June 2008
Report Distribution
The first topic of discussion surrounded how reports are being distributed to Regional & District Managers as well as stores. Some are exporting the reports and simply emailing the report as an attachment. Others are having the application systematically distribute reports. A question was raised in regards to Store Group Security having issues with master file distribution. This may also was dependant on the Email application a company uses: Lotus Notes or Outlook.
Data Loading Problems
Some companies have experienced data loading problems even to the point of disabling their exception based reporting system - how do you get your data back and more importantly how do you keep from having these types of performance issues? The most common recommendations were:
- Work with IT support (especially DBA's) to split the raw data files into multiple threads (sending smaller files will help to reduce failures and speed up data loading)
- Request more CPU processing power -use multiple CPU's to process separate files
Counterfeit Traveler's Checks
Then next question was whether anyone was seeing an increase in counterfeit travelers checks and did anyone have any queries or KPI's to address this. Not many had specific traveler check queries, but a suggestion was given to have queries that are looking for large quantities or dollars per location (and associate if you think that level is necessary). Also, if the travelers checks are grouped with checks (or taken in POS as the same tender type) then consider looking for even dollar amount checks, transactions with cash given back, and length of the account number to isolate out the traveler checks from the rest.
Multiple Refunds using Same Original
This is a common topic that is always worth discussion. Some retailers are having counterfeit receipts being generated with someone having possession of register paper. Questions arose as to what are some of the best methods to identify multiple returns against the same original receipt.
- Look for swiped vs. manual entry of original receipt information
- Capture identification on refunds (in-house or 3rd party verification)
- Track multiples refunds to the same ID
- Link refunding rings with each other (using same receipts but different ID's)
- Establish a denial process (filter returns through corporate refunds or Merch credits)
- Varied responses to how companies are doing this (by Cust. Relations or LP)
- Another great way is to have a query that pulls the count of returns against the original. Below is an example provided to us by Bill Warrick showing the report he runs to identify this issue:
