Inventory Archives

SUP102 – Item Images

May 18, 2015

Use for the Feature

The ability to use Item images within Palladium not only enables the sales consultant to offer a more professional service to their customer, but also gives the business a more professional approach to its printed sales and purchase documents.

Setup

Adding Images
You can add one or more image to your Inventory Items through the Inventory Maintenance function below.

Using Images on Printed Documents
To insert the images on the printed Documents go to the Control Panel >> Company Options >> Inventory and Services, and select the documents on which you would like for the Images to be printed.

Processing

Processing Documents
To view the images on the Processing Documents, simply select the item and then the View Images button below, with the ability to scroll through all item images.

Printed Documents
All you do now is to print or email the selected document and the image will appear in the required space accordingly as seen below.

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SUP099 – Assembly and Kitting

The Assembly function is a simple manufacturing process that will take components, and convert this to a Finished Item in one simple process. The main difference between this and the Process Manufacturing function is that the Assembly function does not facilitate the job in a Work In Progress state.

Setup

Setting Up Assembly BOM’s
You set up the Assembly Bills of Material in the Inventory Maintenance function in the BOM Tab. The first thing that we need to do is to add the components for the required number to manufacture – or the Economic Manufacture Quantity. In the example below, you will see that we will use 20 Screws to Manufacture 4 Chairs. This feature becomes very handy when manufacturing small high Volume Items, ie pills where we would never manufacture 1x. Note that this is just a recipe and you can change the quantity to manufacture when creating the Assembly and the system will adjust the component quantities accordingly.

Processing an Assembly

Production Schedule (available in Palladium Enterprise & Premium Versions Only)
The production Schedule allows you to have a graphical view of your planned Jobs. There is also a filter on the top right of the Calendar allowing you to filter on open or closed Jobs and Works Orders. The production Schedule function is not necessary to Process an Assembly.

Works Order (available in Palladium Enterprise & Premium Versions Only)
The Works Order function allows you to group multiple Jobs for the day or selected period and allows you to perform a mass Materials Issue by printing the Works Order Report Summary. In addition, you can create a Works Order by copying Items to Assemble from Sales Orders or from the Production Schedule. In the screen below you will see the Production Schedule Reference number above with the components listed below.

Creating an Assembly or Disassembly
The Palladium Assembly function allows you to create an Assembly, a Disassembly (which effectively inverts the Bill of Material, allowing you to convert from one Item to many items. An example of Dis-assemblies could be to convert a carcass into the respective meat cuts, or for decanting Chemicals from one size packaging to many others. You can create an assembly or Disassembly on one of 2 ways.

Loading a BOM
You can create a job by loading from a BOM (Assembly) and have the ability to Assemble or Disassemble entering the required manufacture quantity.

Load Production Job
When you load a production Job, you can load either from the Works Order from the Production Scheduled Job Itself. In the example below you will see that we have loaded from the Works Order as per our example with Both the To Manufacture Jobs appearing below.

Assembly Reports

Production Schedule Report
This new report will give you a list of the current open Jobs in the production Schedule, detailing their relevant information such as due dates etc.

Where Used Report
This allows you to enter a component and the report will list all the different Assemblies that contain these items.

MRP Report
The MRP report will list all your Assembly Items, allowing you to enter the required Quantity to Manufacture, exploding down to the various components with recommended order quantities.

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SUP073 – Inventory Extended Descriptions

May 17, 2015

Palladium now has the ability to create extended descriptions of up to 4000 characters, (such as warranty information or disclaimers) with the ability to amend these on the fly at time of processing. In addition the feature could be used for shipping or packing instructions by electing to print this exclusively on the Sales Order documents for example.

Create the Extended Description
To edit the extended description you need to add this on the inventory Masterfile, on the Ext Description tab. Once completed you will define the respective documents where this description should appear.

Editing the Extended Descriptions
You have the ability to edit the extended descriptions by clicking on the description field in the respective sales document as seen below.

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SUP203 – Serial Number and Lot, or Batch, Tracking

As a rule of thumb, the difference between a Serial Number or a Batch / Lot numbers are as follows:

Serial Numbers are generally used in big-ticket items or an item where we are required to track information such as Warranties etc. A serial number is assigned on a one-to-one relationship, ie where items all have a different serial number.

Batch / Lot Numbers are used when there is a one to many relationship, ie many items received are from the same Batch. This is generally user where one has to track items that are perishable or may require recall. Tracking the expiry of Lots is also a key attribute of this feature.

Setting up Serial Number and Lot Items

Creating Serial Number and Lot Number Types
The first thing you need to do is to create different Types, or groupings for Serial or Lot Numbers.

To do this you need to go to the Inventory >> Maintenance >> Serial / Lot Types function.

Once you are there you need to define whether this is a Serial or Lot Type, then setup the required attributes that you would like to be associated with this grouping.

