Working with daily tank readings

Forecasted orders are based on a store’s sales history, which is gathered from tank readings. A store’s tank readings can be:

  • Entered manually

  • Imported from a text file

  • Transmitted using the Integrated Voice Recognition (IVR) program (Note: Starting in V.2022.4 and later.
    The Integrated Voice Response (IVR) system is no longer available.)

  • Entered using eStat

In the Tank Reading Audit window, you can:

  • Enter readings manually

  • Import readings

  • Review readings

To access the Tank Reading Audit window go to Tank Forecast > Tank Reading Audit.

The Tank Reading Audit window contains five sections.

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Header

The window header provides basic information about the store.

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Enter the store’s company ID, or its alternate ID, to display read-only information from the store’s company profile.

If a note or an alert has been recorded for the store, the Note indicator background color changes from gray greynote to yellow yellownote or red rednote. Click the indicator to view notes recorded in the company’s profile in the Notes Order # window. Notes accessed in this window are read-only.

Readings detail

In the Readings detail section, you enter daily readings for each of the store’s commodities. When you tab out of the field, or save the readings, the system populates the following read-only fields:

  • Delivery total

  • Estimated, or expected, reading

  • Calculated sales

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You can easily identify the current day’s readings by the image7 identifier shown in the left corner of the row.

The following information is shown:

ReadingDate

Date of the tank reading

Day

Day of the week on which the reading took place

Actual reading

Number of units sold

Note: Pause the cursor over the Actual reading to view the following information:

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  • Reading quantity

  • Source: Manual entry or import

  • Reading date

  • Acceptable or questionable reading

  • Formula used to determine whether reading was acceptable

Expected reading

Estimated number of gallons to be sold based on:

Expected Reading = Prior Day Reading/Expected + Prior Day Delivery - Prior Day Estimated Sales

Calculated sales

Amount of product sold, calculated as:

Prior Day Reading + Prior Day Deliveries - Current Reading

Delivery total

Number of gallons delivered

This information is retrieved from the store’s most recent order.

Grid view

The Grid view summarizes:

  • Estimated Sales

  • Calculated Sales

  • Current Reading

  • Total Delivered

  • Days in Ground

  • Estimated AM/PM Delivery

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For more information, see Understanding the Grid view.

Detail view

The Detail view displays the reading date and the commodity information for each tank that has been set up for the store.

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For more information, see Understanding the Detail view.

Summary view

The Summary view displays a number of read-only fields pertaining to readings and deliveries.

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To increase readability of illustrations, not all columns are shown. To display or hide columns, you must have access to the Field Chooser, located in the upper-left corner of the data grid.

For more information, see Understanding the Summary view.

Entering readings manually

Use this procedure to enter a store’s readings manually.

  1. Go to Tank Forecast > Tank Reading Audit.
    The Tank Reading Audit window opens.

    Show me

    image12

  2. In the Company field, enter or select the appropriate store ID.

  3. Tab out of the field or click image13 Open.

  4. For each commodity, enter the day’s actual reading.

    Note: As of Version 17.20, the volume must be equal to or less than the maximum tank volume. Entering a quantity larger than the tank capacity makes the Reading Entry Error message appear. The message states the value entered is greater than the tank’s size. It instructs you to correct the reading. Click OK to close the message. The field value is reset to 0 (zero).

    play See it in action

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    In this example, the store sells two commodities, G87 and G90.

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  5. Click image16 Save.

Importing readings

Use this procedure to import tank readings from your file ( *.csv, *.txt, fixed width, pipe delimited file, etc.). During the implementation process, your Trimble Implementation Specialist helps you set up the import file. Before importing a store’s tank readings, you must first set up the store for forecasting. For details, see Recording a store’s information.

You can import readings for one or more stores with each store having one or more commodities. You can import this data:

Field definitions

SiteID

Unique code that identifies the store

TankNumber

Tank in which the product will be dropped

InventoryDate

Date of the actual reading

Product

Commodity ID of the product to be delivered

CurrentVolume

Actual reading

TCVolume

Temperature corrected volume

Ullage

Empty volume of the tank

Ullage is calculated as:

Capacity * Full (%) - Volume

Bucket

Number of the forecasted tank

Tank readings are time stamped. When the system imports a store’s tank readings, their time stamps can vary within minutes of each other and their volumes show zero. By default, when time stamps occur within 10 minutes of each other, the system groups and inserts them on the same row in the TMWSuite database. It also ignores any zero volumes. Otherwise, the system can insert the readings on different rows and show zero volumes. This situation has the potential to distort the accuracy of the tank readings.

