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Vendor

Warehouse

Fulfillment

Purchase Order

As outlined in the inventory workflow section of the Inventory page, once you have entered your merchandise into inventory and specified which vendor and warehouse are to be used, your next step is to create a purchase order so that your vendor will ship your items to your warehouse. Adding a purchase order creates a Purchase Order Profile, shown below.

The Purchase Order Profile page shows the purchase order number, vendor, and order date and gives you the ability to process the inventory order for the Warehouse (using the receive inventory icon).

The five standard Group Item Links (Add, Find, List, Run Query, Query Central), are available in the Purchase Order group item.

Adding a New Purchase Order

To Add a Purchase Order:

  1. Go to the Inventory module.
  2. In the Purchase Order group item, click the Add Purchase Order group item link. The Add - Purchase Order page displays.
  3. PO Number: This is required and is normally supplied by your vendor.
  4. Vendor: This is also a required field. Use the drop-down to select the vendor you are using to fill this order. If there are no items in this drop-down this means you have skipped a step in the workflow and have not yet set-up your vendors.
  5. Order Date: The date you are ordering (or expect to order) the merchandise from the vendor.
  6. On the Purchase Order child form, click Add button. You will notice that a row appears for you to fill in that will specify what product you are ordering for a specific warehouse.
  7. Select a product to order in the drop-down. The products that are available depend upon what vendor they were assigned to during vendor set-up.
  8. Select a warehouse to distribute this product from. Note that when you select a specific product, the warehouse that was selected during warehouse setup is automatically filled in. However, you can modify this now by selecting a different warehouse in the drop-down menu.
  9. Enter a quantity you would like shipped to the warehouse.
  10. Enter a unit cost for the product.
  11. Enter an estimated arrival date and click Save.

Note: You can also add a purchase order from the Vendor Profile, purchase order child form.

Finding a Purchase Order

Finding purchase orders that have been entered into the NetForum database is easily accomplished. The Find function is universal throughout NetForum and detailed on the Find topic.

Finding purchase orders within the Inventory module follows the same format and function. You may search by the following:

  • PO Number
  • Order Date
  • Expected Date
  • Add User (Who created the purchase order)

The Advanced View checkbox allows you to conduct Boolean searches to broaden and narrow your search as needed.

Managing Purchase Orders

Navigating to the Purchase Order Profile

The Purchase Order Profile page is displayed once you have entered a new purchase order into the NetForum application. If you want to navigate to and view a specific purchase order:

  • Click on the Inventory module from the Module Menu drop-down.
  • On the Group Item menu, click Purchase Orders. You can then choose to List Purchase Orders or Find Purchase Orders.
  • You can also choose to click on the Purchase Order icon from the Inventory content group page.

Depending upon which PO you choose from the resulting list, its Purchase Order Profile page will display.

Purchase Order Profile

The Purchase Order Profile enables you to track the actual quantity received at the warehouse. The first step is to order or reorder an item which associates the item with the warehouse. This was demonstrated above in Adding a New Purchase Order for ordering new items. Once you have ordered the item, you must make note of when the actual merchandise has arrived at the warehouse. The receive inventory icon allows you to record that there is inventory at the warehouse and the quantity and date received. Note in the screenshot above that the receive inventory icon is able to be clicked and that the received date has not yet been entered. This is because the inventory specified on this purchase order, the Abila coffee mugs, has not yet been received for this warehouse. Until that step is complete, you are not ready to begin distributing this product.

Receiving Inventory at the Warehouse

The receive inventory icon on the Purchase Order Profile enables you to add a quantity of products to inventory at your specified warehouse. You also have the following options available when receiving inventory:

  • receive: This checkbox must be selected to receive the inventory.
  • warehouse: If you want to change the warehouse where this inventory is to be stored, select this drop-down.
  • quantity: You can change the quantity ordered by changing the value in this field. You may also want to change the value in this field if you did not receive the full amount you expected, for example.
  • unit cost: You can change the unit cost specified by changing the value in this field.
  • date received: This defaults to the current date received.
  • close now: This checkbox is selected if you want to close this order. You may not want to close this order, for example, if you did not receive the expected amount. Once an item has been closed, you cannot enter it again.

Re-ordering or Adding Inventory to the Warehouse

The Purchase Order Profile child form allows you to reorder inventory by clicking on the Add Record button. This is also used to add inventory to a warehouse if needed.

When an inventory item is re-ordered, the inventory reorder information window provides the PO number and vendor automatically for you. You must once again specify the inventory item, quantity, unit cost, and expected arrival date. Notice on the inventory reorder child form above that you are also able to see, at a glance, the exact quantity of an item ordered, the warehouse it will arrive at, its location in the warehouse (if specified on setup), and the expected date.

After you re-order an item, you must click the receive inventory icon to process the information that the item was actually received at the warehouse. (Before you click the receive inventory icon, just the expected date displays. After you "receive the inventory," the received date will display on the inventory reorder child form.)