General
Q: What is Avior MSA Reporting (MSA Multicat)?
Avior MSA Reporting (MSA Multicat) is a data reporting platform that provides MSA Reporting processing in the cloud. It is designed to make MSA Multicat preparation easier for administrators.
Q: What can I do with Avior MSA Reporting (MSA Multicat)?
You can prepare your MSA Multicat returns for all manufacturers in minutes. Avior MSA Multicat provides comprehensive support for all trade programs like Altria, Blu, Juul and more. Avior MSA Multicat reduces IT costs by eliminating the need for IT development, maintenance, and support for data processing.
Q: Is there software to install?
There is no software for you to install, everything is processed on MSA Multicat platform in secure cloud servers.
Q: What if manufacturers?
MSA Multicat can process reports for manufacturers, distributor, wholesaler, and importers.
Q: Does MSA Multicat work with my invoicing system?
MSA Multicat works with almost all back office invoicing systems, ERPs, e-commerce or financial systems.
Q: Does MSA platform validate inventory data using UPCs?
No, tobacco, candy, grocery, or drinks UPCs are reused by manufacturers, so there is no static universal UPCs table to use for validation.
Q: Do we need to provide data in specific format?
No, MSA platform takes data as it comes from ERP in different format and multiple files. MSA platform will curate and cross-reference data from multiple back-end systems files.
Q: How data exchange work on MSA platform?
MSA platform user account includes two secure SFTP folders dropoff and pickup. /dropoff folder is used for user data files upload and /pickup folder is used by the user to download human-readable Excel copy of output MSA reports files. MSA report is submitted by the MSA platform to MSA.com system using SFTP file transfer protocol.
Q: How I know what was reported to MSAi?
Your pickup folder should include the decoded Multicat report in CSV file which includes all products and sales. Also, a warnings PDF file is generated for each report submitted, the PDF file includes summary numbers from the submitted report like total items shipped and total dollars sales for the week.
Example : "Report Summary Week Ending 07/11/2020 - Tobacco Distributor, Number of Brands 446, Number of Shipments 9, Number of Sales 215, Quantity Shipped 310, Saleable 0, Unsaleable 0, Dollars Sold 12992.87, Quantity on Hand 874, Floor Returns 0"
Data files should be uploaded to Avior's platform as early as possible for inventory accuracy. It takes few minutes for the report to be submitted automatically to MSAi. A week starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday, then you have until Wed 5:00pm EST to submit the data files, best practice is to submit data files as early as possible on Monday.
Q: How can I get started with Avior MSA Reporting (MSA Multicat)?
To sign up for Avior MSA Multicat, please contact our sales team at (972) 535-4506.
Integration
Q: Will I be alerted when failure occurs?
Yes, MSA Multicat will send notification email to inform you that a failure occurred with description and severity.
Q: What if some of my data comes from outside my invoicing system?
That is ok, MSA Multicat platform accepts data from multiple back-office systems and manually prepared data Excel sheets.
Q: Do we have to change/clean data before uploading it to MSA Multicat?
No, Avior MSA Multicat works best on the most raw data possible. MSA Multicat will curate, validate, and autocorrect the raw data based on profile configuration.
Billing
Q: How will I be charged and billed for my use of Avior MSA Reporting (MSA Multicat)?
MSA Multicat pricing is monthly subscription fee which is based on your types of MSA Multicat reports and invoicing system. To get accurate quote please contact sales team.
You can also refer to the FAQs page for each Avior platform for platform-specific questions.