FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How long has K-Systems been in business?

Answer: KSI has been in business for over 30 years and is one of the largest independent software vendors east of the Mississippi. We are a certified Microsoft OEM and an authorized service center for all the leading manufacturer’s of computer hardware.

KSI has a full staff of programmers, electrical engineers, and service technicians. All KSI software systems are developed in house by our staff of highly skilled programmers, and are continually being refined and updated to keep them “STATE OF THE ART” systems.

KSI has a customer base from Maine to Alaska. What we take pride in is the service and support that we furnish to our customers after the sale. Our Fuel Oil/Propane Degree Day Accounting System includes training and support for your personnel. The system is considered the finest in the industry.

Q2. When I assign customer account numbers, do I have to use all alpha characters (letters) or all numbers or can I use a combination of the two?

Answer: You can use all alpha characters or a combination of alpha characters and numbers or all numbers.

Q3. When I print my delivery tickets, can I print more then one name on the ticket?

Answer: Yes! In the customer file there is space to put 2 names of 30 characters each. If two names are on the customer file, both names will print on the ticket. (Recommendation; use 2 names wherever possible. If you have a collection problem and the account is turned over for collection, many states have laws that require that collection can only be made from the person or the names that appear on the delivery ticket.

Q4. How many lines do you allow for street address?

Answer: Two lines, 30 characters each line.

Q5. How many digits do you allow for zip codes?

Answer: Ten digits.

Q6. I send a large number of statements out at the end of each month. Does your system have the ability to send statements via email?

Answer: Yes. This is an optional item for customers who request it.

Q7. Does your system provide space for more then one telephone number in the customer file.

Answer: Yes. There is space for 2 telephone numbers, plus a notepad for additional telephone numbers, etc.

Q8. Can your system print delivery tickets by route number order?

Answer: Yes.

Q9. When you print a delivery ticket, do you show the location for the fill pipe on the ticket?

Answer: Yes.

Q10. I have some areas that we only make deliveries to once or twice a month and are quite a distance from our main office. Is it possible to have a customer in those areas who would be our largest user to become a “LEADER” and tie other customers in that same area and have them coded as “FOLLOWERS”?

Answer: Yes. We would code the heaviest user in these areas as a “LEADER” and customers in XX miles of him as “FOLLOWERS” so that when a delivery is scheduled for the “LEADER” in these areas, a list of followers within xx miles will also be generated.

Q11. I have some customers who want to be delivered on a specific time of the month or a specific interval. Can your system handle this?

Answer: Yes. Example; if you have a customer who wants to be delivered on the 5th of each month or if you have a customer who wants deliveries to take place every two weeks, this can be accomplished by the system.

Q12. Can you system track BUDGET CUSTOMER? Can I have some customers on a 10 month budget, some on an 11 month budget and others on a 9 month budget?

Answer: Yes. We can have any number from 2 to 12 months.

Q13. If we have directions on how to get to the customer’s house in the customer file, will it print on the delivery ticket so that the driver does not get lost?

Answer: Yes.

Q14. Does your system track customer who have service contracts and can I have several different types of contracts?

Answer: Yes.

Q15. We do a large amount of service work. Can your system track inventory, parts numbers, descriptions, etc.?

Answer: Yes. Also, QTY ON HAND, SALES MTD & YTD, plus many more fields.

Q16. When we print out a work order, does your system have the ability to print out the equipment the customer owns (nozzle size, burner type, filter size, etc)?

Answer: Yes. Each customer has an equipment file which is assigned to them. This file provides a very detailed description of all the information your service technicians will require.THERE IS ALSO A HISTORY OF ALL SERVICE WORK THAT HAS BEEN DONE ON THAT BURNER for them to review.

Q17. We do most of our burner cleanings during our off season months. For example; Is it possible to get a list in advance of the customers who would be due in June, July and August?

Answer: Yes. You may print out a list for any month in advance for customers who are scheduled for burner cleanings. By doing this, it is very advantagious to make a list of burner cleaning schedules in advance.

