Vendor

After you add your merchandise to NetForum , your next step is to add the vendors that will create or sell your product. Vendors in NetForum are first added as organizations in the system through the CRM module. Once you have added the organization in NetForum , you can then add the company as a vendor as well that can then be used with your inventory and warehouse functions .

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

Adding a Vendor

A vendor provides a service or product. For example, the vendor for a publication or subscription may be a printer. The vendor for merchandise may be a manufacturer or retailer.

To add a vendor, use the following steps:

1. First, in the CRM module, add an organization record for the vendor.
2. In the Inventory module, on the Group Item menu, click vendor.
3. In the left navigation panel, click add vendor. The Add Vendor page displays.
4. To enter the vendor's name, enter the first few letters of the vendor's name and click the lookup button . If you are not sure of the vendor name you can simply click the lookup button by itself without entering any letters and a list of organizations will appear for you to select.
5. Click Save.

The organization will now appear as a vendor when you are working with inventory.

Finding a Vendor

Finding a vendor that has been entered into the NetForum database is easily accomplished. The Find function is universal throughout NetForum and detailed on the Find topic.

Finding vendors within the Inventory module follows the same format and function. You may search by organization name. If you are unsure of the full organization name, you may enter the first few letters of the organization name or select the Advanced View checkbox to conduct Boolean searches to broaden and narrow your search as needed.

Managing Vendor Records

Navigating to a Vendor Profile

The Vendor Profile page is displayed once you have added a new vendor into the NetForum application.

To navigate to and view a specific vendor profile page, use the following steps:

1. Click on the Inventory module from the Module Menu drop-down.
2. On the Group Item menu, click Vendors.
3. List Vendors or Find Vendor.
4. Choose a single vendor. The Vendor Profile page opens.

You can also click on the Vendor icon from the Inventory content group page to open the profile page.

Vendor Profile

The Vendor Profile associates the product with a vendor. The Vendor Profile details the vendor name, address, and contact information. It has one tab with two child forms; supplied products and purchase orders. Both are discussed in more detail below.

The Info Tab

The Info tab on the Vendor Profile contains two child forms; supplied products and purchase orders.

As outlined in the Inventory Workflow section, once you have entered a product into NetForum inventory, you must then associate that product with a vendor. That step is completed through the supplied products child form. You will eventually create a purchase order so that your vendor can supply your warehouse with the product(s) you specify. That can be completed either through the purchase order profile page or on the vendor profile page as well under the purchase order child form. Both are described in more detail below.

Supplied Products Child Form

Associating a Product with a Vendor

The supplied products child form allows you to add products (merchandise, publications, subscriptions) and view a list of products created or supplied by this vendor. When you add the product, you are given the opportunity to add invoice payment terms, production lead time, and estimated unit cost for the product.

To add a vendor-supplied product, use the following steps:

1. Go to the Vendor Profile. (For information on creating the Vendor Profile, see Adding a Vendor)
2. On the supplied products child form, click the add button. The Add Vendor Product page displays.
3. Select a product from the product drop-down. This is the only required field on the form.
4. Select the terms for this particular product when sold.
5. Enter the lead time needed to order the product.
6. Enter the estimated unit cost.
7. Click Save.

Once saved, you will see that your new product has now been added under the supplied products child form for this vendor with the attributes you specified.

Purchase Orders Child Form

Associating a Product with a Warehouse

The purchase orders child form enables you to add warehouse purchase orders for adding the products to inventory at the warehouse. You are also able to do this on the Purchase Order Profile page which is detailed in the Adding a New Purchase Order section on the Purchase Order page.

On the child form above, note that the purchase order created for the NetForum coffee mug can be viewed because the folder has been expanded to show the details of PO Number 9000. You are able to view the warehouse the product will be delivered to, its location, the quantity ordered, unit cost, the expected date the product will arrive and the date the product has been received. In the example shown above, the NetForum coffee mugs are to be stored in the NetForum warehouse and are expected to arrive on December 17th. A quantity of 150 has been ordered.

You are also able to directly to the purchase order if you want by clicking on the green goto arrow.

To add a new purchase order for this vendor, use the following steps:

1. Go to the Vendor Profile. (For information on creating the Vendor Profile, see Adding a Vendor)
2. On the purchase orders child form, click the add button. The Add - Purchase Order page displays.
3. Enter a PO Number. This is required and is normally supplied from the vendor.
4. Enter a new order date if the default date of today is not correct.
5. Click the add button to add a product row in the purchase order section.
6. Enter a product in the product drop-down box. If there is not a product listed - or the product you want is not listed - this means you did not associate this vendor with this product when you created this merchandise. You can that on the Inventory tab on the vendor child form. This is explained on the Merchandise page in the Merchandise section.
7. After you specify your product, the warehouse that you associated it with is automatically selected. If you selected more than one warehouse, you can also modify this selection in the warehouse drop-down.
8. Enter the quantity you want to order from the vendor.
9. Enter the unit cost of the product.
10. Enter the arrival date of the item.
11. Click Save.

As you can see from the screenshot below, once you add the new purchase order it is now viewable on the purchase orders child form with the data you specified. Note that neither purchase order has had the inventory received yet. That is the next step within the inventory workflow.

Enabling a Vendor for Event Budgets

If this vendor is to be used for tracking expenses on the event budget child form, you must add a vendor code to the vendor's profile.

To add a vendor code to a profile, complete the following steps:

1. Open the profile page for the organization or individual that will be serving as a vendor for an event.
2. Click the demographics icon to open the Demographic Information pop-up.
3. Enter an identifying code (perhaps an acronym for the organization) in the vendor code demographic field.
4. Click the Save button.

   The modified individual or organization is available as a vendor when tracking event budget expenses.