You can modify the 10-minute duration for grouping time stamps. Use the [InventoryService]MatchReadingThresholdMinute setting in your TTS50 to specify the allowed variance.

To import tank readings:

  1. Go to Tank Forecast > Import Tank Readings.
    The Import Tank Readings window opens.

  2. Click image13 Open.
    The Select Tank Reading File window opens.

  3. Locate the appropriate file.

  4. Click image13 Open.
    The Import Tank Readings window retrieves the imported readings.

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    In this example, tank readings (Current Volume column) were imported for two stores, each having two commodities, 87 and 90:

    image17

  5. Click image16 Save.
    If you decide not to save the imported readings, click image18 Close.

When you save the readings, the ImportStatus, ErrorFlag, and the ReadingSourceFile columns are updated. In this example, the ReadingSourceFile column was not updated due to an error caused by the store not being forecasted. Notice the import status and error flag were updated to reflect that an error occurred.

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In the Tank Reading Audit window, you can review the imported readings.

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The following examples illustrate the tank readings described in Step #4.

Here, the imported tank readings were 1,000 gallons of the G87 commodity and 2,000 gallons of the G90 commodity.

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By using the Tool Tip from the Actual Reading field, you can see that the data was imported:

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In this example, the imported tank readings were 2,500 gallons of the G87 commodity and 3,500 gallons of the G90 commodity.

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Reviewing readings

You may want to review the actual and estimated readings to determine whether the actual reading is:

  • Acceptable
    When the actual reading passes the validation rules defined by the Tank Audit Rule in the tank’s commodity forecast setup, it is considered an appropriate reading. For more information, see Creating a commodity forecast.

  • Questionable
    When the actual reading is not the same as the expected reading and it does not pass the validation rules, then it is considered to be a questionable reading.

Viewing actual and estimated readings

Use this procedure to view the actual and estimated readings for a store.

To view a store’s readings, follow these steps:

  1. In the Tank Reading Audit window, access the appropriate store’s readings.

  2. Scroll to the correct day.

In this example, this store’s actual reading is 680 gallons of the G87 commodity on October 31. The expected, or estimated, amount is 688 gallons.

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By viewing the Tool Tip, we determined that the store uses the 50% Sales Tank audit rule. The reading is acceptable because the difference (8) is less than both the 50% of forecasted sales (1491) and 10% of the tank volume (1080). For more information, see Defining Tank Audit Rules.

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For more information, see Recognizing actual readings that vary from the expected reading.

Actual readings highlighted by an orange background are considered questionable readings.

Recognizing actual readings that vary from the expected reading

Actual readings will not always match the expected reading. When the difference between the expected and actual readings is not within the specific tolerances defined by the tank’s audit rule, then the reading is flagged as questionable. Questionable readings are identified by an orange background on the Tank Reading Audit window.

In this example, the actual reading for the G87 commodity is 4850 gallons while the expected reading is 9297 gallons.

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By viewing the Tool Tip, you can determine that the store uses the 50% Sales/10% Tank audit rule. The reading is questionable because the difference (4447) is greater than both the 50% of forecasted sales (1501.5) and 10% of the tank volume (1080).

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For more information, see Defining Tank Audit Rules.

Actual readings highlighted by an orange background are considered questionable readings.

Understanding the Grid view

For the selected store and date, the Grid view summarizes the Estimated Sales, Calculated Sales, Current Reading, Total Delivered, Days in Ground, and the estimated AM/PM deliveries for each of the store’s commodities.

The Extra Data column displays the number of readings, the time at which the reading took place, and the number of orders.

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Field definitions

With the exception of the Current Reading field, all fields are read-only.

Estimated Sales

The expected sales amount, calculated as:

Average Weekly Sales * % of Sales for Day

Calculated Sales

Amount of product sold, calculated as:

Prior Day Reading + Prior Day Deliveries - Current Reading

Current Reading

Actual number of gallons currently stored in the tank

Total Delivered

Total number of gallons delivered

Days in Ground

Number of day’s worth of product left in the tank.

