Everything You Want to Know About Using Fishbowl

We are going to discuss many of Fishbowl’s products, as well as their uses and training options. Fishbowl offers the #1 manufacturing and warehouse management solutions for QuickBooks, plus a variety of other solutions to help with additional aspects of business operations. Here’s a sneak peek:

• Fishbowl Training Tools
• Fishbowl Has a Dedicated In-House Customer Support Team
• Fishbowl Documentation Wiki: A Treasure Trove of Information
• The Purpose of Fishbowl
• How Fishbowl Hosted Services Saves Your Business Money
• Fishbowl Hosted Services Helps Small Businesses
• Need a Reorder Point Calculator? Here You Go!
• Fishbowl Australia Takes Inventory Management Down Under
• 5 Ways to Make Inventory Management Painless
• Fishbowl Solves Small Business Challenges
• Fishbowl’s Kitting Feature
• Inventory Management Tip: Know Your Stock Options
• Fishbowl Lets You Reap What You “SO”
• How to Keep Up with Fishbowl’s Newest Features
• 5 Extremely Helpful Features in Fishbowl
• Fishbowl’s Flexibility: Customizing to Meet Customers’ Unique Needs
• ERP Doesn’t Need to Be So Expensive
• Picking… In Color!
• Why Does Fishbowl Have a Report Store?
• Fishbowl’s Full Functionality Is Available Online
• Fishbowl’s Online Products Are a Huge Leap for Inventory Control
• Fishbowl Time Is an Online Time-Clock Solution
• Get Specific with These Fishbowl Feature Sheets
• Eliminate Poor Pick, Pack, Ship with the Fishbowl Go App
• Manage Inventory on the Go with Fishbowl Go
• Fishbowl Integrates with QuickBooks Online and Dropbox

FISHBOWL TRAINING TOOLS

Like any software, Fishbowl might seem complex at first. But if you can navigate your way around QuickBooks without being a certified accountant then you can definitely work with Fishbowl’s inventory management solution just fine. It just takes a little practice.

Thankfully, there are a lot of tools to help you along the way. Here are some of the most helpful tools you can take advantage of right now:

Fishbowl Training Videos

Fishbowl has dozens of training videos demonstrating how to perform specific tasks in the software, such as:

• Import and export CSV files
• Create users and set user rights
• Integrate with QuickBooks
• Create bills of materials and work orders
• Set automatic reorder points on parts and products
• Pick products in a warehouse
• Create and receive purchase orders
• Create sales orders

Fishbowlthese four Documentation Wiki

The Fishbowl Documentation Wiki has hundreds of articles explaining, in detail, how to use virtually every module in Fishbowl Manufacturing, Fishbowl Warehouse, Fishbowl Go, and every other Fishbowl product.

You should check out Fishbowl’s Wiki right now, if you haven’t already. Start searching and you’ll be amazed by the step-by-step instructions it offers to help you do just about anything in the software.

Fishbowl’s Experts

Fishbowl’s inventory specialists are just a phone call or email away. Contact Fishbowl’s Support team today to get help with any problems you can’t find the answer to on the Wiki or in a training video.

Questions come up from time to time when companies have specialized processes and needs. Our inventory specialists can help you come up with creative solutions. All you have to do is ask.

Answers to Your Questions

These and many other tools are available to you on Fishbowl’s website. Whenever you have a question about using Fishbowl or our other products, you can find the answers by simply looking for them among our training videos, Documentation Wiki, inventory specialists, and other resources we provide.

FISHBOWL HAS A DEDICATED IN-HOUSE CUSTOMER SUPPORT TEAM

Some software companies outsource their software support to call centers as a way to save money, but Fishbowl has always had an in-house support team. In fact, almost half of our entire company’s staff is dedicated to customer support and training. That’s a staggering investment in customer service.

Why do we do this? Because we want to be quick on our feet when responding to our customers’ questions and concerns. When you’re using Fishbowl and you come across something confusing, you can quickly get in touch with someone on our support team to help you figure it out.

Support Services

Current Fishbowl customers have access to several support tools:

• Fishbowl Phone Support – Monday-Friday 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Mountain Time)
• After-Hours Support – Monday-Friday 6 to 10 p.m. and Saturday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Mountain Time)
• On-Site Training – Schedule a Fishbowl expert to come to your office and help you get everything up and running and your staff trained on the software

Let Us Serve You

Fishbowl continues to strive for excellence in its products and its customer service. Let us serve you by contacting our support team if you’re a current customer, or by signing up for an online demo of our software if you’re interested in learning more.

FISHBOWL DOCUMENTATION WIKI: A TREASURE TROVE OF INFORMATION

The Fishbowl Documentation Wiki with an exhaustive amount of information in short, easy-to-read articles on its many services. We invite you to browse through it to find the topic you’re most interested in. We cover everything from basic system setup to advanced features and useful tips and tricks.

Three main sections of the Wiki include Getting Started, Main Articles, and Support.

Getting Started

Are you just getting started with Fishbowl or are you interested in which features it has? Check out the Getting Started article to find training videos, installation tips, and setup instructions, plus information on Fishbowl’s QuickBooks integration.

Main Articles

If you already use Fishbowl software, you can find detailed information on the main Articles page to learn about Fishbowl’s modules, integrations, and more. This is a central hub where you can go to quickly find what you’re looking for.

Support

If you have a question that you’re not sure where to find the answer to, a good place to start is in the Support article. There you can find a number of tips and tricks, troubleshooting assistance, and database explanations.

THE PURPOSE OF FISHBOWL

The purpose of Fishbowl is to give small and midsize companies the power to control complex business functions, such as inventory management and manufacturing, with ease and for an affordable price.

Fishbowl is the #1 requested manufacturing and warehouse management solution for QuickBooks for a good reason. It is user friendly, integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks, handles a multitude of inventory management tasks, and helps companies save money. Employees who are used to QuickBooks’ structure don’t have to learn a new system when they begin using Fishbowl because it integrates so well with QuickBooks.

Fishbowl handles a company’s inventory, warehouse, and manufacturing needs and it also feeds the information it receives into QuickBooks to create invoices and perform other important accounting tasks. It simplifies the whole bookkeeping process.

HOW FISHBOWL HOSTED SERVICES SAVES YOUR BUSINESS MONEY

Fishbowl Hosted Services is a tool that lets businesses safely access their software without having to maintain a server or worry about data security. Your business can save time, money, and headaches by outsourcing many of your information technology (IT) needs to Fishbowl Hosted Services.

Server Hosting vs. IT

Fishbowl Hosted Services is a little different than IT. IT includes many things, including equipment setup, software setup, server maintenance, and Internet connection. Fishbowl Hosted Services maintains your server and software so you can gain remote access to them from any location you have the Internet.

Fishbowl Hosted Services minimizes your IT requirements to obtaining and maintaining computer equipment and an Internet connection. These tasks are relatively simple, so you can do them with a small IT staff.

Benefits of Fishbowl Hosted Services

You don’t have to purchase expensive equipment or software. Fishbowl Hosted Services does most of the work for you, staying current on the latest technology to keep your data safe and your software running smoothly.

You can get the newest version of Fishbowl added to your server automatically, as well as QuickBooks, Microsoft Office and any other programs you need. Fishbowl and QuickBooks are sold separately from the hosting service.

Get Started Today

Specialization is the name of the game in the business world. The more you focus on what you do best, the more likely your company is to succeed. By outsourcing many of your technical tasks, you free up time to devote to more important parts of your business.

FISHBOWL HOSTED SERVICES HELPS SMALL BUSINESSES

Word is spreading about how Fishbowl Hosted Services helps small businesses. In his article “Fishbowl Adds Hosted Inventory Geared to Small Business,” author Thor Olavsrud mentions several benefits of using this service.

How Fishbowl Hosted Services Helps

Olavsrud sums it up nicely by saying, “The service is designed specifically to host small- to medium-sized businesses’ servers, allowing them to stay focused on their core business instead of worrying about time-consuming and expensive IT issues.”

Small business owners need to carefully manage their priorities so they have enough time to focus on what they do best. Information technology is one of the most expensive and essential parts of doing business. That’s why many small businesses outsource their server needs to companies that specialize in IT.

As an added benefit, users can have the newest versions of Fishbowl, QuickBooks, and Microsoft Office pre-installed on their servers so they don’t have to worry about the hassle of setting everything up.

Fishbowl Hosted Services Prices

The price of Fishbowl Hosted Services depends on the number of users. For 2-5 users, it’s $375 per month, plus a $375 setup fee. For 6-10 users, it’s $575 per month, plus an $875 setup fee. For 11-20 users, it’s $875 per month, plus the same setup fee as for 6-10 users. Companies aren’t bound by a long-term contract. They can discontinue the service at any time.

NEED A REORDER POINT CALCULATOR? HERE YOU GO!

If you’re looking for a reorder point calculator, you’ve come to the right place. Fishbowl’s reorder point calculator is available for you to use anytime you need it, free of charge.

As its name implies, the reorder point is the moment when the number of products you have in stock falls to a certain level so you should reorder them to make sure you don’t run out. The reorder point is an important part of inventory management. It helps you keep a balance between overstocks and stockouts.

To calculate your reorder point for each product, you need to know four facts:

Lead Time. This is how many days it takes from the time you order a product to when it arrives at your location.

Safety Stock. This is how many of a certain product you keep in reserve to handle unforeseen events.

