OpenPro Application Guide - Inventory Control (IC)

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Application Guide - Inventory Control

Chapter 1: Understanding Inventory Control

Key Words and Concepts

To understand how to use Inventory Control, you should understand some key concepts and words used in this package that relate to the area of accounting called “Inventory Control”.

Inventory
Inventory consists of goods purchased and held for resale to customers. It can also include items that will be used internally in the business, on jobs, or in the manufacturing process.

Inventory is quite simply the <collective total of all merchandise on–hand for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business>.

Inventory Control
The “control” of inventory includes being able to regulate or know what goes into inventory and what goes out of inventory. This includes knowing the value of what is in inventory at any time. Inventory control is often abbreviated as “I/C” or “IC”.

Item
An item is a clearly identifiable product, material, or commodity that can be stocked, sold, or used. Inventory Control maintains a file of inventory items.

Each item is identified by a unique number and a description. Other information maintained for an item includes cost, price, product category, quantity on hand and reorder level.

Perpetual Inventory
Perpetual inventory is an inventory system that shows each change in the amount on–hand as it occurs. It is called “perpetual” because you perpetually (or continually) know the amount of each inventory item on hand.

Accounting
Accounting is the collection, categorization and presentation of financial records.

General Ledger
General Ledger is the area of accounting where the records from other areas of accounting are brought together for classification and summarization, thereby creating a picture of the overall condition of the company’s finances.

As used here, “general” means “pertaining to many areas”. “Ledger” means “a book where accounting records are kept”. (This term evolved from pre–computer times when accounting records were kept exclusively by hand in large books called “ledgers”.) General Ledger is often abbreviated “G/L” or “GL”.

General Ledger Account
A “General Ledger Account” is a specific category under which all financial activity of a certain kind is classified. For example, you might have a General Ledger account called “telephone expenses”, under which you categorize your telephone bills.

General Ledger account is often abbreviated “G/L account”. Accountants are experts at defining the various G/L accounts (financial activity categories) needed by a business. Part of this definition process involves assigning an “account number” to each G/L account.

Independent businesses usually use a 3 or 4 digit account number. For example, you may have a G/L account called “100 Cash in the bank”, and one called “200 Sales of Product A”, and one called “210 Sales of Product B”.

Typically, an independent business will have a hundred or more G/L accounts.

In accounting packages, each time any financial activity occurs in any area of accounting, the dollar amount of the activity is recorded under the appropriate G/L account numbers.

Cost Center
A “cost center” is a distinct area within your company for which sales and/or expenses (and sometimes costs) can be calculated separately from the total sales and expenses of the whole company.

In OpenPro.com software, the main G/L account number is from 4 to 8 digits long. If you choose to use cost centers (they are optional in OpenPro.com software), you get a “sub–account” (up to 8 digits) added onto the G/L account number.

For example, your “office supplies” G/L account is numbered 4200, and you want to track office supply expenses independently for each of your three major departments (dept.A, dept.B and dept.C). Rather than use a different main account number for each department (such as “4201”, “4202” and “4203”), you could append “–001”, “–002” and “–003” to the “4200” main account number as follows:

4200–001 Office supplies, dept. A
4200–002 Office supplies, dept. B
4200–003 Office supplies, dept. C

Then, whenever you are allocating office supply expenses to G/L accounts, you would use the above 7–digit numbers.

Cost centers also apply to sales. A typical use for tracking sales by cost center is for a company that has several sales offices. By making each sales office a cost center, you can separately track the sales performance of each office.

Data Organization
The information you enter into your computer is stored on your disk. In order for computer programs to be able to locate specific pieces of data (within large masses of data) and to be able to process it logically, data must be organized in some predictable way.

OpenPro.com software organizes your data for you automatically as it stores it on your disk.

There are four terms you should understand about the way the data is organized:

  • Character: a <character> is any letter, number, or other symbol you can type on your computer keyboard.
  • Field: a <field>(sometimes called a “data field”) is one or more characters representing a single piece of data. For example, a name, a date, or a dollar amount are all fields.
  • Record: a <record> is a group of one or more related fields. For example, the fields representing a customer’s name, address, and account balance might be grouped together into a record called the “customer record”. A record in a data file is often referred to as an “entry”.
  • Data File: a <data file> is a group of one or more related records. A data file is often referred to simply as a “file”. The Item file in Inventory Control is an example of a <data file>. Such a file is made up of many records, each of which contains the description, prices, etc., for one item.

Each file is kept separate from the other files on the disk.

There are other types of files in addition to data files. For example, programs are stored on the disk as “program files”. However, “file” in this User Guide means “data file”, unless specifically stated otherwise.

