August 20, 2007   Volume 6 - Issue 2

TDCI.com | MAC-PAC | Training | TDCI Contacts   

In this issue:
»   News and Announcements
»   Perspectives 2007 - TDCI Customer Forum
»   Tip of the Month

News & Announcements

ImagePoint Signs MAC-PAC XE Maintenance Agreement with TDCI
ImagePoint (formerly Plasti-Line), is the latest company to sign a MAC-PAC XE Maintenance and Support Agreement with TDCI. A long-time MAC-PAC user, ImagePoint cited access to knowledgeable support resources, as well as the ability to obtain PTFs and enhancements, as the primary reasons for coming back on active maintenance.   More>>

MAC-PAC XE Priority Manager Now Available for Low Cost Subscription
TDCI Acquires Licensing Rights - Powerful Demand-driven Production Management Toolset Latest Benefit to MAC -PAC XE Maintenance Customers
TDCI is pleased to announce that we have acquired licensing rights to MAC-PAC XE Priority Manager (Priority Manager), and are now making it available through an affordable annual subscription for MAC-PAC XE customers with an active maintenance and support agreement.

“We believe our customers will be very pleased with the investment we’ve made to make Priority Manager available at such an affordable cost,” stated Dan DeMuth, TDCI President. “This is a powerful, proven toolset that can help MAC-PAC XE companies better execute a demand-driven production strategy and improve on-time delivery of customer orders.”   More>>

Register Now! MAC-PAC XE Extended Solution Preview Webinars
Beginning Tuesday, August 14th and continuing through September 11th, TDCI and TDCI Solution Partners will host eight 1 hour webinars to provide previews of MAC-PAC XE Extended Solutions to be showcased at the Perspectives 2007 TDCI Customer Forum in Columbus, Ohio September 16 -19.

Starting time for each Webinar is 11:00am EST. To register and receive login instructions, contact Shelley Horn at shorn@tdci.com or (614) 781-2325 x119.   Topics and Schedule>>

TDCI Announces New MAC-PAC XE™ Partner Solution for Sales Tax Processing
SalestaxII™ from Independent Systems Offers AS/400 Sales and Use Tax for US & Canada

Independent Systems is TDCI’s newest MAC-PAC XE solution partner. Headquartered in Batavia, Illinois, Independent Systems has been delivering affordable tax software for business since 1977. Independent Systems offers Sales and Use tax calculation software, databases and forms, Payroll tax calculation software and databases and Telecommunications tax rate databases.    Read full announcement >>

TDCI Suggests… Move to User-based MAC-PAC XE Licensing When You Move to the iSeries i5
Many companies using MAC-PAC XE are moving to the IBM iSeries i5 server to take advantage of the much greater flexibility and price/performance offered by the i5. For companies that have continued to license MAC-PAC XE using the CPU-based license originally sold by Andersen Consulting, this transition is a great time to make the change to a more flexible and cost-effective user-based MAC-PAC XE license.   More >>

BuyDesign Release 5.0 Now Available
Release 5.0 of the BuyDesign Guided Selling and Configuration suite is now available for shipment. BuyDesign 5.0 delivers numerous functional, technical, and ease-of-use enhancements driven largely by input from the growing community of BuyDesign users in the building products, equipment, machinery, and specialty vehicle markets.   Download the BuyDesign 5.0 Release Highlights >>

Watch for New MAC-PAC XE Overview Brochure
Watch your mail for a copy of the new “World of MAC-PAC XE” brochure. Copies will be mailed to primary contacts at all MAC-PAC XE customer companies. This new brochure provides an up-to-date overview of the full MAC-PAC XE solution, including core, extended, and third party applications, as well as TDCI support and services. You may want to keep a copy around as a useful introduction to MAC-PAC XE for new employees, upper management, or any colleague who wants to learn what MAC-PAC XE is all about.

If you don’t receive a copy mailed directly to you in the next two weeks and would like one, just contact Shelley Horn at 614-781-2325 x119 or shorn@tdci.com to request a copy.