Estimated AM/PM Delivery

Estimated time of the next morning and afternoon/evening deliveries

Extra Data

Provides additional information:

Readings

Lists the company code, store name, day, date, and commodity(ies) and the actual readings

Date/Time

Date and time of the reading

New Reading

Allows you to enter a new reading

Orders

By commodity, provides the:

  • Number of gallons the tank can hold

  • Average sales

If orders exist, the following information is provided:

  • Delivery date(s)

  • Order number

  • Order status

  • Number of gallons delivered

If you want, you can:

  • View the reading(s)

    1. In the Extra Data column, click Readings to view the current reading(s).

      The Tank Reading List is shown:

      image28

      Note: You can also open the Tank Reading List window from the Readings detail section, the Detail view, and the Summary view.

    2. When you have finished reviewing the reading(s), click image18 Close.

  • Enter an additional reading

    1. Click New Reading.

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    2. In the Confirm Tank Reading message, click Yes.

      The Current Reading is reset to 0.

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    3. Enter the new reading(s).

    4. Click image16 Save.

  • Review the store’s order(s)

    1. Click Orders.

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      The Review/Update Inventory Orders window opens:

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    2. To close the order window, click OK.

Understanding the Detail view

The Detail view displays the reading and delivery dates, comments, and the master order number. For each commodity, displays the expected and forecasted sales, the amount delivered, and the number of days in the tank.

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Field definitions

Day

Day of the week

ReadingDate

Date of the tank reading

Note: If you change the reading date, you must tab out of this field for all dates (Date1, Date2, and so on) to change.

Comment

Additional remarks

MasterOrder

Template from which future orders can be copied

DeliveryDate

Date of the delivery

ExcludeSales

Reserved for future functionality

Commodity

Unique ID code that identifies the commodity

Date

Date of the tank reading

Expected

Estimated number of gallons to be sold based on:

Expected Reading = Prior Day Reading/Expected + Prior Day Delivery - Prior Day Estimated Sales

Sales

Actual sales

ForecastSales

Percentage of the expected weekly sales assigned to the day’s expected sales

For more information, see Creating a commodity forecast.

Delivery

Amount delivered

Days

Number of days' worth of product left in the tank

Understanding the Summary view

The Summary view displays the store ID along with a summary of the readings for a store’s commodities. This summary includes the last reading value, the last reading date, the time since the last reading was recorded, the threshold date, the amount of the last delivery, the estimated amount of the next delivery, and the expected reading for each commodity.

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Field definitions

All fields are read-only and cannot be modified.

CompanyID

Unique ID assigned to the store

Bucket

Number of the forecasted tank

Commodity

Unique ID code that identifies the commodity

LastReading

Most recent tank reading

LastReadingDate

Date of the last reading

Note: Time shown is the actual time the reading was entered.

MaxDeliveryNow

Maximum number of gallons that can be delivered for this commodity

HoursAgo

Number of hours that have passed since the last reading

If you scroll to the right, you will also see the prior sales, daily sales, prior reading, any future orders, and the arrival date of the next order. At the end of the row is the ReadingReviewed checkbox. If you no longer want to flag the reading as questionable, select this checkbox.

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Deleting reading rows

Tank readings can be deleted using the Tank Reading Audit window. When tank readings are deleted, they are removed from the system permanently and can no longer be retrieved or used in future calculations.

To delete tank readings you must:

  • Choose a date and time in the past

  • Set the reading volume on all tanks to zero for the selected date and time

To delete a store’s readings for a specific date and time, follow these steps:

  1. In the Tank Reading Audit window, access the appropriate store’s readings.

  2. In the Readings Detail grid, select the appropriate row of store readings.

  3. Set the reading volume to 0 (zero) for each tank/commodity.

  4. Select the row by clicking on the row number.
    Be sure to select only rows for readings in the past.

  5. Click image36 Delete Item.

    A confirmation message appears. It states, "This will save other changes if any on the window along with deleting."

  6. Click OK to confirm the deletion.
    A confirmation message appears. It states, "Deleted Successfully."

    Notes:

    1. Click Cancel to abort the deletion.

    2. If you the row you selected did not contain past readings or if it did contained reading values other than zero, an error message appears. It states. "Only past reading rows with all zeros can be deleted."

  7. Click OK to close the message.

You can also delete reading rows in the Tank Reading Audit (New) window.