Basic Stock. This is how many days’ worth of a specific product you normally keep in stock.

Unit Sales Per Day. This is how many of a particular product you sell in a day, on average.

It can be challenging to decide how many products you should keep in stock and in reserve. It can also be difficult to tell how many sales you make in a day and how long it takes to receive new products, unless you’re using inventory management software to track these things.

Inventory management software can automatically calculate your lead time, safety stock, basic stock, and unit sales per day based on the information it compiles. This can be a big time saver and remove the guesswork from calculating the reorder points for your products.

FISHBOWL AUSTRALIA TAKES INVENTORY MANAGEMENT DOWN UNDER

G’day, mate! In 2011, Fishbowl released its first-ever international software version – Fishbowl Australia. In addition to the advanced inventory management tools that the U.S. version of Fishbowl offers, Fishbowl Australia has three additional features:

1. The ability to tax individual line items at different rates in sales orders. In Australia, taxes are line item-based rather than order-based, so if a customer orders multiple products that are in different categories, they can’t all be taxed the same. Fishbowl Australia solves this problem in the Sales Order module.

2. The ability to tax individual line items at different rates in purchase orders. This sounds almost the same as the first feature, but it has one big difference. Purchase orders are different than sales orders. A purchase order is a document that a customer sends to a company to place an order, and a sales order is one that a company generates to help them fill that order. It’s important for the purchase order to show the tax rates so a customer can see exactly what the total cost of their order will be.

3. Integration with QuickBooks Australia. One of the biggest things Fishbowl is known for in North America is its seamless integration with QuickBooks. Fishbowl Australia also integrates perfectly with the Australian version of QuickBooks, Reckon. Small businesses that are already familiar with that accounting software can add new inventory management features to their business with Fishbowl.

To learn more about Fishbowl Australia and get a free trial of the software, contact our official Australian partner Simon Jupe by phone at 0428 758 920 or visit the Fishbowl Australia website. If you’re Down Under, Fishbowl Australia will help your business rise up to the next level of success!

5 WAYS TO MAKE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT PAINLESS

In the article “Five Steps to Painless Inventory Management,” author Lisa Girard talks about five problems that companies face as they manage their inventory. And they all tie into Fishbowl or can be improved on by Fishbowl.

We’ll show you what we mean by going through her five steps:

1. Too Much Inventory

To solve the problem of overstock, Girard suggests business leaders “Start with some decent projections of how much supply you’ll need and when you’ll need it.” The problem is: how do you get these projections? She seems to have skipped that important step. You need to have access to data about products and sales history. But reports that project how much supply you’ll need don’t just create themselves. If you try to pull the data from Excel spreadsheets or some other ad-hoc inventory management system, you could waste a lot of time.

Fishbowl’s Sales Data module and Forecast module find the data you need and then generates reports that help you plan for supply needs, seasonal demand changes, optimum inventory levels, and more. It takes the guesswork out of inventory management and keeps your inventory levels balanced.

2. Inaccurate Inventory Tracking

“Using electronic data interchange (EDI) and barcode scanning can help eliminate data entry errors.” Exactly! Girard hit it right on the head with this one, so we really don’t have much to add. To keep your inventory records accurate, you should stop entering data into a computer by hand and simply scan product barcodes. That way, you eliminate the possibility of typos creeping into the numbers.

With a barcode reader and the Fishbowl Go app, you can receive products into your warehouse, place orders, cycle count inventory, etc.

3. Lack of Priorities

Girard’s answer to a lack of priorities is to “Focus on the items that matter most.” These include top-selling products. All other products, especially slow-selling ones, should be lower on your priority list. Again, there’s a missing step: how do you figure out which are your most popular products? You need data.

This goes back to step 1. Fishbowl keeps track of the inventory data you need, and it can put it into easy-to-understand reports so you can analyze information and use it to make informed decisions for your business.

4. Using Spreadsheets

Instead of using Excel for inventory management, businesses should “use software such as QuickBooks or Peachtree,” Girard recommends. To her credit, she does note that these two software solutions are mostly used for accounting, not inventory management. But the fact is that neither of them has every one of the tracking and warehouse management features companies are looking for.

Fishbowl does. That’s why it’s the #1 inventory management software for QuickBooks. It integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks and adds the inventory management features companies need for a relatively low price. That way, they can keep using their favorite accounting software instead of having to switch to an entirely new system.

5. No Backup Plan

Girard makes a good point about data security. After you’ve set up a smooth inventory management system, “what happens if there’s a fire or your computer is badly damaged or stolen?” She offers several solutions to this problem, like downloading your data onto a jump drive or using a professional backup service. The trouble with backing up data on a jump drive is that it can be hard to remember to download your information onto it every day. Also, you might have to use multiple jump drives, depending on how much data you have. Professional services can be expensive, too.

