Special Order Analysis

This screen was designed for the same exact purpose as the Analysis menu. From this menu, the user will be able to generate a Special Order Analysis for one or more vendor, with a suggested quantity to be order for all items that needs to be ordered from this vendor.

The difference between the Analysis menu where the user can either generate a Product Reordering analysis that will suggested quantities to be ordered based on the Min/Max/Order point level of stock set up in the Inventory Maintenance of each item, or a Replenishment analysis that will suggested quantities to be ordered based on specific sales history from the past - the Special Order Analysis will suggest quantities to be ordered based on a period of time defined by the user each time this analysis is performed.

The Special Order Analysis give a higher flexibility to the user regarding the comparative period of time that will be used to generated the Suggested Quantity to be Ordered. The period of time can be from the previous year, or even from the current year.

From this menu, the user will need to fill all of the fields explained below. Then once the user is done, by clicking Start Analysis, the system will generate a Special Order Analysis based on all options selected initially. The user will be able to make any modifications to the Special Order Analysis- delete the Special Order Analysis if needed and print the Special Order Analysis once modified. By printing the analysis, this will generated a Purchase Order that can be recall, modified, and finalized from the Purchase Orders Entry.

The user will be able to keep track of all steps done on a Special Order Analysis by looking at the box on the top right corner of this menu:

Once a step is completed - the system will save the date when it was done under the appropriate step.

Fields Definition

Reference: This field is Alpha-numerical and can include a maximum of 25 characters. This field can either be generate by the user, or if left blank, will be automatically generate by the system. This represents the reference that will be assigned to the analysis once it will be run by the user. If the field is left blank - the system will automatically generated and assigned a new Reference number to the analysis.

Once created, the user can always go back and recall an existing Analysis to make modifications, or even to print the Analysis.

If the user remember the Reference of the analysis, he can only type in the reference number and hit enter - this will recall the analysis with all the options selected previously.

By pressing F1 with the cursor positioned in the reference field, the system will open the Search Window. The user will then be able to look for existing analysis, and recall them in the main screen by double clicking on the selected one. The Search Screen will display the analysis by their Reference Number and give the updated status of each analysis:

Status: This field is automatically generated by the system and gives the current status of the Special Order analysis. The different status are as followed:

•New: First time the user open that menu to generate a new Special Order analysis and assigned a Reference number, the Status will be marked as New because the Analysis is just created but was not start yet;

•Analyzed: Once the analysis is run and the system produce a list of suggested items to order, the Status will change from New to Analyzed;

•Print: If the user print the analysis on a PDF report or a grid, the system will update the Status of the analysis from Analyzed to Print;

•Modified: If any modifications are needed, and the user change the suggested quantity or items to be ordered from the Modifications menu, the system will update the Status of the analysis to Modified. 

From Date / To Date: From these fields, this is where the user will defined the reference period of time that will be used to generate the Special Order Analysis. The user is not limited to anything on this period of time, as long as it is not a future date.

This field is customized for each Special Order Analysis that will be run. The user just need to select the period of reference that reflect the most the future sales.

Factor: Is left to 1 - this means that the system will suggested a suggested quantity to be order based exactly on the sales history of the period of time select. If the period of time selected if a good starting reference, but the user estimated that the future sales will either be a little bit higher or lower, the user can use a conversion factor. If the factor is higher than 1.00 - the system will recommend a higher quantity to be ordered than the period of time select. If the factor is lower than 1.00 - this means the user expects lower sales and the system will suggested less quantity to be ordered.

Analysis Sequence: From this field, the user defined how he wants his analysis to be run. The user will have the following options and can only selected one option per analysis.

•Product: If selected, the screen should look as follow:

By clicking on Add, the user will be allow to add one item at a time. The system will run the Special Order analysis only for the items that will be selected. If other items need to be ordered based on the other selected options of the report, but were not included in these fields, the system will not considered them in the final analysis.

By pressing F1 with the cursor positioned in the Product Field, the user will have access to the Search Window and will have the ability to perform a search between all items created in the Inventory Maintenance.

•Category:  If selected, the screen should look as follow:

By clicking on Add, the user will be allow to add one or multiple categories to the Special Order analysis. The system will run the analysis and only considered items that are included in the categories specified from these fields. If other items need to be ordered based on the other selected options of the report, but were excluded from the selected categories, the system will not considered them in the final analysis.

By pressing F1 with the cursor positioned in any of the Category field, the user will have access to the Search Window and will have the ability to perform a search between all categories created in the Inventory Maintenance.

•Location:  If selected, the screen should look as follow:

By clicking on Add, the user will be allow to add one or multiple locations to the Special Order analysis. The system will run the analysis on only considered items that are included in the locations specified from these fields. If other items need to be ordered based on the other selected options of the report, but were excluded from the selected locations, the system will not considered them in the final analysis.

