Archived The Big & Dandy Backroom thread!

[anathema]

9999, yeah. I think it's going away with the new thing that's coming out, though. I can't remember what it's called, though...

 

[asidius]

So I wrapped up my backroom training today, and pretty much everything makes sense except for one thing.

Trainer mentioned when we were pulling 2s that areas that we had just recently backstocked, and it asking for an item that was backstocked, when it asks for the quantity to do 99 and say not everything was pulled?

I'm assuming that's the SUBT999 I keep seeing all over the place? Just wanna make sure I'm actually doing that part right...

Someone else correct me if I'm wrong but that will create a baffle. The proper way to SUBT9999 is to backstock the item with STO as usual. Then go into SUBT, and pull the item just backstocked like normal except when it asks for quantity pulled, you type in 9999 and say no when it asks you if you pulled all from location. Enter the amount you backstocked before then.

The reason people do this is the system will frequently ask for merchandise just backstocked during the CAFs. As @anonymousflowmember said, this issue should go away soon because the sales accumulator is going away.

 

[PullMonkey]

Someone else correct me if I'm wrong but that will create a baffle. The proper way to SUBT9999 is to backstock the item with STO as usual. Then go into SUBT, and pull the item just backstocked like normal except when it asks for quantity pulled, you type in 9999 and say no when it asks you if you pulled all from location. Enter the amount you backstocked before then.

The reason people do this is the system will frequently ask for merchandise just backstocked during the CAFs. As @anonymousflowmember said, this issue should go away soon because the sales accumulator is going away.

I'll double check with people tomorrow I guess. I'd rather not make even more work for myself

 

[SFSFun]

So I wrapped up my backroom training today, and pretty much everything makes sense except for one thing.

Trainer mentioned when we were pulling 2s that areas that we had just recently backstocked, and it asking for an item that was backstocked, when it asks for the quantity to do 99 and say not everything was pulled?

I'm assuming that's the SUBT999 I keep seeing all over the place? Just wanna make sure I'm actually doing that part right...

Either your trainer is an idiot or he really dislikes the TM that does the audit.

If you find yourself pulling stuff that you just backstocked, do the following;
Pull the quantity that it is asking you to pull
Toggle from RF Apps to the main PDA screen and go into SUBT
Scan the item, hit "guest request"
Scan the location where the item is/where you want to backstock it
Key in 9999 for the amount pulled
Select "no" when it asks if you pulled all
Key in the actual quantity to backstock into that location

tl;dr
Use SUBT to pull 9999 of the item, then hit no and put the actual quantity left in location.

It seems like a lot of steps, but it's really not too bad once you get used to it (@Jackswastedlife99 uses it all the time). Also, note that you do not need to use STO before doing SUBT9999.

Just be sure you are only SUBT9999-ing stuff that was just recently worked out to the floor. If you backstock stuff that's been sitting on a tub for weeks, and it comes out on the next CAF, chances are it will go out.

 

[Guest]

The best way to remember how to use SUBT999 for back stocking is when you put the quantity of how much you pulled is to put the number of items that are in the location after you walk away. For example, if you back stock 5 cans of poop in a location that already has 5 in the location then you're going to put 10. 5+5=10. If you just put 5, it will make the PDA only show that 5 are located when in reality there are 10 cans of poop in said location. Some people can't handle simple math or are lazy asses.

 

[PullMonkey]

Okay, that makes a lot more sense. It did seem like what I was being told to do would just create baffles

 

[Guest]

So just a recap, if you back stock 5 into a location in which there is none of that item then you enter 5 as the quantity. If there is 1 or more then you will add 5 to however many are in the location previously. Example: if you are adding 5 to the location with none previously in the location then it's 5. Example: if there is say 1 in the location then it's 1+5=6 which means you enter the number 6 as the total quantity. You can do it. Nicorette can help.

 

[PullMonkey]

Can someone just kind of explain what SUBT9999 is doing? I'd like to understand the accumulator a bit better, even if it is going away

 

[see spot save]

As I understand it, every item we sell adds to the accumulator. It keeps track of what is sold and needs to be replenished through autofills or CAFs.

One reason you'd need to reset the accumulator is plano resets. We'll use duly located back to school as an example. Say plano takes down back to school and all of a sudden you're backstocking 100 eaches of Crayola crayons. Lets say that over the course of back to school we sold 200 of those. Since they are still tied to a sales floor location (in stationary), the accumulator will add them to the batches so that it can refill the 200 sold. Only 10 fit on the shelf, we get 90 back and backstock those. The accumulator still thinks we need 100 to replenish the floor. The next time it'll pull 90, they'll all come back, it'll pull 10 the last time.

SUBT9999 subtracts 9,999 eaches (the maximum amount) from the accumulator. They wont come out again until one sells.

 

[PullMonkey]

Okay, so why is it so much comes out of the stuff we backstocked? Because it definitely happened today with stuff that hasn't had a location change in a while. Is it simply trying to keep up with what's sold regardless of what actually fits on the shelf?

 

[see spot save]

I'm not sure about knowing how much can fit on the shelf. I'm not really an expert on it.

Say flow pushes something but we don't backstock the extra until the next truck. The floor sells out but since we have none located in the back the accumulator just sits with the number sold. The next truck we get more of the product, flow fills the shelf and we backstock the left over. The accumulator will then pull those items to fill what it thinks the salesfloor needs. The floor is full because flow restocked it, but the accumulator doesn't know that.

It can also come from endcap changes and cartwell, new release dvds, shippers.

