia (or EAN
Australia, as it used to be called)?
A.
It is the Australian member of the European Article
Numbering Association, which maintains standards of
product and package numbering throughout the
international supply chain. Its American
counterpart, UCC, is in the process of joining GS1 International, which will then complete the
universality of this numbering
system. Gs1 numbering is
regarded as essential for suppliers to any large
retail chain, eg Coles-Myer, Harvey Norman, and any of
their suppliers, to guarantee the uniqueness of their
product barcodes must become members of GS1 Australia. They receive a
unique GS1 barcode prefix, plus a lot of help to
implement the numbering
system. QBS Barcoder will only
allocate barcode numbers according to the rules
specified by GS1 Australia.
Q.
Must I join GS1 Australia to use
GS1 numbers on my products?
A.
Not if you are numbering products "in-house"
to sell directly to retail customers. If
you manufacture or import, then sell to retail stores,
you MUST join GS1 Australia and use your registered
Company prefix in each product
number. "In-house" numbers
must be prefixed by "20", "21",
"23", "25", "26" or
"27". GS1-registered numbers
within Australia have a "93" prefix, which
stands for Australia. This prefix,
plus the Company's registration number, makes the
resultant EAN13 barcode unique throughout the world.
Why
not visit the web-site for EAN Australia for further
information, at < www.gs1au.org
>.
Q.
What if I have more
questions? Will you reply?
A.
Of course! Please let's have your
questions, so the answers can be posted here, to
assist others. Return to the "Contact
Us" page to send your e-mail.
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