Trademaster Support

A new web site for Trademaster Users featuring a lot of new material, news on upgrades and enhancements, technical information to read and download and much more. And there is more to come shortly.

 Read more about what's coming on this site.

  Trademaster Upgrade 2.06.63

Some time ago we announced the imminent release of a new version of Trademaster. The new version has been extensively trialled by two users, and more users have been upgraded since as customers upgraded their equipment.

USB Printers

The new version answered one long-running problem, the ability to run modern USB printers from Trademaster, by providing a separate Windows utility to make this possible. This involved minor internal changes to Trademaster itself.

 Read more about USB printers.

Spreadsheet Downloads

Also in response to user requests, and to aid our consultancy operation, we provided Trademaster with the ability to download key values to a spreadsheet for further analysis. This is an extremely useful facility for improving your profits.

 Read more about the Spreadsheet Download.

Optional Margins

Trademaster has always had the ability to run with SPTI or SPTE percentage margins, but not both. The "calculating engine" was redesigned to provide SPTI or SPTE margins on demand, or even both simultaneously on reports. This was done to facilitate users changing their back-office system from SPTI operation (such as MR90) to systems operating with SPTE margins. The "calculating engine" was refined in the process.

Other Changes

A further series of internal modifications were made to allow users to make changes to their code structure from the typical Trademaster "A00" to all digits, to match codes used in a new back-office system.

Time to Upgrade?

We have long operated a policy of "if it ain't broke, don't' fix it" in relation to upgrades. However, in this case, and considering the fact that the new version has been in service for over 2 years, we strongly advise all users running versions earlier than 2.50 to upgrade now.

 Read the Update Notes for the new version.

Order an Upgrade?

Just phone or email us and we will issue it right away.

We normally issue Upgrades on CD because they are more reliable and a better installation program is then possible. We can also issue upgrades by email. You can have an Upgrade on floppy disk if you really need one, just ask.

We will make updates available by download to registered users from this site during April.

Do you use Datacopy?

Some versions of the Datacopy file backup routine issued with Trademaster updates over the last couple of years may have been faulty, although no problems have been reported to us. The faulty routine gives an error messages when it is run, and does not copy the data. If you use Datacopy check yours now.

A revised version can be downloaded and installed from here. Users of Datacopy are strongly advised to install this update without delay.

 Download the Update now.

  Using a USB printer with Trademaster

Trademaster was designed to work with a dot-matrix printer attached to the parallel or serial port. At the time Trademaster was designed, USB technology and USB printers did not exist.

When USB printers appeared on the market some could be configured to run from a DOS session (Trademaster is a DOS program) but as time went on, literally hiundreds of printers appeared which would not run Trademaster reports. It therefore became necessary for us to find a solution that would enable Trademaster reports to be printed to any printer connected to a USB port on a modern computer.

The Windows Printer Utility is a windows program that waits for Trademaster to create report "spool" files, and when one appears, it diverts it to any printers that are available from Windows. The utility can work entirely in the background so that it's operation is completely invisible to the user. Options are also available to run it in manual or on-demand modes.

If you intend to upgrade to a modern inkjet or laser printer, you will need this utility. The Windows Printer Utility will only run satisfactorily with Trademaster version 2.05 or later, and is supplied with all current upgrades as a matter of course and at no charge to users. For more information on how this utility works and the options available, download the installion and operating instructions.

 Download Technical Documentation.

  Spreadsheet Export Facility

Trademaster does a good job of monitoring merchandise financial performance on a monthly basis, and through the Re-Estimate facility, allowing corrections to be made. However, the significance of the information presented is then down to the merchandiser or controller to work out, and this means analysis, often carried out by simply looking at the data and mentally extracting significant changes and trends in performance. Large and dangerous changes in margins, contribution, sales and stock are not to spot but subtle and equally damaging movements may not be.

Spreadsheets are powerfull tools for analysing data, we have used them extensively in our consultancy work to identify problem areas in a retail business.

For instance, Trademaster reports performance indicators (PPPs ot KPIs) month by month, and the trend can be clearly seen from this. But it does not report the change or difference. Putting the values into a spreadsheet which then calculates the difference month-on-month makes it easier to identify problems, particularly if negative movements are shown in red.

Apart from sales last year, Trademaster does not provide year on year reporting. However, a long term decline in say margins may be diffiocult to spot on a month by month basis, but easy to see when year end results are accumulated in a spreadsheet over say 5 years.

Finally, Trademaster does not "rank" reports, which are always presented in the order of the hierarchical structure of the merchandise. Using a spreadsheet it is easy to rank comparative performace statistics so that the departments with say highest sales come first. An excess of stock and declioning stockturn in a tiny department is of less significance than it would be in a large department.

These are only 3 examples, but the possibilities are endless. For more information on how this facility works, download the operating instructions.

 Download Technical Documentation.

  User Guide on CD-ROM

According to our records a few users are still using the old and out-of-date Trademaster User Guide (or perhaps using none at all). The latest version (also out-of-date but with a comprehansive addendum) is available on CD-ROM in Microsoft Word format. The cost is £20 to cover copying and despatch costs only. You will need a laser or inkjet printer to print your own copies.

Alternatively, you can download the User Guide from this web site absolutely free!

 Download the Trademaster User Guide.

  Trademaster Documents Online

Data Interface Specification

Vendors of back office systems and users themselves have created data files to download to Trademaster, containing monthly values of sales, purchases, etcetera. The Specification for this interface is avalable for download for you to give to your system vendor.

 Download the Data Interface Specification.

Data Backup Utilities

The DATACOPY file backup and copy utility was introduced in 2006 to provide a convenient and efficient way of copying data files to floppy disk. This has now been enhanced to provide a way of copying to files to CDs and DVDs.

 The Backup Utilities Fact Sheet.

Frequently Asked Questions

A list of documents prepared to answer some of the most frequently asked questions from users of Trademaster. Click the title or the document name to view it.