| Home |
| FAS 2007 |
| FASnet |
| FASweb |
| FAScash |
| Financing |
| Florist Direct |
| Customer Comments |
| Customer Information |
| Request Information Packet |
| Frequently Asked Questions |
| About Us |
| Contact Us |
|
FAS 2007 is a comprehensive software system designed to help you better
manage every aspect of your retail flower business--from point-of-sale,
to accounts receivable, to payroll, to inventory control, to general ledger,
and more. FAS’s easy-to-use software offers tremendous power and flexibility,
while simultaneously offering unsurpassed reliability.
To learn more about FAS, we recommend that you read the information on this
Web site, read the FAS reviews published by
SAF’s Floral Management, and
contact us to request information about FAS’s products and services.
We can then discuss your specific needs and develop a proposal, along with
financing options, to meet those needs. FAS will also be glad to provide
customer references you can contact to discuss FAS.
FAS’s system is designed in modules to allow you to choose which functions
you want to automate. Many of these modules are included in the standard
system, while others are optional. All of these system modules however,
are fully integrated, allowing data to flow to and from the various related
modules without the headaches of having to import and export data between
modules as you do with other systems. Again, FAS’s approach differs significantly
from most other floral technology providers. Some companies simply don’t
offer many of the features found in FAS, and others require you to purchase
third-party software to handle critical business functions. Since FAS
develops, maintains, and supports all of its own software, FAS is able to
more readily satisfy customers’ requests for software modifications, and
more important, FAS is able to provide a much higher level of effective
technical support. It is extremely difficult for anyone, including FAS,
to provide a high level of technical support for a software product
developed by some other company.
The standard system features include:
System options include:

- Order Entry
FAS’s order entry system is the “heart” of the Retail Floral Management
system. Just as everything begins in your shop when a customer places
an order, the benefits of FAS begin when you enter that order into your
FAS system.

For example, having instant access to the customer’s history
prevents you from selling an arrangement to someone whose account is
already delinquent; it lets you know what the customer’s average purchase
amount is, so you know what level of product to recommend; it gives you
instant access to the customer’s credit card information, so you don’t
have to waste valuable time (yours and the customer’s) requesting that
information every time the customer calls. FAS’s order entry software
maintains a recipient database that allows you to instantly look up a
recipient without having to re-type the recipient’s address, even with
an order being wired in from a florist located a thousand miles from
your shop. With FAS’s software, you never have to write down a sending
shop’s information or manually look up a filling shop using those huge,
cumbersome printed directories. Has a customer ever given you a bad
address or has an employee ever written down the address incorrectly?
With FAS, all addresses can be located and verified in seconds using
our address verification software. Card messages are automatically
printed in a beautiful cursive font, eliminating hard-to-read cards and
eliminating the time and cost required to manually write cards.

Larger Image
Once an order has been entered, you can always look up the status of an
order--whether the order has been filled or delivered--within seconds,
using the customer’s name, the recipient’s name, a credit card number,
or a wire service transaction number. No more putting the customer on
hold or having to call the customer back after searching through stacks
of tickets.
FAS’s software provides dozens of additional benefits similar to the ones
described above. These benefits allow you to effectively process more
orders at the busiest times of the year, and they allow you to operate
with a smaller staff and lower costs during the slow times of the year,
providing higher profits throughout the year.
FAS captures the information entered with each order and passes that
information along to all of the other modules discussed elsewhere.

Larger Image
- Accounts Receivable
Billing is simple with a FAS system. Statements can be printed out on
plain paper or on custom-designed statement forms at the press of a button.

The statements include your own promotional messages for customers whose
accounts are current, and they include reminders for customers whose
accounts are past-due.

Larger Image
This module also prints an aged trial balance
report, and it generates various collection reports and letters.
- Delivery Routing
Your driver can generate a delivery report which includes all orders
scheduled for delivery on a particular day. These reports can be
sorted by zip code, delivery zone, map coordinates, and other ways.
These reports keep your staff from overlooking any deliveries.
Delivery charges are automatically determined based upon the recipient’s
location.
FAS will allow you to quickly look up and verify Addresses.
Delivery information can be automatically displayed on a map.
Drives can scan the bar coded delivery tickets, allowing you to process
the maximum number of orders in the lest amount of time
- Marketing
Information captured during order entry represents a tremendously
valuable marketing resource. FAS provides a wide choice of ways you
can utilize this data to build your business. FAS’s marketing features
include the “Dial-A-Flower” preferred customer card, mailing labels
that can be used to target certain groups of customers and recipients,
postcards that will generate birthday and anniversary reminders for
customers or recipients, holiday reminders, etc. FAS will even allow
you to download your customers’ email addresses so that you can implement
your own email marketing campaign.
LASER DIAL A FLOWER