Fishbowl Hosted Services is a good data backup solution for small and midsize businesses. It stores a company’s data in a secure, offsite server that can be accessed anywhere through the Internet. If your computer crashes, you can retrieve your data in minutes by calling Fishbowl. They constantly update your saved files throughout the day, and they handle cyber security and other IT tasks for a reasonable price.

That’s our take on the five steps to painless inventory management. Fishbowl offers solutions to these problems and many others, too.

FISHBOWL SOLVES SMALL BUSINESS CHALLENGES

Small businesses face a lot of challenges. There’s learning how to control inventory, manage time, plan ahead, and balance money needs. You could argue that every business has to handle these difficulties, but the margin of error is thin for companies that are just starting out and struggling to get to the next level.

Luckily, entrepreneurs can use Fishbowl to help them find solutions. Here’s how:

1. Inventory Management

Fishbowl’s main purpose is to help companies manage their inventory. Instead of having to wait for years before they can afford the ideal inventory management solution, small businesses can start enjoying every one of the features large companies have for an affordable price.

You don’t have to pay for features you don’t need like you would with more expensive solutions. However, those advanced features are available when you need them, so can stay with the same software solution and just keep adding new tools as you grow. Fishbowl offers barcode scanning, online time clock, manufacturing, point of sale, QuickBooks integration, warehouse management, and many other features.

2. Time Management

Getting the most out of your time is especially important when you’re just starting out. Small businesses don’t have many employees, so leaders have to wear many hats in order to keep their companies running smoothly. You can’t spend too much time on any one task.

Fishbowl automates many inventory management tasks. You can simply scan a barcode to update inventory records when you buy, sell, or receive products. This makes inventory management more efficient, which frees up your time to spend on other parts of your business.

3. Planning Ahead

If you want to get ahead in business, you have to plan ahead. This includes figuring out how much inventory you’ll need at different times of the year, avoiding both overstocks and shortages, and having backup suppliers in case something goes wrong on your supply chain.

Strategic planning would be an incredibly time-consuming chore without Fishbowl. You can quickly generate reports on sale trends, inventory levels at multiple locations, and seasonal demand changes. Fishbowl helps you stay ahead of the curve with its supply chain management tools.

4. Balancing Money Needs

For small businesses, money is often tight. A few errors in their accounting records or a few bad investments could kill even seemingly successful companies. That’s why it is so important to get your records straight.

Fishbowl integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks. So after you order products or do other things in Fishbowl, the software automatically tells QuickBooks to update its records and generate invoices or other financial records that you might need. This saves you a step and makes it easier to keep your data accurate. Fishbowl also saves your company money by making your company more efficient, getting rid of excess inventory, and making customers happier.

FISHBOWL’S KITTING FEATURE

Did you know that Fishbowl has a feature known as Kitting, which allows you to combine multiple products in a sales order into a single group? What does this mean and why is it useful to your business? Let’s find out.

A kit is a group of parts and/or products that are sold together as though they are a single product on a sales order. The nice thing is that a kit doesn’t have to be permanent; you can break it apart and sell items separately if you prefer. Kits don’t just have to contain parts and products; they can also include different tax rates, discounts, and other variables.

Here are several ways you can configure kits with Fishbowl:

Standard: A kit item that includes a product name, amount, and unit of measure. This is the most basic information required for a kit.

Optional: A kit item that includes several optional parts or products. This starts getting a bit more complex by introducing different items in a single kit.

Variable: A kit item that includes just one product and a variable amount. The amount has to be within a certain range, which you set.

Optional-Variable: A kit item that includes several options of products and variable amounts for each of them.

Discount: A kit item that has a price discount. This allows you to offer a lower price on some products but not every product in a sales order.

Tax Rate: A kit item that has a specific tax rate. This comes in handy if you’re selling products that are taxed at different rates.

Kits make it easier to sell items because they organize the products you’re selling into well-defined groups. Rather than having to create several sales orders for a single order, you can simplify the process by having different rules that apply to different groups of products within the same order.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT TIP: KNOW YOUR STOCK OPTIONS

When running a business, whether private or public, you need to keep a close eye on your stock. But you don’t have to look to Wall Street to check the stock that matters most. That’s actually your inventory stock. You can check it right from your computer by using Fishbowl.

Here are four “stock options” you can keep a close eye on with Fishbowl’s help:

Inventory Levels – With the scan of a barcode, you can look up the number of any product you have in your warehouse, on your shelves, and in transit. This is quite useful because you can see in real time which products are well stocked and which ones need to be reordered.

Multiple Locations – Whether you have one warehouse or 100 warehouses, you can keep track of the inventory items in them through Fishbowl Go. This enables you to transfer products from one location to another if demand for those products happens to be higher in one place than in another.