Transactions
As used in accounting, “transaction” means a business event involving money and/or goods and/ or services. For example, a transaction occurs each time you gas up your car - you are paying money in exchange for gasoline (goods). Or, another example: you give a television set (goods) to your neighbor in exchange for the use of his lake cottage (services).

Computer software deals primarily with business events that have already taken place. Therefore, in OpenPro.com software <transaction> means “the record of a completed business event involving money and/or goods and/or services”.

The records of sales made and payments received are examples of transactions from the area of accounting called “Accounts Receivable”. The records of your purchases and the payments you make for such purchases are transactions from the accounting area called “Accounts Payable”.

The records of quantities of goods received and sold are transactions from the accounting area called “Inventory Control”.

Post
To <post> means to take transactions from a temporary file and move them to a permanent file (where other transactions probably already exist). For example, in Accounts Receivable, sales are initially entered into a temporary transaction file.

After sales have been entered and edited, they are posted to the more permanent A/R Open Item file.

Often, during transaction posting, information in other data files is also updated.

For example, when sales are posted, the account balance and historical sales figures in the Customer file are also updated.

Function
As used here, <function> means “one or more programs that accomplish a specific task”. Each selection on a menu for an OpenPro.com package is a function. When you select a function from a menu, one or more programs automatically execute, thereby allowing you to accomplish the task you selected.

Integrated
When a set of accounting packages is <integrated>, any information generated in one area that is needed in another area is automatically supplied to that other area. You do not have to enter it twice.

OpenPro.com software is fully integrated. When Inventory Control is used with other packages, data recorded in other packages can be transferred automatically to I/C and vice versa. IE Sales orders are shipped and invoiced, and then inventory is removed form Inventory Control.

Inventory Control is integrated with these other packages:

  • General Ledger distributions are generated as items are put into or taken out of inventory. These can be automatically transferred to G/L if you use General Ledger.
  • Order Entry automatically updates item quantities in I/C for all orders processed.
  • Sales Analysis is automatically updated so that it can produce reports including sales by item, by product category, and by sales volume.
  • Job Cost accepts items that you wish to transfer from inventory to jobs or vice

versa.

Alphanumeric
When the guide refers to an <alphanumeric> entry, this means that the entry can be letters of the alphabet, numerals (numbers), special symbols (*, &, $, etc.) or any combination of all three kinds.

In contrast, if an entry is specified as <numeric>, only numbers can be used.

Cost, Price and Margin
An item’s <price> is what a customer would pay to buy that item from you. An item’s <cost> is how much you spent to acquire that item for your inventory. The difference between the two is the <margin>, or gross cost, that you make on a sale of that item.

Every item in I/C has two recorded costs: a replacement cost and an average cost.

Replacement cost: This is the most current cost of an item. It is what you would pay now to replace an item in inventory.

Average cost: The average of all costs paid for an item. This is recalculated each time items are added to your inventory, and in certain situations, when items are removed from your inventory.

Serialized Items
A <serialized item> is a specific unit of merchandise with a unique serial number.

Only one serial number is allowed for each serialized item received. Receivings of serialized items are made as for any item, with the addition of entering serial numbers when appropriate.

Serialized inventory allows you to capture and track detailed information on individual serial numbers

Lot-controlled Items
A <lot-controlled> item is an item whose quantities are tracked within unique lot numbers. Lot numbers are specified during the normal receiving process. Onhand quantities can be viewed by lot, and sales of full or partial lots are recorded and tracked by lot number.

Bills of Materials, Kits and Work Orders
A <Bill of Material> or <kit> is an inventory item that is assembled from a set of other inventory items. The inventory items from which a kit is assembled are the kit’s components, and they may either be raw materials or previously assembled kits.

A <work order> is a request to assemble a kit. Work orders can be “immediate”, in which case the kit is immediately available for sale. Alternatively, a work order may be printed, issued, and the component items removed from inventory, but the kit is not available for sale until the work order is marked as “complete”.

Work orders add functions for quick, one-step assembly. In addition, kit disassembly and component modifications are allowed. Serial numbers, lot numbers, and detailed component tracking are fully supported.

Multi–company
<Multi–company> refers to the capability to do accounting functions for multiple companies with the same set of software. Accounting functions can be done for more than one company on OpenPro packages by selecting the “Multi–company” option.

Help
At any time while running an OpenPro.com package, you can click the Help key on top menu bar. A brief explanation of the particular function you are using then appears on your screen.

Spool
<Spool> is a computer word meaning “Save Printer Output Off-Line”. Spooling is a technique that allows a report to be printed on a printer at a later time. Instead of reports going directly to a printer, they are saved as a disk file (which is usually a lot faster). When a printer is available, all or some saved reports can be printed in one long run (for example, overnight).