Larger Image
DOT-MATRIX DIAL A FLOWER

Larger Image
MARKETING POSTCARD

Larger Image
- Reports
FAS generates dozens of reports that allow you to analyze virtually
every aspect of your business. The system will analyze sales by
transaction type, by wire service, by employee (sales person, designer,
driver), by product, by occasion, by day of week, by time of day, by
delivery location, and much more. Other reports, such as FAS’s funeral
acknowledgment report, allow you to improve customer service.
- Wire Order processing
FAS will generate your wire service Reports of Orders Filled at the press
of a button. With FAS, it is no longer necessary to sort through stacks
of tickets searching for reportable wire-ins. Not only is this task very
labor intensive, but when you overlook one of these orders, you don’t
get paid for the order!
FAS has also automated the wire service reconciliation process.
Instead of manually verifying the charges and credits on your wire
service account--a task that is so labor intensive most florists don’t
even bother--you can pop in a diskette and reconcile your account in seconds.
- Point-of-sale (cash register)
FAS’s POS module, combined with a cash drawer, receipt printer, bar code
reader, and/or credit card reader, allows you to integrate all cash
transactions through your FAS system.

- Credit Card processing
FAS allows you to process credit cards through FASCash, FTD, or Teleflora.
When you process a sale through your FAS system, FAS’s software automatically
authorizes and deposits the credit cards through the service of your choice.
Funds processed through FASCash are routed directly to your own bank account.
Users of FAScash can process their Credit Cards using a high-speed Internet
connection instead of a dial-up connection used by the other services.
Cards are authorized in just a couple of seconds, rather than taking 20-30
seconds to authorize on dial-up connection. Deposits are also performed much quicker.
- FASnet
FASnet allows you to electronically process wire orders through all
wire services--FTD, Teleflora, and FloralSource International.
FASnet also allows you to send and receive orders Florist Direct
through the Independent Florists’ Association (IFA).
With Florist Direct orders, you earn $3-$6 more for each order filled,
and you receive immediate payment with a credit card for orders filled.
When you send a Florist Direct order through IFA, you earn the 20%
sales commission and the relay fee you would earn on a traditional wire
order. Best of all, with IFA’s Florist Direct orders, you avoid all
of the expensive wire service fees and clearinghouse fees normally
associated with wire orders.
- FTD Mercury interface
FAS’s Internet-based FTD Mercury interface option allows you to send outgoing FTD
orders directly from your FAS order entry software over Mercury and to
automatically import incoming Mercury orders directly into your FAS system.
Simply use FAS’s electronic FTD directory to select the shop of your
choice and press a button to send the order.