Q18. We have customers who are covered under the Federal Energy Plan (Energy Assistance) and are guaranteed a certain amount of money from the state or federal government for heating. Can your system keep track of these customers including the dollar amounts, etc.

Answer: Yes. It will track the dollar amount guaranteed, the dollar amount used, plus the dollar amount remaining.

Q19. Does your system keep a record of all deliveries in the customer history file?

Answer: Yes. This is a very powerful feature of the KSI Fuel Oil System which enables you to keep records of all deliveries for up to a period of 5, 10 or even 15 years if you desire. This can be an excellent tool for obtaining new commercial accounts (customers who own office buildings, apartments, etc). You can tell them that you will guarantee that as of January 1st or 2nd of each year that you will send them a complete list of all purchases for each building location that they own. Another strong feature of this option - if the customer ever gets a tax audit and he needs copies of all his deliveries, you can print a list of all his deliveries.

Q20. I have a customer who owns a large number of properties that he rents out. He purchases service contracts on the burners located at each of these properties. Also many of the tenants in these properties buy their fuel oil from us. Can your system send one bill to the tenant for the fuel oil and another bill for the burner service contract to the landlord?

Answer: Yes.

Q21. Can you system send statements monthly, bi-monthly and weekly?

Answer: Yes

Q22. Can your system do an all purpose search? For example; I have a customer who lives on CARROT RD., but I can’t remember his name. Can I type just the word CARROT and get a list or display of all customers who live on CARROT ROAD?

Answer: Yes. You can use this all purpose search in many other ways also.

Q23. Can your system get me a daily report of what our gross profit was for deliveries and service work that was performed yesterday?

Answer: Yes. Not only will we give you a gross profit report for each day we will also give you an cumulative gross profit for the MTD. Not only will you know what the gross profit was for yesterday, you will also know what the gross profit is for the MTD. This is a very powerful report that shows you what is happening daily and monthly. This report is generated each day.

Q24. We have 2 locations where we use gasoline key-pumps and we send statements to the customers at various intervals. Some bi-monthly/monthly/weekly. Can your software and hardware system be interfaced to perform this task?

Answer: Yes.

Q25. Will your system track pre-buys?

Answer: Yes.

Q26. Does your system have the ability to track the various taxes on liquid products I sell and provide this information in a monthly report?

Answer: Yes.

Q27. When my service technicians perform a service call, they make a record of the burner efficiency test. Can this information be kept on file?

Answer: Yes. This is another important advantage of the KSI Fuel Oil System. This information is kept under the customer’s equipment file and there is a report that can be generated at any time, giving you a list of all customers who have low burner efficiency reports. We have had several of our dealers tell us that they have paid for their complete computer system just by the new burner sales they were able to generate from this report.

Q28. We just do fuel oil sales only, no service. Do you have a system that does not contain the service and parts feature?

Answer: Yes. We also have a system for dealers who do service only. We also do a large retail plumbing business and have several trucks on the road making service calls for general plumbing problems.

Q29. We also do a large retail plumbing business and have several trucks on the road making service calls for general plumbing problems.

Answer: Yes, we have an optional module which can be interfaced along with the KSI Fuel Oil System for dealers who perform general plumbing sales and service of oil burners along with fuel oil sales, etc.

Q30. We sell service burner contracts. Is there a report in your system that can tell me what our gross profit is for all burner contracts sold and also a detailed breakdown of all contracts for each customer hi-lighting any customers where there has been an abnormal loss?

Answer: Yes.

Q31. Do you also have available an Accounts Payable, Payroll and General Ledger system to interface with the KSI Fuel Oil System? Also, have these systems been developed by you?I now have to call one number for the accounts payable support and a different number for the payroll support, plus another number for the fuel oil system support.There is also a real problem making the systems communicate between each other, particularly when one of the companies does an update and now it won’t work properly with the Fuel Oil System?