Creating Serial Number Types
In the screen below you will have the ability to set the following:

Whether you print the Serial Numbers on your Documents.
Whether you assign the Serial Number at time of Receiving or at Time of Selling only. The significance of this feature is that should you set to assign at time of Receiving, you will have to account for that specific serial number throughout processes such as Inventory Transfers and Stock Counts.
The minimum and maximum Serial Number length.
Whether the Serial Number Formats can be Any Characters / Alpha Only / Alpha-Numeric / Numeric Only.
You are unable to Track Expiry Dates with Serial Numbers.

Creating Lot / Batch Number Types
In the screen below you will have the ability to set the following:

Whether you print the Batch Numbers on your Documents.
The minimum and maximum Batch Number Length.
Whether the Batch Number Formats can be Any Characters / Alpha Only / Alpha-Numeric / Numeric Only.
You can set whether you would like to Track the Item Expiry date at the various Steps throughout processing, and define whether you would like to Allow / Warn or Block expired Batches of this specific Type at the respective processing process.
You can also activate barcoding that will allow you to embed the lot Number and price or quantity into the barcode itself for ease of processing at point of Sale.

Assigning Serial / Batch Types to Items
Once you have created your different Serial and Batch Types, all you have to do is to assign it to the Relevant Inventory Item. Note that you cannot assign Serial or Lot Numbers to Service or Buyout Items.

Allowing for the Over or Under Use of Lots
There is an additional setting to allow the Over or Under Ordering of the Order Quantity based on the Lot or Batch Quantities on hand. This is used in industries that receive batches of specific items such as Rolls of Steel, Fabric or Looms of thread that all generally weigh an approximate value of say 500kg. To activate this feature you go to the Control Panel >> Options >> Inventory and Settings Tab as seen below.

If you refer to the example below, we ordered a quantity of 500 and selected a Batch that contained 506. On Record, the system prompts to allow you to adjust the Order Quantity to agree to the selected Batch Quantity.

Serial / Lot Number Take-On
In the item above I entered a take-on quantity of 21. Rather than having to enter the individual Batch Numbers, I can import them through the Control Panel >> Import & Export >> Serial / Lot Numbers. Don’t forget that the layout of the import files can be found in the Help >> Import Examples >> Ent_SerialLotNumbers.

Using Serial / Lot Numbers

Auto Increment Numbering
One of the features we have added is the ability to Auto-Assign, or Increment the Serial or Lot Numbers at time of processing. In the screen below you will see that we have elected to receive 100 Serial Numbers and opted to auto-assign the numbers, using the Serial Number Start number.

Importing Numbers
We also have the ability to Import Serial or Lot Numbers throughout the processing stage, from Goods Receiving to Sales Invoicing for ease of use.

Download Support Article PDF

SUP109 – Inventory Reorder Optimisation

The purpose of this feature is to optimise the inventory holding and ordering within the organisation by managing minimum and maximum levels with order lead times, a safety factor as well as an estimated number of days sales to stock in order to optimise in hand levels.

Process

This function is a 3-step process as follows:

First setup the delivery lead time, safety factor to apply and set up the number of days sales required in stock.
Then run the inventory forecasting process. This function will calculate and average daily sales for the selected period and set the minimum and maximum inventory levels using the safety factor and required days sales.
We then process the mass inventory order form allowing us to mass create the individual purchase orders per location per vendor.

Setup

General Setup
You need to go to the Company Options Setup to determine whether you will create Purchase Orders or Purchase Requisition when processing the Bulk Reorder Process per the screen below. Note that you will only be able to create Purchase Requisitions if you are using the Purchase Order Approval function.

Inventory Masterfile Setup
Go to the inventory Masterfile and select the Reorder tab. Thereafter enter the details as below. Refer to the numbering in RED in the screen below.

Reorder Point for all Locations – This will set the Max Level across allocations and is used to determine order points for the company – generally used for central store purchasing.
Minimum Level – This is the Minimum level for all locations – associated with Centralised Ordering.
Safety Factor – Safety factor used to calculate the Minimum Level.
Order Lead Time (Days) – Vendor Delivery Lead Time.
Days Sales In Stock – Number of Days Sales Stockholding Required.
Economic Order Factor – The multiple on which to Order goods from your Vendor.
Minimum Order Quantity – this is the least amount that can be ordered for this Item
Average Daily Sales – Average daily sales are calculated during the Inventory Forecasting process.
Minimum Level – Minimum level used to trigger the reorder process, calculated as follows: (Order Lead Time x Average Daily Sales) x (1+ Safety Factor).
Maximum Level – Minimum Level + (Days Sales in stock x Average Daily Sales) rounded up to Greater of Economic Order Factor or Min Order Quantity.

Inventory Forecasting
Now that you have setup the Reorder levels you need to generate the forecasting process as seen below with recommended new minimum and maximum inventory levels. The first thing you need to do is to determine whether this process is run per location or as an overall company (15). Then select the period on which you wish to forecast the daily sales, as depicted by point (1) below. As you can see you also have the ability to filter, or process, by inventory category (2).