Password Protection
You have the option to specify that passwords are required. A password is a unique code you assign to each individual using your OpenPro.com software.

When passwords are required, each potential user must enter a valid password prior to being allowed to use a protected function.

File Recovery Procedure
This function provides the capacity to recover corrupted data files. You can also use it to convert important data files to a format that can be easily interfaced to common database and word processing packages.

Printers
You can easily configure your OpenPro.com software to work with any of the most popular printers. Additionally, instructions are given to allow you to configure the software to use virtually any other printer.

Upgrading from Earlier Versions
We have included the necessary functions and instructions to allow you to upgrade from earlier versions.

Product Description

  • Inventory Control is designed for use by retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers. It includes those features most asked for by thousands of users whose experiences with previous Inventory Control packages have helped refine Inventory Control to its current mature level.
  • Supports multiple companies and multiple cost centers.
  • Provides for multiple warehouses.
  • Supports multiple costing methods - average, standard, LIFO, and FIFO, as well as serial (“real” costs) for serialized items using average cost.
  • Permits use of multiple balance sheet inventory accounts.
  • Allows you to maintain item data and print item lists.
  • Allows you to maintain inventory status and print status reports.
  • Allows you to maintain and print price codes and commission codes.
  • Supports alternate selling units.
  • Provides special pricing by category, sub-category, and location, supports sale and contract pricing, and generates group price changes.
  • Allows you to enter, change, delete and post inventory transactions and to print an edit list and a transaction journal for receivings, sales, credit memos, transfers and adjustments.
  • Tracks inventory by unique serial number or lot number.
  • Has inquiry into all currently available and previously sold serial numbers and shows oldest unsold serial number.
  • Prints the serial loan report, the flooring report, and the serialized item report by item, by vendor, and by customer.
  • Has inquiry into lot numbered inventory, including a history of transactions processed for a lot number. Prints the lot numbers report by item, by vendor, and by customer, and allows purging of lot number information.
  • Allows high-speed entry of physical inventory counts and automatic generation of inventory adjustments.
  • Supports input from hand-held terminals for receivings and physical counts.
  • Prints the Price List, Inventory Valuation Report, Purchasing Advice Report, Inventory Usage Report, Physical Count Worksheet, ABC Analysis Report, and Inventory Analysis Report.
  • Supports <kits>. A kit is an item that is assembled from other inventory items, using a work order.
  • Provides kit and work order reports, including Where Used Report, Kit Price/Cost Report, and Incomplete Work Orders.
  • Allows reports to be stored on disk to save computer time, then printed later at your convenience.
  • Allows use of multiple printers.
  • Supports the use of both multi-level menus and “menu bar” for convenient access to functions.
  • Includes password protection and data integrity checks.
  • May be used either independently or integrated with General Ledger, Order Entry, Accounts Receivable, Kits, Sales Analysis, Purchase Order, and/or Job Cost.
  • Has “Help” (highlights of functions) built into the software.

If on-hand quantities of component-items are not to be reduced, you may enter receiving transactions, using Inventory, to establish on-hand quantities for kititems.

If on-hand quantities of component-items are to be reduced, use Work orders to enter and issue <immediate> work orders for assembly of the kit-items. (See the chapter titled “Work Orders”.)

Chapter 2: Getting Started

It is assumed at this point that you have installed the programs for this package on your computer according to the OpenPro.com Installation and System Guide.

If you have not done so, refer to that guide and install the OpenPro.com software on your computer.

It is also assumed that you have familiarized yourself with the main features of this package by reading Chapter 1 of this guide, titled “Understanding Inventory Control”. If you have not done so, read that chapter and then return to this chapter.

This chapter describes the Inventory Control data files and briefly explains the order in which to set them up for regular use.

Your Accountant

We recommend that you consult with your accountants before using OpenPro.com software. They should understand your computer accounting software if they are to continue to serve you well. Moreover, because of their expertise, your accountants may have some good advice regarding converting from your existing Inventory Control system.

The Inventory Control Data Files

In order to use Inventory Control, first enter into the computer some information describing your inventory system and how you want the software to handle inventory transactions.

There are several different data files that you must enter before you can begin using the package on a regular basis. Here is a brief explanation of those files:

Company file
This file is used to record information about your company, such as the name and address, phone numbers etc. This is located under Rules, Maintenance.

Valid G/L Chart of Account file
This file contains a list of all your General Ledger accounts used in I/C. Any time you use a G/L account number, I/C will check this file to see if the number is valid.