Orders received over
Mercury are automatically imported into your FAS system and printed
on your invoice printer. FAS's Mercury interface is authorized and supported by FTD.
- Teleflora Dove interface
FAS’s Teleflora Dove interface option allows you to send outgoing
Teleflora orders directly from your FAS order entry software over Dove
and to automatically import incoming Dove orders directly into your FAS
system.
Simply use FAS’s electronic Teleflora directory to select the shop of
your choice and press a button to send the order. Orders received over
Dove are automatically printed on your invoice printer.
FAS's Dove interface is authorized and supported by Teleflora.
- Electronic checkbook
FAS’s checkbook software maintains up to 4 checking accounts.
This software supports computer-printed or manual checks and maintains
records of all checks and deposits. FAS’s software automates your bank
statement reconciliation. The system will print check and deposit
registers, and it will allow you to search for checks by payee. FAS’s
checkbook module is fully integrated with FAS’s GL, payroll, and
accounts payable modules.
- General Ledger
FAS’s general ledger system produces financial statements (balance sheets
and earnings statements) for current and prior periods, maintains monthly
and annual history; prints trend analyses for various critical financial
data; performs past-month and year-to-date comparisons; generates
“what if” reports using anticipated changes in performance to project
future performance; prints “batch” balance reports before posting entries
to GL; includes easy help features for non-accountants; verifies that all
entries balance; and automates recurring entries. FAS’s GL is fully integrated
with all other system modules, eliminating the need to import data into
other software systems as is done with many other floral systems.
- Employee Time Clock & Payroll
FAS’s Time Clock software allows employees to clock in and out on a
system workstation. The software automatically figures regular and
overtime hours and wages, eliminating manual calculation of this data.
FAS's payroll software maintains a history of vacation time, holiday time,
and leave time for each employee. The system calculates taxes and other
deductions, and supports either computer-generated checks or manual checks.
FAS’s payroll system generates various monthly, quarterly, and annual
reports, and it prints employees’ W-2s. This option also calculates
federal unemployment taxes and other similar taxes.
- Accounts Payable
FAS’s Accounts Payable module maintains records of vendors and purchases.
The software prints an aged trial balance showing purchases by vendor,
along with cash requirements to pay invoices approved for payment.
FAS’s AP system automatically generates checks and is fully integrated
with FAS’s checkbook and GL systems. The AP software maintains a history
of vendors’ invoices and prevents the entry and payment of duplicate invoices.
- Inventory control
FAS’s Inventory control system is a comprehensive software module that
provides traditional inventory control functions, as well as a couple
of floral-specific functions--Arrangement Recipes and an Event Planner.
This software maintains all relevant data on each inventory item, e.g.
wholesale cost, retail price, vendor, item number, quantity on hand, etc.
When items are sold using FAS’s invoice-entry programs, the inventory
records for the items involved in the transactions are updated instantly.
Numerous reports provide a wide variety of options for analyzing your
inventory data. FAS’s inventory system allows you to either use a
manufacturer’s bar code tag as your own product tag, or the system will
allow you to print your own bar coded item labels. Using FAS’s
motion-activated laser bar code reader, you can check a customer out as
quickly as you can pass the item tag by the bar code reader. FAS’s
inventory system also has an option to print special “plant tags” that
can be placed on plants and other greenhouse items.
FAS’s Arrangement Recipe Manager allows you to create your arrangements
by selecting the various components of the arrangement from inventory.
These recipes provide your staff a guide from which they can fill
arrangements. By preventing your staff from “stuffing” or over-filling
orders, you can better control your costs of goods sold. As you select
items for a recipe, the system automatically updates and displays the
wholesale cost and the retail value of the products in the order.
When an inventory item is updated, all recipes that utilize that inventory
item are automatically updated as well.
FAS’s Event Planner allows you to plan for holidays, weddings, conventions,
and even everyday work. After entering general information about an event,
e.g. date, location, etc., you are allowed to enter the product that will
be sold for the event. These products can be either individual inventory
items or arrangement recipes, as discussed above. The event planner will
determine the total retail value of the event, the total wholesale cost of
the event, and the gross profit generated by the event. At the press of
a button, the FAS system will break all of the event items down into the
individual inventory components, calculate the totals of all necessary
items, and print a requirements report you can use to order the product
for the event. Event data can be kept on file year after year, allowing
you to plan future events in minutes, instead of hours or days.
- Purchase Orders
FAS’s purchase order system maintains purchase information for all
vendors. The PO system is fully integrated with FAS’s inventory module.
When items are received through the PO system, item quantities on hand,
wholesale costs, and retail prices are automatically updated. Orders
can be located by vendor, by customer, or by product, and the system
will generate a report of outstanding purchase orders.
- Email confirmations
FAS allows you to send email order
confirmations and delivery confirmations to your customers. Samples of the
confirmations are displayed below. This feature is a fully automated function
of FAS's order entry software. The software prompts you to ask if the customer
wants an email confirmation for the order. If the customer requests the
confirmation, the system displays and allows you to verify and edit the customer's
email address. Email addresses gathered through this process can also be
downloaded for other marketing purposes.
FAS's order confirmation is essentially a summary of the invoice.
The email includes the recipient's name and address, the card message,
a product description, the occasion, the price, the name of the person
who placed the order, and the date and time the order was placed.
These email order confirmations eliminate the need to mail or fax invoices
to customers.
 
HOUSE OF FLOWERS, INC. |
| Thanks for your order! |
|   |
| APRIL SPECIAL --   MIXED SPRING FLOWERS   IN A BASKET --   ONLY $29.95!   |
         ORDER CONFIRMATION
| Receiver first name |
JANE |
| Last name |
SMITH |
| Address |
123 MAIN ST. |
| |
LINCOLN GENERAL HOSPITAL |
| City, State |
RUSTON, LA |
| Zipcode |
71270-0000 |
| Phone |
(318) 254-1234 |
| Card |
WE LOVE YOU JANE! |
|
FEEL BETTER SOON! |
|
LOVE, |
|
ANNA MARIE AND BILL |
|
|
| Product description |
3 RED AND 3 PINK ROSES***NO BABY BREATH*** |
| Occasion |
Other |
| Price |
38.55 |
| Order by |
ANNA MARIE |
| This message was sent to confirm the order you placed |
| at   1:31 PM   on   Monday,   09/28/05. |
| If you have any questions concerning your order #   64066, |
| please contact the shop at: |
| HOUSE OF FLOWERS, INC. |
| 300 EAST GEORGIA |
| RUSTON, LA |
| 71270 |
| (318) 255-4715 |
| james@hofinc.com |
 
The delivery confirmation is available in two formats, depending
upon whether you mark orders delivered when your driver leaves with the
order or when the driver returns from his trip. In addition to the order
information included on the order confirmation, the delivery confirmation
includes a note that says either "This message was sent to confirm that
your order was dispatched from our shop at ..."   or   "This message was sent
to confirm that your order was delivered at ...", depending on when you mark
orders delivered.
 