Answer: All software systems that KSI sells are developed in-house and supported by our staff of highly skilled technicians and programmers. This is where the buck stops...you have one company to call, one phone number.

Q32. Do live people answer the phone when I call KSI for support?

Answer: NO VOICE MAIL HERE! LIVE PEOPLE AT KSI. When a customer calls KSI for support or help, they do not get connected to a tape recorder or voice mail. KSI has a highly skilled staff of people who consist of Programmers, Electrical Engineers and Service Technicians that will answer your questions - whether it’s related to hardware or software.

Be very careful of selecting a vendor who does not have live people answering their telephone. It has been estimated that as many as 85% of the software vendors who advertise in the fuel oil trade magazines are operating out of their family rooms or basements.

Q33. What operating system does the KSI Fuel Oil System run under?

Answer: Microsoft Windows.Version 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 (KSI Recommends Windows 10 pro) Microsoft Server 2012 or later

Q34. Can your system keep track of all sales of fuel oil, kerosene, gasoline, etc. for the month to date and year to date with a comparison broken down by product of this year to last year?

Answer: This information can be displayed to the screen or generated by several different reports.

Q35. Do I have to own a degree day clock to keep track of automatic delivery customers?

Answer: No. Ownership of a degree day clock is not required. The system has the ability to generate this information itself. However, if you already own a degree day clock you can enter the information from the degree day clock into the system.

Q36. If the computer operator is posting a payment for a customer and receives a phone call from a will call customer who wants to place an order, does the operator have to exit back to the main menu and then pick a different option to enter the will call order into the system? This is a real problem with the current system I have.

Answer: With the KSI System, if the operator receives a phone call from a customer while posting a payment requesting information about their account, or wanting to place an order for fuel or service, the operator can hit a HOT BUTTON and jump right to the order entry screen and complete the request. When the operator has completed the request, the system will automatically take them back to the screen where they were posting the payment allowing the operator to complete posting the payment.

Q37. If we receive a phone call from a customer requesting how we disbursed the payment they made with check #123 which was sent to us 2 months prior, can we supply the information?

Answer: Yes. There is a complete history kept for each customer (usually for 5, 10 or even 15 years) if you so desire. The history is comprised of all payments and charges posted to this customer’s account.

Q38. We have several computers in our office. Can they all be hooked together so that several people can be entering orders and other people can be posting payments at the same time, etc.?

Answer:Yes we can configure your office network KSI has some of the finest network engineers and specialists in the industry. If you buy your hardware from KSI the networking and sharing of the printers will be pre-configured before delivery. KSI sells a complete line of computer hardware, printers and supplies, and is an authorized repair center for all the leading vendors.

Q39. Can our service technicians who are on call after hours call from their own home to our computer in the office and do customer inquiries if they have a service call for that customer.

Answer: Yes.

Q40. How do you recommend we backup up our data?

Answer: : All backups will be done to a memory stick (thumb drive), or any other removal, or network storage. Faster and More Reliable! (5) memory sticks are provided at no charge to the customer upon installation. KSI also has an option for off-site backing up of your data to the KSI Server. This can help give you peace of mind by protecting from valuable data loss due to fire or theft.

Q41. Will KSI make custom modifications if I request it and pay for it?

Answer: KSI will make modifications at a reasonable fee.

Q42. Does KSI sell computer hardware, and provide network configuration / setup, and PC printer repairs, etc.

Answer:Yes. KSI is a full sales and service computer dealer. We are and authorized Microsoft OEM and Intel Gold reseller.

Q43. Does KSI belong to the local Petroleum Association?

Answer: Yes. KSI has been a member of the PPMCA for many years and attends several trade shows at different locations through out the year.

Q44. Will I have to enter my customer’s names, addresses, etc. again?

Answer: Probably not. KSI can possibly convert all of your present customer data to the new format depending upon the format it is presently in. KSI has the ability to convert almost all formats.