 

[PullMonkey]

So basically, accumulator sucks butt, SUBT9999 shit you know you've backstocked

 

[see spot save]

Basically. If you've backstocked it and you know it's full on the floor, or it's an absurd amount (like the 170 packs of crayons I burned in the Office batch the other day), SUBT9999 it.

Like @SFSFun said though, only SUBT9999 something that was recently worked. If it isn't full on the floor it won't get replenished.

 

[LogisticsFox]

Okay, so why is it so much comes out of the stuff we backstocked? Because it definitely happened today with stuff that hasn't had a location change in a while. Is it simply trying to keep up with what's sold regardless of what actually fits on the shelf?

It also happens a lot because items aren't always pushed the same way. For example, Joe and Tom both usually work the paper aisle Tom is a stacker and Joe isn't. It's Monday and it's Tom's turn to work paper towels and a case of Up MAS 2-pack comes in and they'll almost all fit on the shelf, except for 3. Instead of sending them to backstock, Tom throws them on top and moves to the next item. The accumulator is now at +3.
A week rolls by and Joe is in paper towels and another box of those Up come in. Having been backroom trained, Joe knows the importance of pushing to the piece and stocks out all but 6 of the towels and sends the rest to backstock. The truck has been pushed and backstocked and the CAFs have started to drop. Since Joe pushed 3 fewer Up MAS 2-pack than Tom, the accumulator is at -3, which Pam has to pull during the 11's.

Discrepancies, like this, happen all the time because TMs stack, hide or push beyond POG.

 

[oath2order]

Someone else correct me if I'm wrong but that will create a baffle. The proper way to SUBT9999 is to backstock the item with STO as usual. Then go into SUBT, and pull the item just backstocked like normal except when it asks for quantity pulled, you type in 9999 and say no when it asks you if you pulled all from location. Enter the amount you backstocked before then.

The reason people do this is the system will frequently ask for merchandise just backstocked during the CAFs. As @anonymousflowmember said, this issue should go away soon because the sales accumulator is going away.

If accumulator goes away how do cafs get pulled like how will the system create cafs

 

[LogisticsFox]

If accumulator goes away how do cafs get pulled like how will the system create cafs

I believe @OtherGuy hinted in the myDevice thread that they were working on a rework of the accumulator. Basically the system will keep track of how many it believes is on the floor, how many is in the back and will take the dynamic capacity of the salesfloor into consideration when generating the CAFs.

tl;dr The sales accumulator isn't going away, it's just getting a makeover (unless I completely misunderstood what Otherguy wrote)

 

[LogisticsFox]

Someone else correct me if I'm wrong but that will create a baffle.

Technically, it does but since you're updating the quantities when it asks you if you pulled them all, it assigns the correct quantity. The next time a batch takes you there, all the counts should be accurate so you'll never be dinged for the baffle. When I was a CAF puller, I had the highest batch count (consistently 2500+) and I would never have more than 2 errors despite subt9999 without stowing very frequently. Logically, I would think that I would have a lot more errors if subt9999 caused legitimate baffles.

 

[asidius]

Technically, it does but since you're updating the quantities when it asks you if you pulled them all, it assigns the correct quantity. The next time a batch takes you there, all the counts should be accurate so you'll never be dinged for the baffle. When I was a CAF puller, I had the highest batch count (consistently 2500+) and I would never have more than 2 errors despite subt9999 without stowing very frequently. Logically, I would think that I would have a lot more errors if subt9999 caused legitimate baffles.

Aren't we talking about when the CAF asks if you pulled all from location? That's the impression I got. If you answer no, the system won't know how many are there (because it doesn't ask you how many are left during batches).

 

[LogisticsFox]

Aren't we talking about when the CAF asks if you pulled all from location? That's the impression I got. If you answer no, the system won't know how many are there (because it doesn't ask you how many are left during batches).

Whoops.. That's what I get for not reading the context very well.

So let me try again.. Yes, pulling 99 of an an item and answering no WILL cause a baffle and that's very no bueno. Instead of fixing the accumulator, you're actually introducing an unknown into the equation and it makes it a whole lot worse.

 

[OtherGuy]

I believe @OtherGuy hinted in the myDevice thread that they were working on a rework of the accumulator. Basically the system will keep track of how many it believes is on the floor, how many is in the back and will take the dynamic capacity of the salesfloor into consideration when generating the CAFs.

tl;dr The sales accumulator isn't going away, it's just getting a makeover (unless I completely misunderstood what Otherguy wrote)

For all intents and purposes you are correct. Sales Floor Quanity will replace Sales Accumulator. It's actually it's own separate thing so there is a weird time where on the backend both might exist while they transition over. But the core idea is pretty much the same just it counts the number on the floor and SA counts the number of empty spaces (so basically inverted). No clue when it will go chain wide, it's in a few stores now but it probably won't be until next year when everyone sees it assuming everything goes well.

TL;DR SFQ = SA 2.0 likely coming 2016

 

[anathema]

Dynamic capacity meaning what? Can we alter the capacity on the floor to ensure the capacity is what we can actually hold?

 

[SFSFun]

Dynamic capacity meaning what? Can we alter the capacity on the floor to ensure the capacity is what we can actually hold?

Yes. There was talk of that in the myDevice thread. It is either rolling out soon or already has.

 

[IHeartCarts]

anyone else have massive price changes?

 

[Guest]

I did. 7 pallets of bedding. I was off yesterday so that was nice. I pulled a total of 16 pallets of price change for Tuesday and Thursday.

 

[ClarkKent]

We had no closer yet again. I'm sure I'll have to pull it all tomorrow when I close.