An in depth guide to reordering

Summary

This article gives a comprehensive overview of how to run a re-order report in Platinum.

More Information

Go to " Stock Control Reordering".

The intention with this option is to provide you with tighter, more efficient stock control by having the system review your maximum and reorder levels regularly, taking sales, orders and stock levels into account, and once you have reviewed and confirmed your maximum and reorder levels, you can then place orders based on these levels. It is intended to help you to achieve the best possible stocking levels and stock turn.

Set the ranges as below for the report on this screen.

You will then move to a results screen showing maximum level, reorder level and quantity to order, followed by an order screen, where you will place your orders. If you choose the 'Auto' ordering method, orders will be created automatically following the results screen.

Maximum & Reorder Levels

The system can calculate your "Maximum" and "Reorder" Levels for you as the first stage of calculating what to order.

Choose 'Yes' at either or both of the two prompts.

Alternatively choose 'No' to use your existing Maximum and Reorder Levels.

Ordering Method

Choose 'Review' to view and amend quantities prior to creating Purchase Orders.

You may specify a formula to calculate order quantity.

When confident of your stock levels, you may wish to choose 'Auto' to generate orders automatically.

If your Platinum system is set to create orders for preferred suppliers, the system will work out from whom to order items and create the relevant purchase orders. Items without a preferred supplier will be added to an order for the 'POP001' Unallocated Orders Account.

You will be able to view and amend orders through " Purchase Order Processing Add or Edit Purchase Orders".

Current Orders

Choose 'Include' to take outstanding orders into account when calculating the items and quantities to order.

The other options are:
- 'Exclude' - to use current stock levels when calculating order quantity. This will ignore outstanding Customer and Supplier Orders.
- 'Only' - to order for customers only, ignoring existing orders in place.

Show Details

Select 'Changes' to view stock items where action is required, i.e. items to be ordered and items for which the system has calculated new Maximum and/or Reorder levels.

Selecting 'All' will list all stock in the given range.

Ranges

Enter the range of items for which you want to reorder. Leave blank any by which you do not want to limit the report.

"Supplier" - Only show items that need reordering from this supplier.
- "Preferred only" - Choose 'Yes' to include items for which this is the preferred supplier. Choose 'No' to include any items which this supplier could provide.

"Depot" - This will default to the depot assigned to your user.

Alter this if you are ordering on behalf of a different Depot. Their stock levels and existing orders will be used when calculating order quantities.

- To find a depot, press <Ctrl+F1> and click [List].
- Highlight the depot code and click [Choose].

"Stock From/To" - Enter a range of stock codes to include in the report.
- Press <F1> or <Shift+F1> to scroll through your stock file to find an item or press <Ctrl+F1> to search for an item by entering part of the description.
"Group" - Only show items within this Stock Group.
"Text Filter" - Only show items whose Stock Description contains the text you enter here.

Click [Reset Range] to clear the ranges used previously.

Running the Report

Click [Start].

Check the results. Within this screen you have the following options and buttons available, specific to the highlighted item:

Manually override the "Maximum", "Reorder" Level or "Order Quantity" or click [No Change].
Click [Untag All] then manually [Tag] individual items to order.
Click [Amend Stock] to view/amend stock properties.
To view current orders or statistics, click the relevant button on the right of the screen.
The last 12 months, current month and projected sales are shown at the top of the screen, along with the description of the highlighted item.
If the preferred supplier of the item has a specific pack quantity, it will be displayed in the "Pack" column. When reviewing or placing orders, your order quantity will be increased to take this into account.
An asterix in the "Pc" column indicates the item has multiple suppliers.

Customer order items will be taken into account based on their order due date. Supplier lead times will also influence what will be ordered and when to prevent holding stock for longer than necessary. The use of lead times in ordering is a system setting which can be switched on or off. If in use, regular use of the reorder report is advised to ensure the correct stock is ordered when required.

Print Report

If you wish to print a report, click [Print] and select from the three options shown:

The [Brief Order] report will list all items on screen including the preferred supplier of each item.
The [Full Order] report will list all items on screen including all suppliers for each item and the Sales history for the last 12 months.
The [Levels] report will list only items whose "Maximum" and/or "Reorder" levels will be altered.

Alternatively press <Ctrl+P> or click on the [Print] icon at the top of the screen.

Select the relevant output to print a report or create a file of the data as it is displayed on the screen.

Create Purchase Orders

To start creating your orders, click [Process].

If the "Maximum" and/or "Reorder" levels of several items are going to be altered, you will be asked if you wish to continue. Clicking [Yes] confirms you are happy for the new levels to be applied to your items. This is NOT reversible, so choose carefully!

Automatic Orders

If you selected 'Auto' as your Ordering Method, the system will now create Purchase Orders for you. You will be returned to the range screen when all orders have been created.

Click in the "Stock from" field and click [Amend Orders] or press <F7>.
All orders created will be listed.
Select an order to View or Amend and click [Amend].

When you exit the Reordering option, this screen is reset. To view and amend orders, you should then go to " Purchase Order Processing Add or Edit Purchase Orders".

Manual Orders

If you selected 'Review' as your Ordering Method, the system will load the [Order Review] screen.

To view current orders, statistics or stock details for an item, click the button on the right of the screen. The details shown relate to the item you have selected.

Place Orders

The system will tag all items for whom the supplier highlighted at the top of the screen is the 'Preferred Supplier'.

"Order to use" - If an existing order, dated today and as yet unprocessed, is found, the system will default to adding to the 'Open' order else it will create a 'New' order.

Alternatively, to add items into an existing order, click 'Chosen'. Those which have been processed in any way, e.g. where the order has been printed (implying it has been sent to the supplier) or where goods have been received, will be highlighted pink.

Be wary of adding into such orders as it is easy to overlook the unprocessed items and therefore forget to order them!

To order additional items from this supplier, click [Tag] or press <F3> on an item.
You may override the "Order Qty" and "Order Value".
The buttons on the right of the screen let you check suppliers, current orders and statistics for each item.

The key to the right of the screen will help identify items with multiple suppliers.

Items in green are the tagged items. The colour of the text highlights the relationship between the items and the supplier for whom you are creating an order.
Items in yellow are untagged but relate to the supplier for whom you are creating an order.

To place an order, click [Order].

Repeat the steps for the next supplier and continue until you have placed all your orders.
You may click [Cancel] to exit without ordering the remaining items.