By pressing F1 with the cursor positioned in any of the following fields: Aisle, Row, Shelf, Box - the user will have access to the Search Window and will have the ability to perform a search between all locations created in the Inventory Maintenance.

•Vendor Type: If selected, the screen should look as follow:

By clicking on Add, the user will be allow to add one or multiple vendor type to the Special Order analysis. The system will run the analysis on only considered items that has the selected type of vendor as main and/or manufacturer vendor. If other items need to be ordered based on the other selected options of the report, but has as a main and/or manufacturer vendor set up as a type of vendor excluded from the selected type, the system will not considered them in the final analysis.

By pressing F1 with the cursor positioned in the type field, the user will have access to the Search Window and will have thebility to perform a search between all vendor types created in the Vendor Maintenance.

•Vendor: If selected, the screen should look as follow:

By clicking on Add, the user will be allow to add one or multiple vendors to the Special Order analysis. The system will run the analysis on only considered items that has as main and/or manufacturer vendor the selected vendors from these fields. If other items need to be ordered based on the other selected options of the report, but has as a main and/or manufacturer vendor excluded from the selected one, the system will not considered them in the final analysis.

By pressing F1 with the cursor positioned in the vendor field - the user will have access to the Search Window and will have the ability to perform a search between all locations created in the Inventory Maintenance.

Warehouses:

Only applicable for Multi-Store Company. If so, by not selecting the box Select All Warehouses, the user can run an Analysis for specific store. If so, the user will need to specified the Warehouse ID for which the Analysis is applicable.

If more than one Warehouse is selected for the analysis, the user can decided to either generate one Purchase Order by Warehouse - or one Combine Purchase Order for all Warehouse. To do so, the user will need to either checked or unchecked the box Create Purchase Order by warehouse.

Start Analysis

Once all fields of this menu are filed, the user needs to click on Start Analysis at the bottom of the Menu.

The following warning will prompt on the screen:

This warning is important because it tells the user that once the analysis is Started, if any options selected in from this menu needs to be change, the system will not allowed it. The user will need to generate a new Special Order analysis with a new Reference number.

By clicking on NO - the system will go back to the main menu and display all options selected on this Special Order analysis. The user can make any modifications needed and click on Start Analysis again once ready.

By clicking on YES - the system will start the analysis and either produce a Special Order analysis based on all criteria that were previously selected by the user.

The system will display on the screen a list of results based on the Special Order analysis that was run. The user can only see his Special Order analysis on this screen but can not make any modifications from this menu. To learn more about how to make modifications on a Special Order analysis, please refer to the Modifications menu.

The status of the Special Order analysis will then changed from New to Analyzed and the date will be update on the Analyzed field of the Main Menu.

If the user press Enter or Click on the analysis that is presented on the screen - the system will go back to the main menu where all criteria that defined the analysis were selected.

There will be new options that displayed at the bottom of the screen:

•Display Ordered: If selected, the system will present the items that should be ordered with their quantity based on the Special Order analysis that was run. The user will only be able to see it on the screen, and will not be able to make any modifications from there. This option is not a report - it is only a viewer on the screen.

•Display Rejects: If selected, the system will show on the screen the list of items that were part of the Special Order analysis that were not suggested to be ordered by the system because they did not met one of the selected criteria. The system will give a list of these rejects with a reason why they should not be ordered. This option is not a report - it is only a viewer on the screen. However, this could be helpful to the user to go through that list and see if any of the rejects should be ordered anyway.

•Delete reference: This will delete completely the Special Order analysis that was ran by the system. Therefore, the user should select this option only if:

                    - The analysis was run and nothing was recommend to be ordered;

                    - The user wants to run another analysis based on other criteria;

                    - The analysis was run and the user completed it as an Order and sent the Purchase Order to the vendor.

                    Once run, the Reference will be saved in the system until it is delete by the user.

•Print: If selected, the system will print the result of the Special Order analysis on a report. This report can include or not the rejects. The system will prompt the an option for the user to either include or exclude the rejects from the report. The report can either be print as a PDF file, or a Grid - and includes the following information.

          If the rejects should be include in the Special Order analysis - the report will split the Quantity to Order from the Rejects, and add as a comment the reason for rejection.

          Once print - the report can also be send by email to any user in the Company.

          This report could help the user to take any decision whether the Order should be created as it is or make any modification.

Please note that if the user decides to send the Purchase Order - he will need to open the Purchase Order from the Purchase Order entry than finalize the Purchase Order so it is send by email or fax depending on what is set up from the Vendor Maintenance. This is not something that can be done directly from this menu.