FAQs for EXCELr8d Order Sheets

How does BrokerForce™ create an EXCELr8d order sheet?

How does the EXCELr8d e-mail process work?

Electronic order sheets are practical, efficient, and economical way to obtain orders from your customers.  They are practical because, like a printed order sheet, the user only needs to enter a minimum of information and the quantities of items they would like to order.  Completed order sheets may be printed as a hard copy record and are easily processed in a fraction of the time a handwritten order can be deciphered and re-entered.  All of which contributes to the practical nature of these sheets.

EXCELr8d orders can be efficiently created and transferred.  An EXCELr8d order sheet may be generated by the agency and e-mailed in seconds.  Ideally, an order sheet will become a reusable object for the customer's ordering needs.  A customer specific order sheet can be massaged to optimize product turnover rate and minimize holding costs.  Unlike printed order sheets, electronic order sheets are dynamic.  They may be changed as product selection, conditions, and prices change.  Select a customer, a vendor, and click <Export> to create a new customer specific guide with the latest information.

Agency - After a BrokerForce™ user creates an EXCELr8d order sheet for a customer, the user is prompted to 'Email the Order Sheet?'.   If the user clicks <Yes>, a new Microsoft Outlook e-mail message is created and instructions are added to the body of the message for completing the order sheet.  The order sheet file will automatically be attached to the new message.  If BrokerForce™ found an e-mail address for the prospective recipient, that address will be used.  Otherwise, an address must be entered when the new message opens.  Additional text may be added to the text body of the message.  Clicking the <Send> button will place the message into the Out Box where it will wait to be sent.  After the order has been completed by the customer, the agency will then await the return of a completed order file.

Tip: create a desktop short cut to a folder like like 'C:\EXCELr8d_Orders_InBox\' that you can use for incoming order sheets.  An order sheet that has just been received may be dragged directly from the Outlook message to this folder for future processing.

To process the incoming order,  a BrokerForce™ user clicks the <EXCELr8d Orders Process> button on the Order form and follows the three step (guided) process to import the completed order sheet file.

Customer - After you receive an e-mail message with an EXCELr8d order file attached, you should decide if you want to be able to reuse this order sheet for future orders.  If not, and your e-mail software supports file editing (Outlook, Eudora...), open the file, complete the order sheet and <Forward> it back to the agency for processing.  Upon request, the agency will send you a new order sheet that reflects the latest price and product changes. 

Note: If you <Reply> to the message, the order file might not be attached to your reply.

If you want to reuse the order sheet for future orders, save a copy of the original file on a local drive before it is edited to use as a template for future orders.   There are at least two ways to do this.  Use the <Save file attachment> feature of your e-mail software, or open the file, select <File>, <Save As>, and enter the path and file name to save the template.  Once you have made a template copy of the order, make another copy of this unedited template to edit as a new order that can be transferred to the agency.  After this order sheet copy is completed, it may be attached to an e-mail message and forwarded to the agency.

Note: To edit an EXCELr8d order sheet, requires software that is capable of editing an EXCEL 5 file.  See the  Microsoft® Excel Viewer 97 information below for viewing and printing the file without a copy of Microsoft® Excel.