Product Sales – When you’re able to see product quantities across all of your locations, you’ll likely begin to notice trends. Some products sell better at certain locations and times of the year. When you have this information in front of you, you can make smart decisions about how much inventory to keep on hand.

Vendors – Your vendors are the lifeblood of your company’s operations. They supply you with parts, products, and other materials you need to function. It’s a good idea to develop relationships with multiple vendors so that you can compare their performance. Then you can focus on doing business with the ones that are most reliable and offer you the best prices.

FISHBOWL LETS YOU REAP WHAT YOU ‘SO’

When you sow a seed and nurture the plant that grows from it, you eventually get to reap the benefits of your efforts. This metaphor can be applied to virtually every aspect of life, from cultivating relationships to starting a business.

Let’s talk about how Fishbowl helps businesses reap what they SO (meaning Sales Order). You see, Fishbowl generates sales orders in response to purchase orders received from customers. Sales orders are different than purchase orders because they are standardized, making it easier to keep track of detailed information about each sale in a uniform manner.

It makes sense. Customers make purchases and companies make sales. That’s an easy way to keep them straight.

Fishbowl is equipped with modules to help you perform many inventory management tasks. One of those modules is called the Sales Order module. Here’s how the Fishbowl Documentation Wiki describes it:

“The Sales Order module … allows the creation of sales orders, credit returns, and drop ship orders. This module is often referred to as the SO module and also provides the ability to quick ship orders, take payments, print invoices, and much more.”

That’s a lot of things that you can do in this module. Being able to process customers’ orders, take payments, print invoices, and issue returns (when necessary) is important when it comes to running any business. These are all foundational tasks that must be performed on a daily basis to keep your operations running smoothly.

Fishbowl speeds up these processes compared to performing them by hand. You can reap the rewards of using Fishbowl’s advanced inventory management software to handle your sales orders and more.

HOW TO KEEP UP WITH FISHBOWL’S NEWEST FEATURES

Fishbowl adds many new features with each software release, and it can be tough to keep up with them. Luckily, there’s a resource on the Fishbowl Documentation Wiki that you can take advantage of to make sure you never miss anything.

It’s called the Release Notes section.

Not only does it list the main features included in the newest release of Fishbowl, but it also has links to detailed information on each of them so you can dig deeper into the ones you’re most interested in.

This is a great resource that puts every bit of the information you want in one easy-to-access place. This page is updated each time Fishbowl releases a new software version. So you can bet that it will have fresh content added throughout the year.

5 EXTREMELY HELPFUL FEATURES IN FISHBOWL

Fishbowl is a time-saving, cost-cutting inventory management solution. It has a lot of options that can help you save even more time and have an easier time handling many of your business operations.

Here are five extremely helpful features in Fishbowl that you can take advantage of:

Custom Fields

One of the most popular features in Fishbowl is its ability to add custom fields to various modules, including customers, vendors, products, RMAs, and parts. This is a big deal because it lets you modify the system to store data in text format, checkboxes, dates, quantities, monetary values, lists, and more. You may find many uses for this feature.

Search Function

When ordering from vendors or performing other tasks involving parts in your system, you can quickly select the right parts by entering the part number or description into the search bar. If you put in the right terms, it will instantly bring up exactly what you’re looking for. Then you simply click it and select how many to order. This search function can be used in other areas of the software, as well.

Accepting Payments

If you drop ship items or wait to order them until you receive an order from a customer, Fishbowl allows you to accept down payments or other forms of payment from customers while they wait for the transaction to be completed and their product delivered. Fishbowl simply credits a generic account in QuickBooks and attaches the payment information to the appropriate purchase order. Then it handles the details when the order is completed and QuickBooks needs to be updated again.

Cycle Counting

You don’t have to shut down your entire business for a few days to count your inventory. With Fishbowl Go, you can perform cycle counts. This means you go into your warehouse and check how many parts you have in stock against your inventory records by using a wireless handheld device. If there are discrepancies, you can instantly update your records.

Instant Updates

When multiple users are logged into Fishbowl, you can see the changes they make to inventory and orders in real time. That means that if you log in right after someone else to place an order, you can see if they have already done what you were about to do. This prevents double orders and other potentially serious mistakes.

FISHBOWL’S FLEXIBILITY: CUSTOMIZING TO MEET CUSTOMERS’ UNIQUE NEEDS

Fishbowl Manufacturing and Fishbowl Warehouse come in generic versions when they are purchased, and they can be customized to meet your company’s unique needs.

Businesses of all sizes and in a variety of industries use Fishbowl to help them with their inventory control, so it makes sense that Fishbowl would be customizable to work with so many kinds of customers.

It can take some time to get everything just the way you want it, but it’s worth the effort because once it’s all in place, you can really start getting work done. Let’s take a look at the aspects of Fishbowl you can customize to fit with the way you do business.