Other field data as follows:

Stock Days to Forecast – this will allow you to mass update the Days Sales field (12)
Sales – this is the unit sales for the dates selected in section (1).
Daily Sales – this is the average sales per day.
Adjusted Daily Sales – this is the overriding daily sales to calculate the Min and Max levels.
Sales Last 7 days – sales on the previous 7 days from the system date.
Order lead time – Order delivery Lead Time in Days per the Inventory Masterfile.
Safety Factor – This is the excess safety Stock Factor per the Inventory Masterfile.
Old Min Level – Previous Minimum Level.
New Min Level – New Minimum Inventory Level that will be updated to the Masterfile on Saving.
Days Sales – This is the number of days Sales to Stock.
Old Max Qty – Previous Maximum Quantity.
New Max Qty – New Maximum Quantity that will be updated to the Masterfile on saving.)

Processing Vendor Orders

The processing of Vendor orders can be made in one of, or using a combination of the following 3 ways:

Inventory Reorder Report
The standard reorder report has been extended to include the new Minimum and Maximum Levels, Economic Order Quantity and the Minimum Order Quantity. The reorder report has the ability to group order items by Preferred Vendor facilitating the reorder process.

Quick Order Form
Regarded as one of Palladium’s best-kept secrets, the Quick Order Form has all the functionality of the Inventory Reorder Report and more and allows you to select the items for reorder within a Vendor Purchase Order, allowing you to filter on only those items purchased from a specific Vendor.

Bulk Reorder Form
This is a new feature that allows you to load all items for reorder (per location) and create mass Purchase Orders from one screen. Note that this feature is only applicable where reordering is done at a per Inventory Location (Store) level. Below is an example of the Inventory Reorder Form. Once complete you will select the Generate Purchase Order.

Download the Support Article PDF

SUP104 – Vendor Inventory Pricing

May 16, 2015

Creating Vendor Pricing

The Vendor pricing setup and selection can be setup in either the Inventory Masterfile under the Vendors Tab as seen below;

Or in the Vendor Masterfile setup under the Item Pricing Tab. The significance of setting the pricing here is that you have the ability to Import the Vendor Pricelists. Note that both these methods update the same information and database fields.

Default Price Selection
When processing Vendor documents on the form of Purchase Quotes or Requisitions, Purchase Orders or Purchase Invoices, the system will first select any Vendor pricing as set above. Should a price not be available, the system will use either the Last Received Cost, or the Default Item Purchase Cost as defined on the Inventory Masterfile below.

Units of measure
There may be a case where there is a different Unit of Purchase Unit to that of the Unit of Stock as seen in the screen below. Note that this will have no bearing on your Vendor Pricing, noting that your Vendor Pricing will be for 6 of this item (ie Unit of Buy) that will convert to the Unit of Stocking at time of receiving.

Converting Documents
This function above only applies in the case where you are creating a new purchase Document and will not apply where prices have been already set or altered on existing purchase documents that are converted, ie in the case of a Purchase Requisition to a Purchase Order.

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SUP086 – Inventory Integration & Negative Quantity On Hand Updates

May 15, 2015

Inventory Integration Methods

Palladium has the ability to integrate to the General Ledger on either a Perpetual (Integrated) or on a Periodic (non-Integrated) method. Note that the system will allow you to switch from one method to another as required.

Perpetual Method
The Perpetual, or integrated method, will post a general ledger entry for the Cost of Sales/Inventory leg of a sales transaction, ensuring that the Inventory control account is updated with the correct value of the inventory on hand on a real-time basis.

Periodic Method
The Periodic, or non-integrated method, does not write any transactions to the inventory or cost of sales accounts at time of sale and relies on the user to post the correct general ledger journal entries at period, or month-end. In addition to this, no general ledger transactions are written for Inventory Adjustments or Stock Take processes.

Setup

The setup methods are the same with the use of Account sets, although the main difference is that with the Periodic Method, Palladium will only use the Revenue account for Sales, and the Expense accounts (Cost of Goods) for Purchases. The reason for this is because we require control accounts for month end Journals and related account balancing.

Data Integrity

Certain functionality has been set as inactive using the Periodic method. These include the Inventory Ledger Validations as seen below as well as the Inventory Balance in the Company Summary tab.

You will also see that we have set the Inventory Balance as Periodic Inventory Balance to simplify the identification thereof.

Negative Inventory

General
We have the ability to record negative on-hand inventory updates either using the items last received cost or to update at zero cost.

Update at Zero Cost
Updating at zero cost will value all inventory with a negative value at Zero and a value only being recorded for all quantities exceeding 0.

Example
Should you have a negative quantity of say 3 of item X and receive 5 at $100 each, Palladium will receive 3 at $0, and 2 at $100 each, with the balance of the $300 being allocated to that items Variance account as set on the Account sets.

Update at Last Received Cost
Updating at last received cost will record all negative quantity items at the prevailing last received cost per unit. When the items are sold they will be sold at the last received cost. When items are received, the items will be received at the average negative cost, with the balance between this and the Received cost being allocated to the Variance Account as set on the Item Account Set.

Example
Should we have a negative quantity of say 3 of item X where the prevailing last received cost was $200 each, showing a value of -$600, and receive 5 at $100 each, Palladium will receive 3 at $200, and 2 at $100 each, with the balance of the $200 being allocated to the Item’s Variance Account.

Download Support Article PDF