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User Manual | Getting started | Fishbowl Setup and Implementation Overview

[edit] Fishbowl Setup & Implementation Guide

To better help your company quickly and efficiently implement Fishbowl, our team has created a Setup and Implementation guide to give an overview of the process. First of all, the initial setup of Fishbowl will all be completed on the server computer. QuickBooks (the application, not the Database Manager) must be installed on the same computer as the Fishbowl Server.

If you are integrating with QuickBooks, you will want your QB file to be current; especially the information that will import into Fishbowl (for a list, see Step 2 below). Inactive information, open orders (Invoices & Bills) and your QuickBooks history will not be imported into Fishbowl at this time. Some of this information, (such as open orders) may be imported at a later date.

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Database Setup & QuickBooks Integration

1. Create a New Database & Login– To start, you will need to create a new, blank Fishbowl database. Once the database is started, you may log into the Fishbowl Client. To create a new Fishbowl database, please see Changing your Default Database.

2. Setup Wizard – the first time you login to a new database you will be prompted to complete the Setup Wizard. The Setup Wizard contains critical information and should be completed before any other part of Fishbowl is setup. It will take you through the QuickBooks integration, basic company information, and let you choose a costing method. If you cancel out of the setup wizard before it is completed, the database costing method will default to average costing.

QuickBooks Integration – To successfully configure QuickBooks and Fishbowl, QuickBooks needs to be logged in as Admin in Single-user mode.

Completing the Accounting Configuration Wizard will import the following information from Fishbowl into QuickBooks:

1. Vendors & Customers

2. Parts, Products (Items) & Inventory Quantities

3. Bill of Materials (Assemblies)

4. Company Information & Users (Sales Reps)

5. Classes, Tax Rates, Payment Terms, Carriers

Choose a Costing Method - Most companies use the Average Costing method (this is what QuickBooks uses). To change a costing method for your company, the advice from a qualified accountant is necessary. For the time being, most Fishbowl reports only populate with Average Costing.

Modify and Add Additional Information Important - You must add your information in a specific order or you may need to start over. Please see our suggested order of imports for help. If you have a lot of new data to add then we recommend importing your data with a CSV file to save time. CSV files are usually created with spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel.

3. Unit of Measure & UOM Conversions – Fishbowl allows you to buy, store and sell your parts in different units of measure. All parts will come over from QuickBooks as “each” and you can convert them to another UOM. Watch the UOM video.

4. Location Groups – If you have multiple addresses or buildings where you keep inventory, you may want to create new Location Groups. When implementing Fishbowl, you need to have at least one Stock, Receiving and Shipping type location for each Location Group (these are referred to as Default Locations when you first create the Location Group).

5. Locations – For the Main Location Group, you may delete or rename the Locations you won’t be using (except for receiving and shipping). Stock 100 currently defaults to have all your inventory, so you won’t be able to delete it (locations with inventory may only be inactivated). You may add new locations manually, by CSV, or by using the Auto Create.

6. Make a copy of your database to preserve what has been created thus far. On the server computer, stop the Fishbowl Server software and find the folder C:\Program Files\Fishbowl\database\data (assuming default installation) to make a copy of your database. You may do so by simply highlighting the file and clicking Ctrl+C, or by right clicking on the file and selecting Copy. Paste the file in a secure location.

From this point on in the Setup Process, many of the following sections may not apply to your company's specific situation.

7. Determine if the following information from QuickBooks is complete - We recommend to delete irrelevant items, add missing information, or edit incorrect entries that may have happened from your QuickBooks export. The following is a list of items to check to ensure correct information:

Bill of Material (Assemblies) – View a part’s BOM under Materials | Part | Bill of Material Tab. If Always Manufacture is selected, or any of the components are configurable, Fishbowl will automatically create a Work Order when a Sales Order is issued for the part.

Inventory Quantities – There are three ways inventory may be moved from the Stock 100 location to its proper shelf location:

1) Manually move them one at a time in the Inventory module

2) Use a CSV file import to move all of your inventory

3) You can use the “Put Away” feature in the Transfer Order module to move all inventory from Stock 100 to its shelf location. Using this feature, each part may only go to one shelf location and Default Locations must be set up prior to using this feature (see optional features below).