Custom Fields

Whatever type of information you want to track about products, vendors, or anything else related to your inventory, you can create a custom field for it. As we noted earlier, custom fields can contain text, numbers, checkboxes, lists, and virtually anything else you need them to hold.

Module Options

Fishbowl is separated into modules, which allow you to control specific aspects of your inventory. There are all sorts of options you can choose from to make each module work the way you want it to. Everything from accounting records to vendors can be updated and customized.

Reports

Filter information about your inventory in several ways in the Reports module. Fishbowl can also create custom reports for you, or you can work with one of our partners to help you come up with exactly the right report you’re looking for.

User Rights

There’s no need to give every Fishbowl user in your company access to your company’s confidential information. Protect yourself by setting limits on what data each user can see and manipulate in the software by creating user groups and user rights. This will make it easier for workers to use Fishbowl because they’ll only have access to pertinent modules that they use frequently. They won’t be confused by modules that have nothing to do with their work.

Pick, Pack, and Ship

Fishbowl lets you get creative with how you pick, pack, and ship products to customers. For example, some products come pre-packaged, so you don’t need to spend time performing the packing step before you ship them. Other products take a lot of time between picking, packing, and shipping them. In other cases, all three tasks are accomplished rapid-fire. Fishbowl lets you handle any type of pick/pack/ship job.

Tracking Methods

Parts, products, and other materials can be tracked in many ways. You can even use multiple tracking methods at the same time. If you want to track a certain color part by its serial number, you can search for parts that meet those two criteria. There are more examples of tracking methods than we could possibly cover in this brief description. The point is that just about any way you want to track your inventory, you can do it in Fishbowl.

Tables

Fishbowl organizes part and product information into tables to make it easier for importing and exporting to other programs. You can add columns to tables to contain certain information on orders, such as when they are received and shipped and what their status is. You can also delete columns, rearrange them, and resize them.

Default Modules

Not only can you set user rights, but you can also customize each user’s experience with Fishbowl. Users can save module settings so they will open automatically when they open the program on their computer.

Themes

You can modify the way Fishbowl looks by choosing from a number of themes. This doesn’t affect its functionality, but it is another way to make the software uniquely yours.

ERP DOESN’T NEED TO BE SO EXPENSIVE

Are you looking for an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, but it seems like all of the options out there are out of your price range? There’s a better way to enjoy the features of an ERP and still stay within your organization’s budget. That way is Fishbowl.

Fishbowl handles most of the inventory management functions of an ERP and it costs just a fraction of the price of a full ERP. In fact, most large organizations can pay for it by simply using their discretionary budget. And the added efficiency and cost cuts that Fishbowl brings save organizations way more money than they spend on it.

Fishbowl integrates with QuickBooks, which handles the accounting side of a business. With a Fishbowl-QuickBooks combination, you’ve got a large portion of an ERP’s features covered.

Fishbowl’s inventory management features have been put to use by numerous well-known organizations, including:

• Mercedes-Benz
• Lowe’s
• Wells Fargo
• Honda
• Boeing
• Nordstrom
• University of Maryland

Fishbowl is also highly customizable. If your organization doesn’t need certain features, such as barcoding or point of sale, you can get a software package that doesn’t include them. Many ERPs come with way more features than an organization needs, and it winds up costing a lot to maintain those features that you don’t use. Fishbowl makes ERP-level features available to organizations that otherwise couldn’t afford them.

PICKING… IN COLOR!

Green means go, yellow means caution, and red means stop. That’s true in traffic flow, and it’s also true in Fishbowl’s order management process.

Traffic Signals

When fulfilling orders, it’s helpful to know if you have enough inventory on hand to actually fill the orders you receive. That’s why Fishbowl has a fantastic feature that lets you pick orders in color.

Instead of seeing a screen full of black-and white orders, Fishbowl now shows them in three colors: green, yellow and red. And each color means something very important:

Green: There is enough inventory currently in stock to fully pick the order.

Yellow: There is at least one item that is not adequately stocked to cover the amount needed for the order.

Red: There is not enough inventory in stock to cover any of the items in the order.

Moving Forward

Moving forward, you can pick orders faster and with greater confidence. You won’t have to guess whether or not you’ll have enough parts or products to fulfill orders. You’ll instantly know just by looking at your screen.

WHY DOES FISHBOWL HAVE A REPORT STORE?

Why does Fishbowl have a Report Store instead of just including all of those reports in the software? Good question. We’ll answer that by first explaining a few background details.

If you are unfamiliar with it, the Report Store is a part of the Fishbowl website where users can go and buy specialized reports to use with their Fishbowl software.

Reports are important because they allow users to organize the data in Fishbowl in different ways to make sense of it. You can use them to manufacture products, spot sales trends, track serial numbers, check part availability, and more. Other reports can be used to create barcodes, price labels, pick tickets, cycle count lists, and invoices.

