[MLB-WIRELESS] Fun with TIB...

[fenn_b at smktech.com.au]

Hey All,

As you may have all noticed there has been a complete lack of TIB
updates released. Unfortunately, I am still rather busy at work and
haven't had a lot of time recently to dedicate to it - However, rest
assured there is one on the horizon which should be ready to release
sooooooon.

One thing I have noticed is that people are not quite using it how I
intended it to work. This is probably largely because I never gave
anyone ANY instructions as to how to use it, and probably a large part
due to I have overlooked some of the reasoning, but all the same, I will
attempt to describe my initial intention as to the use of the functions.

Namely, I have noticed that almost everyone has been setting the "orders
due by" and "Payment closes" fields to the same date. This somewhat
breaks one of the prime functions as this is how it was intended:

1) The "Orders due by" field is set to a reasonable timeframe in the
future once an product is offered. This allows people to indicate that
they would like to purchase and gives the organiser a feel for numbers,
how much they are looking at dealing with. Think of it as a fairly
serious expression of interest (eg: you have semi-commited to pay for a
product).

2) The "payment due by" date is set considerably after the "orders due
by" - Not the same day. This is for a reason, it allows organisers to
avoid the hell that is collecting payments. If you set this to a
reasonable time, you can just sit back and let the payments come in. Two
days before it's due, you send an absolute reminder using TIB to the
tune of "If you do not pay in the next 24 hours, you will not receive
your product". Once this date has passed, you have your REAL numbers on
how many people are actually serious about purchasing, and also your
list of names and addresses/etc.

3) You now place the order knowing that people have paid up in advance -
You don't have to worry about extra stock or having the capital up as
you already have collected it and there is no risk (apart from the
product supplier pulling out :( ... ). You order the bulk products,
collect them and deliver them based on the list/payments you already
have.

That's it really. The only problem with the above process is it extends
it quite a bit - Currently, we are regularly overlapping the
ordering/payment/supplier parts which can get messy, but compresses the
overall time required to complete it.

Anyway, I hope that helps someone somehow :)

	Fenn.


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