Tax Rates – Manage Tax Rates in Accounting | Tax Rates. If you need to create a new Tax Agency, first create them as a Vendor in Fishbowl.

Payment Terms – The default term in Fishbowl is COD. This may be changed in Setup | Terms.

Classes – If you plan on using Classes in QuickBooks then you will also want to use them in Fishbowl (if not, then do not use Classes - just be consistent).

Users – Each user should be assigned the appropriate Location Groups and User Groups which give them rights to specific modules.

Carriers – You may modify or add carriers to suit your shipping situation. Change Carriers in Setup | Carriers.

[edit] Optional Features

8. Fishbowl provides optional features for your company. Please see the articles written on each subject for more detailed information. Below is a list of these features, should you choose to implement them:

1. Default Locations – The recommended shelf location each part should be stored in. There can only be one Default Location per part in each Location Group.

2. Pricing Rules – A discount or markup that automatically adjusts the list price so the customer will not see it (your salesperson can see the adjustment on the Sales Order screen in Fishbowl).

3. Discounts – A discount the customer will see on the Sales Order

4. Customer Group Relations – May be used on Pricing Rules.

5. Part/Product Details – You may setup additional information regarding each part such as weight, QB accounts, taxable, tracking and UPC. You may also change all parts simultaneously using a Part, Product, and Vendor Pricing import.

6. Reorder Points – Ensures you always have inventory on hand. Create Reorder Points by going to Materials | Part | Inventory tab.

7. Company Module – Add basic company information such as a logo, etc. This may be accomplished in Setup | Company.

8. Product Tree – Used to categorize or group parts for quick search, pricing, and reports. You may create a Product Tree in Materials | Product.

9. Email – Allows orders and reports to be emailed out of Fishbowl. You may set up your email account information in the Setup | Company | Email tab.

10. Pictures – You may associate one picture for each part and product. Pictures may be added in the Materials | Part | Details tab.

11. Add a vendor for each part (Vendor tab) – Assign multiple vendors and costs per part. Add new Vendors in the Materials | Part | Vendor tab.

12. Kits – Similar to a BOM or Assembly, Fishbowl can group products when they are sold. In Materials | Product, click the dropdown next to New to create a new Kit.

13. Custom Fields – Allows you to add custom information to almost anything in Fishbowl. Custom Fields are managed in Setup | Custom Fields.

14. Work Order Stages – For tracking the progress of Work Orders that may take a long time to finish. Stages may be created in the Materials | Part | Bill of Material tab.

9. Open Orders in QuickBooks – Open orders will not be automatically moved from QuickBooks to Fishbowl. There are two ways you can handle your current orders that you have in QuickBooks:

1) We recommend that you print out each open order in QuickBooks, manually enter it into Fishbowl and then delete it from QuickBooks. If you have partial orders, you can also close each order short in QuickBooks and add the remaining portion as a new order in Fishbowl.

2) Less recommended option: If you must continue fulfilling your old orders in QuickBooks, you will need to manually adjust inventory in Fishbowl each time you fulfill a QuickBooks Invoice and then delete the corresponding journal entry that is sent from Fishbowl.

10. Module Options – In most of the sections of Fishbowl there are Module Options that you may use to customize Fishbowl for your specific needs. In each module, go to Tools | Module Options to adjust these settings. Fishbowl provides over 80 module options, with the following most popular:

1. Part Module Options

a. Turns on the ability to search by part descriptions as well as the part number.

2. Sales Order Module Options

a. Puts the default Salesperson assigned to the customer on the order instead of the current user.

b. Checks your inventory levels to see if you have enough in stock to fulfill an order.

c. Alerts the user if they forget to add a shipping line item to the order.

3. Shipping Module Options

a. Automatically fulfills Service and Miscellaneous items when all of the inventory on the order is shipped.

b. Automatically sends an email when the order is fulfilled.

4. Accounting Module Options

a. Include the line item note of the Sales Order on the Invoice in QuickBooks.

b. Use the Sales Order number in Fishbowl as the Invoice number in QuickBooks.

User Manual | Getting started | Fishbowl Setup and Implementation Overview
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