If you have a customer who contracts for the same types of jobs regularly, and the same vendor regularly provides the lowest quotes for them, you can bypass the bid cycle and enter the lot item on a direct ship order. You can add multiple lot items and stock items to an order, provided they are on different order generations.
Entering lot items on direct ship orders includes three processes:
To add a lot item to a sales order:
From the Orders menu, select Sales Order Entry to display the Sales Order Entry window.
In the Ship To field, enter the customer's name.
When the order selection list displays, click NEW to return the customer's information to the Sales Order Entry window.
From the Edit Order menu, select Change Order Mode, and then select Direct Shipment from Vendor from the list.
In the Ship From field, enter the name of the vendor who will ship the order to your customer.
In the Freight field, enter the method to use to handle freight charges.
Save the vendor information and return to the Sales Order Entry window.
The system adds Direct to the end of the sales order number.
In the Quantity/Unit field, enter 1.
Note: You cannot enter multiple quantities for lot item products.
In the Product Description field, enter Lot Item to display a list of lot item products.
Note: If your lot item product does not display, you did not add Lot Item as a keyword in the product record. While doing this is not required to complete the transaction, it does make finding your lot item easier. To use another method for finding the product, see Searching for Products.
Select the lot item that most closely resembles the type of products to order and press Enter to display the Lot Item Status window.
To add materials to the lot item:
On the Lot Item Status window, from the File menu, select Material Detail to display the Lot Item Material Detail window.
Complete the following for each material:
Column | Description |
Order Qty | Displays the total amount of the requested item needed. |
Description | Displays a brief description of the requested item. You can enter either a user-defined text description, or, if you maintain the product as a nonstock product in Product Maintenance, a slash (/), followed by the product description. Note: If the customer requests an item you maintain in inventory, you can enter it on a separate order generation on the Sales Order Entry window. |
Schedule the materials for multiple shipments, as needed.
From the File menu, select Exit to return to the Lot Item Status window.
To add lot item price and cost information:
On the Lot Item Status window, in the Description field, change the product description to include the name of the customer's job. For example, if your lot item description is GE Distribution Switchgear, you might change it to GE Distribution Switchgear for Johnson High School Project.
In the Material Detail Pricing field, do one of the following:
Note: For detailed information, see Customer Invoicing Methods.
To... | Do the following... |
Use itemized pricing to generate invoices | Select the check box |
Use system calculations to generate invoices | Deselect the check box |
Enter specific invoice amounts during invoice reconciliation to generate invoices | Deselect the check box |
In the Lot Price field, enter the price to charge the customer for the requested materials, if needed.
You can also enter a profit percentage in the GP % field to calculate this amount.
In the Lot Cost field, enter the quoted vendor price for the requested materials.
In the Next Followup Date field, enter the next date to call the customer, if any.
When you enter a date in this field, the lot item order displays in the Customer Calling Queue and in the Lot Order Status Review Queue on that date. To follow up after all shipments are complete, enter a date later than the estimated completion date.
In the Estimated Complete Date field, enter the date the customer anticipates finishing the job or project.
To have the system calculate the lot price, In the Gross Profit % field, enter the amount of profit to add to the lot cost.
If you did not select the check box for the Material Detail Pricing field, edit the following fields, as needed:
Note: Edit these fields only if you understand how the Advance Billing Factor (ABF) affects billing.
Field | Description |
Advance Billing Factor | A number used to determine at what points during the job or project the system invoices the customer. To use the flat rate invoicing method, enter 0.0. |
BreakPoint % | The point in the job or project where both the customer and the vendor reach 100% billing. To use the flat rate invoicing method, leave this field blank. |
From the File menu, select Exit to return to the Sales Order Entry screen.
The system changes the quantity in the Quantity/Unit field to *LOT*.
From the File menu, select Exit to display the Sales Order Entry Status screen.
Depending on your system setup, the system populates the Order Status for <order #> field with Direct-HOLD or Direct-REL.
See Also:
Lot Item Order Entry Workflow