MEGATHREAD Target myDevices

[UIguy]

The problem, in my opinion, is that the myDevice is not as good as "queuing" items like the PDA was. And there are certain areas where you need to be able to just "scan scan scan" and then just see what spits out. Like softlines.

There needs to be a queue option for when the TM is going to be doing a large rack of cloths or a very messy CLR endcap. I've noticed that when you print a multi-item sign, the myDevice responds very quickly to adding the item to a kind of "multi-sign queue"...why can't there be something similar for price change?

How I imagine the work process

Team member in "Price Change" app
TM has a very messy CLR rack to go through.
TM hits "Queue Price Change Items"
TM then scans 20 items
TM then hits "Process" on the myDevice
myDevices thinks and spits out the 5 or so labels(defaults to QTY of 1 per DPCI).
TM then tickets
Goes on to the next 20 items

The whole "Scan an item, input quantity" works nicely when the area the TM is scanning is nicely zoned, or in hardlines when you can quickly count how many tickets you have. But when you have a rack in softlines that has 40 DPCI's because each size of clothing is a different DPCI...it makes it very time consuming to scan a shirt, hit 1, hit print. Scan the next size shirt, hit 1, hit print. Scan the next size shirt, hit 1, hit print. Etc. Etc.

This is probably the number one complaint my Price Change team members have about the myDevice. They don't mind it in Hardlines/Market. But it's a pain in Softlines.

If you're hitting "1" each time, have you tried the auto-print mode? As mentioned, it's not perfect, but it's better than hitting "1" each time.

 

[UIguy]

Quick question @UIguy and/or @OtherGuy do you guys do anything with the applications on the PDAs or just the myDevices? I was just wondering what will become of those. What will be removed next. I also heard everything going to web apps and RF to be retired.

The funtionality that has moved over to myDevice will be retired and moved off of the PDAs sometime this year... so things like Price Change, Research, QMOS, SDA, etc...will be "turned off". Backroom functions like "Pull" will stay on the PDAs for the foreseeable future.

 

[UIguy]

@OtherGuy @UIguy
I mentioned this before.. but I don't recall a response, sorry if you did.. is there anything in the works for price change? My store is trying to force us to use the mydevice but it just seems so slow to mark anything clearance.

Also:
Is there a way you could sort the tasks to be done by Block

A - 150 (tap and it expands to show you)
A1 - 25
A2 - 25
A3 - 25

ive never tried scanning softlines with one.. but when you scan an item, it should automatically print a sticker, and then ask you to key in qty.. if you only need one it should let you scan the next item and not have to hit "1"

Yes. Yes. and yes. This is all coming

 

[UIguy]

You can hit the home button to close scanner app or power down the my device & restart it too.
Please give us some more info on the scanning issues. @OtherGuy & @UIguy would love to know. So they Can fix the issues.

Sorry... I don't have an update on this... but people are still working on it. We're adding a few things to the screen like a "scanner battery %" and scanner status... To help give more visibility and understanding when it fails, but still no silver bullet.

 

[Elandora]

Does the mydevices accurately report price changes into the accuracy report as of the last update? We've been holding off using them because they would give us a solid red score when we used them. Just wondering if anyone can confirm they are working correctly for reporting purposes?

 

[Triscuit]

Does the mydevices accurately report price changes into the accuracy report as of the last update? We've been holding off using them because they would give us a solid red score when we used them. Just wondering if anyone can confirm they are working correctly for reporting purposes?

Yes. At least at our store it works. For the first month or two we had a red score each time, but one week it finally started counting it correctly. It has been working at our store for the last two months I would say

 

[AdItemOnly]

soooo, whens the ad item only drop function coming lol, were losing most of the dinosaurs soon, my only dislike with the things is the auto every damn item in the aisle fill even though its filled to capacity "feature"
sub 999 will undoubtedly stop working, so the CAFfers are going to be mad

 

[RetailWorld]

If you're hitting "1" each time, have you tried the auto-print mode? As mentioned, it's not perfect, but it's better than hitting "1" each time.

I forgot about the auto-print option. But what my TM's really want is to be able to scan a lot without waiting on the myDevice to catch up..like the PDA's were able to do. Not sure if it's possible though on iOS

 

[Ringwraith917]

Great job on the speed boost for research! So much faster than it was. I should write y'all a Great Team card.

 

[ClearanceMaster]

This is one of the enhancements coming... So you'll be able to auto print & enter quantity. The screen will say, "How many more tickets?", or you can just scan the next item (or hit cancel to get to the main screen). As for the queuing thing, the development team is working on this too.