Too Much of a Good Thing

The reason that every report isn’t automatically included in the Fishbowl software is because they are all so specific that most likely no one would use every single one of them. If they were all in the software, users would be deluged with reports they don’t want or need, struggling to find what they are actually interested in using.

For example, not everyone needs to be able to comply with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ requirement that a business use an ATF Logbook to list the acquisition and disposition data associated with firearm transfers. Only gun manufacturers and sellers would be interested in an ATF Logbook report.

There are also some reports that are similar to others. You don’t necessarily want 10 ways to print barcodes. You’ll probably just want a couple, depending on how you want to print them.

Fishbowl’s Flexibility

At Fishbowl, we pride ourselves on being flexible and giving users what they need, not just deluging them with everything all at once. You can take advantage of additional features as your business grows and you develop new logistical needs.

Fishbowl grows along with businesses, allowing them to effectively manage their inventory and continue working with QuickBooks for many years. In effect, Fishbowl is an affordable alternative for businesses that would otherwise have to switch inventory solutions every few years or, worse, purchase an expensive ERP that is out of their price range and has too many unnecessary features.

Fishbowl’s Report Store lets users take advantage of advanced features. Check it out by clicking the link above, and see for yourself which reports you’re most interested in. You can pick the ones that are best for your business. The choice is yours!

FISHBOWL’S FULL FUNCTIONALITY IS AVAILABLE ONLINE

Fishbowl Anywhere is a revolutionary plugin that gives you access to the complete Fishbowl desktop solution on virtually any smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

By themselves, Fishbowl Manufacturing and Fishbowl Warehouse are limited to PCs and Macs connected to the Fishbowl Server. Not so with Fishbowl Anywhere. It lets companies open the full Fishbowl software in a Web browser on any Internet-connected device.

This means you can take Fishbowl Manufacturing and Fishbowl Warehouse with you wherever you go. You don’t have to stay on a desktop computer with the Fishbowl Client installed on it. Just install the Fishbowl Server on a desktop computer and download the Fishbowl Anywhere plugin.

Here are the most important things to know about Fishbowl Anywhere:

• Fishbowl Anywhere is not a new inventory solution. It’s simply a gateway to the familiar desktop Fishbowl software.
• It lets you use the many features in Fishbowl Manufacturing or Fishbowl Warehouse on laptops, tablets and smartphones, and more.
• Fishbowl can be opened through Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and other Web browsers.
• Fishbowl Checkout can also be opened through Fishbowl Anywhere. This lets companies accept payments from any location and on different devices.

Get even more facts by checking out our news release: “Fishbowl’s Full Functionality Now Available Anywhere on Any Device.”

FISHBOWL’S ONLINE PRODUCTS ARE A HUGE LEAP FOR INVENTORY CONTROL

Exciting things are afoot at Fishbowl! There are a number of plugins and online products that can have huge ripple effects on the way small and midsize businesses approach inventory management.

Plugins

Fishbowl currently has a variety of plugins, which we’ve separated into the following categories. Click the link above to go to the Fishbowl Documentation Wiki and learn about these plugins in depth:

Shopping Carts

• 3dcart
• Amazon
• BigCommerce
• eBay
• Magento
• Shopify
• Volusion
• WooCommerce
• X-Cart
• Zen Cart

Online Accounting

• Avalara
• QuickBooks Online
• Xero

Shipping

• ShipStation

Manufacturing

• SolidWorks

Data Modules

• Forecast
• Sales Data

Additional Products

Here are five additional online solutions that push many of Fishbowl’s inventory management features into the cloud or offer entirely distinct products.

Boxstorm – A wholly online inventory management solution that lets companies track inventory and much more in the cloud. There is even a Forever Free version.

Fishbowl Anywhere – A plugin that gives users access to the complete Fishbowl desktop software from virtually any location on smartphones, tablets, laptops, and any other Internet-connected device.

Fishbowl Go – An app that allows for barcode scanning, cycle counting, and the automation of many other warehouse tasks. Fishbowl Go works on any mobile device with the Android operating system.

Fishbowl ShipExpress – A plugin that connects Fishbowl Manufacturing and Fishbowl Warehouse to big-name carriers like FedEx, UPS, and USPS, among others.

Fishbowl Time – A Web-based time clock solution that allows employees to clock in and out on a tablet. Fishbowl Time also lets manufacturers compare estimated and actual labor costs that go into manufacturing jobs.

Inventory management encompasses more than just counting items in a warehouse. It affects every aspect of a business. Click the links above to learn more about these items and get ready to leap up to a whole new level of inventory management!