Register Now to Attend Perspectives 2007 – The TDCI Customer Forum

Don’t Miss This Once a Year MAC-PAC XE Learning, Sharing and Networking Opportunity!

If you haven't already done so, it's time to register your team for the Perspectives 2007 TDCI Customer Forum at the Columbus Marriott Northwest Hotel, September 16-19. With the theme of ‘Making a Difference', Perspectives 2007 will help you make a difference in how well your company operates, responds and competes. As always, this year's conference will include:

• Product direction updates
• User roundtables
• Panel discussions
• User presentations
• ‘How-to' tutorials

Be sure to register for one of the FREE Sunday classes – anyone can attend, even if you don't attend the conference, but space is limited!

• MAC-PAC XE: Building and Publishing Reports, Alerts, and KPIs with Insights. A hands-on training session for anyone who wants to more fully utilize the wealth of information in MAC-PAC XE.
• BuyDesign: Architecting Rules & Constraints for Optimum Performance and Ease of Maintenance. Valuable tips and techniques for anyone responsible for developing BuyDesign Configurator product models.

And remember… as a special incentive this year, your company's 4 th person is FREE with 3 paid attendees!

Don’t Forget Your Hotel Reservations…

If you’ve already registered for the conference, but still need to make your hotel reservations, be sure to do so by September 3rd. After that date, the special rate of just $142.00 per night may no longer be available. The standard rate is $200 or more.

Do It All Online...

Online conference registration and hotel reservations are available at http://www.tdci.com/customerforum, along with the complete agenda, track session descriptions, and more.

If You’ve Attended Before, You Already Know…

As a MAC -PAC XE or BuyDesign user, this may be the single most valuable event you can attend in 2007. The TDCI Customer Forum is the one place you can gain new ideas to help your company improve customer responsiveness, productivity, and competitiveness using the enterprise software solutions you ALREADY HAVE.

• Learn new ways to leverage MAC -PAC XE and BuyDesign capabilities for improved sales, manufacturing and financial performance.
• Learn about new MAC -PAC XE, BuyDesign, and third party solutions.
• Find out what innovative things other companies are doing with MAC -PAC XE, BuyDesign, and third party solutions to address competitive challenges and create new opportunities.

If you have any questions, just contact Sharon Binkley at 614-781-2325 x171 or sbinkley@tdci.com .

See you in September!

Tip of the Month

Each MAC-PAC Tip of the Month is a selected Expert Reference Note (ERN) from the MAC-PAC ‘Helpful Hints' database in the MAC-PAC website. You can get the full text of this note or search the database by logging in to Support, then selecting ‘Helpful Hints' at www.tdci.com/macpac.

Q:   Is it possible to monitor/track sales orders that used contract pricing?

A:    Yes,

You can see the orders that used a contract price by checking OP100M2 for field SLLPRC (Line Price Code) for lines with a value of "9". You could also find the name of the contract used, if the contract name is entered in the contract price maintenance screen (19, 3) and you can only do that if the rebate flag is "Y" and you enter a either a rebate amount or rebate percentage.

Mac-Pac does not do anything with the rebate information but it is required if you enter a contract identifier.

If you enter the contract name and rebate details correctly, The contract information will appear in SLCNTR in OP100M2.

Search Helpful Hint # NHOG-6KRM9G on the MAC-PAC Web Site for full text of this tip.

Tell us your wish!

Now you can easily submit any idea you have for any MAC-PAC XE component to TDCI development. Just send an e-mail describing your idea to the appropriate e-mail address for the product you wish to see enhanced. TDCI will acknowledge receipt of your input, review it, and take it into consideration in future planning. Please be as specific as possible when describing your request – the clearer your request, the easier it will be for us to consider.

e-mail addresses for MAC-PAC XE products are as follows:
> Core MAC-PAC XE applications: macpacwish@tdci.com
> BuyDesign: buydesignwish@tdci.com
> TDCI Integration Server: iswish@tdci.com