Pricing is told to "key what you see" so if there is 12 items, we enter 12. It would be nice to keep it that way and not have to get used to scanning 1, then keying 11 (like the bcode function in rf apps) to get 11 more stickers .. I guess that's a little nitpicky but we update the counts on final markdowns and I wouldn't want to mess it up in the beginning. I guess it couldn't be any worse than keying "22" when you only wanted 2.. lol

Just a thought.

 

[RunForACallBox]

Great job on the speed boost for research! So much faster than it was. I should write y'all a Great Team card.

I don't know what update you got but I hate researching. So slow, app crashes. Crashing out is the only way it speeds up again until 10 minutes later when it starts slowing down again. So much for "Speed is Life" when the equipment is slow as Christmas.

 

[UIguy]

Pricing is told to "key what you see" so if there is 12 items, we enter 12. It would be nice to keep it that way and not have to get used to scanning 1, then keying 11 (like the bcode function in rf apps) to get 11 more stickers .. I guess that's a little nitpicky but we update the counts on final markdowns and I wouldn't want to mess it up in the beginning. I guess it couldn't be any worse than keying "22" when you only wanted 2.. lol

Just a thought.

I know, I know... Believe it or not, we've wrestled and debated this one to death. It's the age old issue of walking that fine line of "make it work exactly like the PDAs", versus "make it more user friendly & efficient so training is easier". I think it'll ask for the remaining quantity. (So key 11 to actually get 12)... but I can't remember for sure.

Though the iPod screens seem totally different, we actually kept a lot of things "the same" so that it didn't become a full blown re-design. For instance, in super early prototypes, the notion of "tying planograms" and items to "sections"; even doing research - all went away - you just typed/edited info right on the home page. Ridiculously simple. But alas, that was too much change too soon.

 

[RetailWorld]

For instance, in super early prototypes, the notion of "tying planograms" and items to "sections"

Ohhh, that reminds me...what about tying multiple pogs to the same section? Doing sidecaps still requires you to use a PDA since most of the time you have 2 sidecaps per aisle.

 

[UIguy]

Ohhh, that reminds me...what about tying multiple pogs to the same section? Doing sidecaps still requires you to use a PDA since most of the time you have 2 sidecaps per aisle.

This is the first time I'm hearing this issue (specifically about side caps; but, it makes sense). @OtherGuy might know more about this one.

 

[Ohnoes]

Ohhh, that reminds me...what about tying multiple pogs to the same section? Doing sidecaps still requires you to use a PDA since most of the time you have 2 sidecaps per aisle.

What I've been doing is tying the sidecaps on the front end of the aisle as section 99 and the ones on the back end of the aisle to 98.

 

[bigal]

What update do you guys have? Research is painfully slow for instocks. App crashes several times during a full store re-scan.

 

[BoxCutter]

What update do you guys have? Research is painfully slow for instocks. App crashes several times during a full store re-scan.

Research was painfully slow yesterday, but today the my Device I was using was operating as it should, while another TM's was so slow they had to switch it out for a quicker one. Is the speed problem an individual my Device issue as well as a systems issue?

Also, it would be helpful when you scan a label in Research, to see if that product arrived on the truck that day, was pulled that morning, or was in a batch waiting to be pulled. I know you can toggle to the product info screen to get all that information, but it would quicker if we just got some type of alert on the screen after we scan it in Research. Not only would it help speed up research, but would also increase accuracy of our counts, and shorten the Drastic Change Count list by an item or two on the day after a truck day.

 

[oath2order]

Things I did today while cosmetics researching:

Conpletely filled hotspots on each aisle
Made lipsticks all face the same direction
Make all Essie nail polish face the same direction
Organized cosmetics cabinet
Filled sidecaps while waiting for item count to update
Checked bank account
App crashes at this point
Restart MyDevice to attempt to get it to work
Get a new myDevice because this one won't turn back on
Give up on researching because this os fucking ridiculous

 

[Ringwraith917]

What update do you guys have? Research is painfully slow for instocks. App crashes several times during a full store re-scan.

I'm using myWork version 0.25.66. It is pretty fast but not "RF apps fast". Still a huge improvement over a couple weeks ago

 

[OtherGuy]

soooo, whens the ad item only drop function coming lol, were losing most of the dinosaurs soon, my only dislike with the things is the auto every damn item in the aisle fill even though its filled to capacity "feature"
sub 999 will undoubtedly stop working, so the CAFfers are going to be mad

Can you explain what you are trying to do with ad, like an ad fill for the entire store as apposed to a POG or fill group?
SUBT999/9999 (or should I say Take9999?) works on the MyDevice as long as there is a backroom loc for the item. It will only go away once we transition off sales accumulator.