FISHBOWL TIME IS AN ONLINE TIME-CLOCK SOLUTION

Fishbowl Time is an online time-clock solution that lets businesses make time work in their favor. Fishbowl Time makes clocking in and processing payroll easier. Employees can clock in and out on any smartphone or tablet.

Fishbowl Time’s features include:

• Online time clock
• Overtime management
• Payroll reports
• GPS tracking
• QuickBooks integration

GET SPECIFIC WITH THESE FISHBOWL FEATURE SHEETS

Fishbowl offers a number of feature sheets that succinctly list the capabilities of its software solutions. So let’s get on with the feature presentation!

These four feature sheets will give you a detailed overview of the following Fishbowl products:

• Fishbowl Manufacturing feature sheet
• Fishbowl Warehouse feature sheet
• Fishbowl Anywhere feature sheet
• Fishbowl Checkout product information sheet

Click on the links above to learn all about Fishbowl Manufacturing, Warehouse, Anywhere, and Checkout.

By the way, the Fishbowl Manufacturing and Fishbowl Warehouse feature sheets include a bonus. On their second page they showcase the features of two additional Fishbowl products:

• Fishbowl Go – An app that is used for rugged warehouse needs, such as barcode scanning, cycle counting, and receiving.
• Fishbowl Time – An online time clock solution for handling employee hours, payroll, overtime, PTO, and more while integrating with Fishbowl Manufacturing to add labor costs to work orders.

Check out these feature sheets and you’ll discover the many specific ways they can help your business.

ELIMINATE POOR PICK, PACK, SHIP WITH THE FISHBOWL GO APP

Feeling unfulfilled in your order management? You might be suffering from Poor Pick Pack Ship, or Slow P.P.S. It’s time to beat the boxing blues and start getting the orders flowing with Fishbowl Go!

Fishbowl Go isn’t a medicinal remedy, but it definitely provides a lot of relief to companies struggling to handle an increasing amount of inventory in their warehouses.

The video above has its tongue firmly pressed to its cheek, but Fishbowl Go is seriously a fantastic barcoding and warehouse management solution for your business. Check out the video, and get that pesky Slow P.P.S. out of your system… your warehouse management system, that is.

MANAGE INVENTORY ON THE GO WITH FISHBOWL GO

Fishbowl Go is an app that lets you scan UPCs and other barcodes for a number of jobs and then automatically transfer that data over to Fishbowl Manufacturing and Fishbowl Warehouse through its seamless integration with them. You can access it on laptops, smartphones, and tablets. This frees you up to move about your warehouse away from a desktop computer.

Fishbowl Go helps in two main ways:

• Improve Efficiency – Fishbowl Go saves a lot of time by allowing you to scan product barcodes and send the information right where it needs to go. This speeds up picking, packing, shipping, receiving, cycle counting, and many other order and warehouse management processes.
• Reduce Errors – Picking incorrect items when fulfilling orders is a common mistake that causes a lot of problems. When they scan to pick parts for an order, these errors go away. Scanning items’ barcodes significantly reduces the chances of typos and other mistakes finding their ways into your data.

Here is a list of Fishbowl Go’s features, and an explanation of how they improve your efficiency and reduce errors when you fulfill orders:

1. Pick – View pick tickets on a mobile device so you don’t need to print out physical pick tickets.
2. Pack – Check the dimensions and sizes of boxes and cartons, as well as the items being packed into them.
3. Ship – After an order is packed, packed, shipped to its destination, you can mark it as shipped in Fishbowl.
4. Receive – Scan the barcodes of incoming items to ensure they are accurately recorded in your inventory records.
5. Move – Transfer as many parts and products as you want between warehouses and other locations without having to record a sale.
6. Cycle – Scan barcodes to conduct cycle counts and instantly and accurately update Fishbowl’s inventory quantities.
7. Part – Display all sorts of inventory information, such as part numbers, descriptions, images, quantities, and tracking numbers on mobile computers.
8. Work Order – As work orders progress and get completed, you can record the resulting changes to your quantities of finished goods and raw materials.
9. Delivery – Ensure shipments are received at the right time and place by having recipients give their timestamped signatures for them.

Get Fishbowl Go and see how fast your order management will go!

FISHBOWL INTEGRATES WITH QUICKBOOKS ONLINE AND DROPBOX

Fishbowl integrates with QuickBooks Online and Dropbox, and the video above explains how they work.

Fishbowl’s desktop solution connects to QuickBooks Online through a seamless integration. It’s pretty straightforward. You just need to follow a few simple instructions and then you’ll have the ability to export data to QuickBooks Online after you make sales, purchases, and other changes in Fishbowl.

You can also integrate Fishbowl with Dropbox, which lets you store product images and other files in the cloud. This is a good way to back up your data and prevent unfortunate losses from a computer crash.

Sign up for an inventory software demo today to see all of the ways that Fishbowl can help your business right now.