HOUSE OF FLOWERS, INC. |
| Thanks for your order! |
| |
| APRIL SPECIAL -- MIXED SPRING FLOWERS
IN A BASKET -- ONLY $29.95! |
ORDER DELIVERYCONFIRMATION
| Receiver first name |
JANE |
| Last name |
SMITH |
| Address |
123 MAIN ST. |
|
LINCOLN GENERAL HOSPITAL |
| City, State |
RUSTON, LA |
| Zipcode |
71270-0000 |
| Phone |
(318) 254-1234 |
| Card |
WE LOVE YOU JANE! |
|
FEEL BETTER SOON! |
|
LOVE, |
|
ANNA MARIE AND BILL |
|
|
| Product description |
3 RED AND 3 PINK ROSES***NO BABY BREATH*** |
| Occasion |
Other |
| Price |
38.55 |
| Order by |
ANNA MARIE |
| This message was sent to confirm that your order was delivered |
| at 3:28 PM on Monday, 09/28/05. |
| If you have any questions concerning your order # 64066, |
| please contact the shop at: |
| HOUSE OF FLOWERS, INC. |
| 300 EAST GEORGIA |
| RUSTON, LA |
| 71270 |
| (318) 255-4715 |
| james@hofinc.com |
 
FAS's email confirmations also serve as marketing tools.  
You can specify a photograph of an arrangement you would like to include
at the top of the confirmation, along with up to 5 lines of promotional
text.   The enclosed sample confirmations illustrate these features.  
All emails also include information about your shop, including your
phone number and email address.
Your FAS system actually sends these emails by generating a message
to the FASnet host with the order information and customer's email address.  
The FASnet host then formats the email and transmits the email to your
customer using FAS's high-speed T1 Internet connection.   There are a
couple of significant benefits to this implementation of the email
confirmations.   First, FAS customers do not have to incur the costs
and headaches of securing their own Internet connections for their
FAS servers.
FAS users can send email confirmations by simply subscribing to
FASnet.   Second, you can avoid many security risks by not having your
FAS server exposed to the often-hostile environment that exists on the
Internet.   Often, major viruses have attacked millions of
PCs connected to the Internet, effectively bringing operations of
businesses, both large and small, to a halt.   In May, 2003, an
Internet research group reported being able to "hack" into the server
and order database of one of the largest on-line floral order gatherers
in the United States, acquiring unauthorized access to sensitive
customer and order information. Similar security violations are
occurring daily on Linux-based servers attached to the Internet.  
Generating your email confirmations through FASnet eliminates the
possibility of experiencing these types of problems with your FAS system.
FAS's email confirmation software is available immediately, and can
be electronically uploaded to your system.
- FASmap
FAS was the first floral system to integrate a mapping system with its
order-entry software many years ago. However, FAS's earliest mapping
system was cost-prohibitive for many shops, and because of the complexity
of the software, it required a very tech-savvy operator with a fairly
comprehensive knowledge of Windows. FAS is pleased to announce a
tremendous advancement in the mapping system available to its users.
FAS's new mapping system cost less than 10% of the cost of the original
FASmap program, and someone with even an elementary knowledge of PCs
can generate an incredibly accurate map of all deliveries with just a
few quick clicks of a mouse. The system will even suggest the optimum
route for making a group of deliveries, and it will generate a detailed
list of instructions, guiding the driver from delivery to delivery.

Larger Image
This software requires a PC integrated to the FAS server with ProComm
Plus software. If you don't have a PC, FAS is offering a complete
mapping system including a new-generation "Shuttle" PC (shown in photograph)
with a 15" flat-screen display, a laser printer, speakers, ProComm Plus,
and the mapping software. The Shuttle PC packs a 1.7 GHz processor,
128 Mb of RAM, a 40 Gb hard disk, a floppy disk, a write-able CD drive,
a keyboard, a mouse, Windows XP, and ports for connecting to your FAS
system, your PC network, and your digital video camera all into an
incredibly small "box" of 7.75" X 7.75" X 11"--not much larger than
a shoe-box! Call FAS at (800) 830-6160 for more information about FASmap.
- Gift Cards
- Multi-shop Integration
|