Also, it would be helpful when you scan a label in Research, to see if that product arrived on the truck that day, was pulled that morning, or was in a batch waiting to be pulled. I know you can toggle to the product info screen to get all that information, but it would quicker if we just got some type of alert on the screen after we scan it in Research. Not only would it help speed up research, but would also increase accuracy of our counts, and shorten the Drastic Change Count list by an item or two on the day after a truck day.

Let me try to address these one by one:
1. increase accuracy of our counts
-It won't actually because those scenarios are already filtered out, the counts aren't allowed to be updated for those.
2. Help speed up research
-Knowing that you don't have to check the details page would be part of the speed up, but we could take it a step further by warning the TM their count will be blocked so you didn't bother counting it? I could see that being especially beneficial in scenarios where you had a lot of an item.
3. Shorten Drastic Change Count list
-Funny you mention this, because just last week we have decided that we should apply the same filters we do to OHs, so say the item arrived on the truck that day and you researched it, it would not update on hands and in the future it won't appear on the drastic count report either.

 

[AdItemOnly]

Can you explain what you are trying to do with ad, like an ad fill for the entire store as apposed to a POG or fill group?

For POGs specifically
with the old pdas or lpdas, you can tell it to drop a batch of only the items in the weekly advertisement, which is usually nothing, instead of New pog fill, which pulls evvvverything whether you need it or not. The myDevice automatically drops NEW when you tie with it, so you get a bunch of stuff thats already at capacity. The ad item only checks off the fill box on the TWT, and saves a ton of time not pulling alot of stuff you dont need. I want that feature on the myDevice

 

[BoxCutter]

1. increase accuracy of our counts
-It won't actually because those scenarios are already filtered out, the counts aren't allowed to be updated for those.

OK. We were told that while it didn't update on the PDAs/LPDAs, it did update the counts on the myDevices. It was not communicated to the team that the counts were now not updated on the myDevices.

2. Help speed up research
-Knowing that you don't have to check the details page would be part of the speed up, but we could take it a step further by warning the TM their count will be blocked so you didn't bother counting it? I could see that being especially beneficial in scenarios where you had a lot of an item.

That would be great. I scan the shelf label, and would get a unique beep and a message on the screen if the product came in on that day's truck, was pulled in the autofill, or was waiting in a batch to be pulled. Instead of entering in a zero or the critical low count, I would just move on to the next task list item.

3. Shorten Drastic Change Count list
-Funny you mention this, because just last week we have decided that we should apply the same filters we do to OHs, so say the item arrived on the truck that day and you researched it, it would not update on hands and in the future it won't appear on the drastic count report either.

I don't think this would be an improvement. Our Flow Team is not good at catching mispicks and will just push whatever product is in the case to the floor. Also, they will push product to the wrong location because another similar looking product is in that location (30-count aspirin v. 45-count aspirin). The Drastic Change Count enables us to catch these mistakes sooner rather than later. So, I would prefer the same filter not being applied to the Drastic Change report. Thank you for responding to my original post!

 

[BFresh]

Can you explain what you are trying to do with ad, like an ad fill for the entire store as apposed to a POG or fill group?
SUBT999/9999 (or should I say Take9999?) works on the MyDevice as long as there is a backroom loc for the item. It will only go away once we transition off sales accumulator.
-Knowing that you don't have to check the details page would be part of the speed up, but we could take it a step further by warning the TM their count will be blocked so you didn't bother counting it? I could see that being especially beneficial in scenarios where you had a lot of an item.

This would be extremely beneficial. We research Pfresh almost every day and I feel like I waste a lot of time because the count update is cancelled for one reason or another. If you did do this, please make sure that you can scan another item directly from the alert without having to hit another button. That would be really great!!!

 

[sigma7]

For POGs specifically
with the old pdas or lpdas, you can tell it to drop a batch of only the items in the weekly advertisement, which is usually nothing, instead of New pog fill, which pulls evvvverything whether you need it or not. The myDevice automatically drops NEW when you tie with it, so you get a bunch of stuff thats already at capacity. The ad item only checks off the fill box on the TWT, and saves a ton of time not pulling alot of stuff you dont need. I want that feature on the myDevice

That's not actually how a NEW POG fill works. You'll probably end up with overstock from a new pog fill, but that has more to do with flawed data in your accumulator. I can tell you for a fact that they don't pull everything because many times items will come out on a research batch for a new planogram immediately after you push the original pog fill for it.

It would be nice to have a choice of whether you want to drop a batch (I don't mind if it is still a new pog fill). It would really help with the Fridays that's you have to tie off unset POGs or salesplanners to have green metrics (this is a whole other discussion... The ethics and flaws inherent in doing this isn't really a discussion for this thread).

 

[RedMan]

So our PDAs and LPDAs will be non functional in about two weeks. Interesting. Lots of holes to fill and not nearly enough devices for our store.