Business Rules I/C Control file
This file contains control information that defines the way you handle your inventory and, as a result, changes or controls some of the features of this and related packages. For example, the I/C Control file tells I/C which inventory valuation method you want to use and if your company uses multiple stocking warehouses.

I/C Codes file
This file contains price codes, commission codes, and taxable codes.

Price codes allow you to define simple or sophisticated pricing structures for specific inventory items in the Item file (described below). For example, you can define different discount or mark– up percentages for different types of customers, based on the quantity of the item sold.

Commission codes allow you to define commission schedules that are used for specific items in the Item file.

Prices file
This file contains warehouse-specific prices, date-specific sale prices, and customer-specific contract prices for your items. It also contains pricing information on alternate selling units.

Accounts Receivable and Order Entry use these prices, so you only need to enter information in this file if you intend to use either of these packages.

Item file
This file identifies and describes the items you keep in your inventory. You give each item an identifying number, a description, prices, and so on.

Certain entries in the Item file, such as an item’s price code or commission code, are only useful if you are also using Accounts Receivable or Order Entry. Read the discussion in the “Items” chapter carefully.

Inventory Requirements, Status file
This file contains information on the status of the items in your inventory, such as quantity on hand, quantity committed, maximum on hand quantity, reorder level, and quantity sold period-to-date.

Serial file
The <Serial file> contains information on individual serial numbers. The data on each unsold serial number includes the corresponding item number, receiving date, cost, price and status.

This file also contains information on serial numbers that have been sold, including the original “unsold” information, and additional information, such as invoice number, invoice date, customer number, and warranty dates.

Lot number information is also retained in the Serial file. Lot balance and, optionally, lot detail records are kept for each lot-controlled item.

Bill of Materials, Kit file
This file is used only if you use kits. A kit is an item that is assembled from other inventory items. This file contains the definitions of the kits you use.

OpenPro Support

You are ready to continue now. Build the data files per the above instructions, then begin using OpenPro.com A/P to process your work.

If you have problems with this software package, contact your dealer or authorized consultant.

For the name and location of an OpenPro.com dealer or an authorized consultant near you, contact the OpenPro.com receptionist at 1–714-378-4600.

If you want to receive support directly from OpenPro.com, please call our End User Support Department at 1–714-378-4600 or email questions to: supportop@openpro.com

Or when you are in OpenPro, you can select “support” on the top right side and have live support chat sessions.

When you call this number, you are billed for support on a per-incident basis.

Before the billing starts, you are informed of the current rates, and you are given the opportunity to disconnect before you incur any charges.

Training

You may go to your own dealer for training; however, if your dealer does not offer training, Authorized Training Centers are available.

Call OpenPro.com at 1–714-378-4600 for the name of the Authorized Training Center in your area.

Chapter 3: Using Inventory Control

About This Guide

This guide provides the information you need in order to use OpenPro.com Inventory Control.

Organization

This chapter describes how to use and locate information in the Inventory Control User Guide. It also tells you how to start and exit Inventory Control.

Additional information can be obtained from the OpenPro.com Installation and System Guide, which contains chapters that describe features common to all OpenPro.com packages.

Topics covered in the OpenPro.com Installation and System Guide include:

  • Defining multiple companies
  • General rules
  • Help
  • Switching companies
  • Defining menu selections
  • Password

How to Use This Guide

When beginning, you will want to keep this guide handy so you can refer to it as often as you need. Later, you may only need to refer to it occasionally.

Each chapter of this guide provides instructions on how to use a particular selection of your software.

Help

While using your software, click the HELP button on you menu bar at any time for help about what you are currently doing.

To Start OpenPro.com Inventory Control

Your computer has an operating system (which is the basic software of the computer). If you are uncertain which operating system your computer has, contact your supplier.

Ensure you are logged in as a user authorized to use OpenPro.com software. When the master menu appears, you can select Inventory Control.

Multiple Companies

If you have set up your software to process information for more than one company (see the “Define Multiple Companies” chapter in the OpenPro.com Installation and System Guide), you are asked to enter an identifying code for the company you wish to process.

Your User ID

You are always asked for your User ID.

Password

If asked, enter your password. The characters you type will be invisible on your computer screen. Remember to click ENTER after typing your password. To select one of the functions shown above, use the UP or Down key, or click the first letter of the function name to position the cursor on the desired function and then click ENTER.

Location ID is the division or company setup in rules setup/maintenance Company Location.

Basic Process Flow

This section shows you the overall OpenPro system data flow and integration between systems.

Select Inventory Control from the Menu Item > Find:

Chapter 4: Guide to Daily Operations

Guide to Daily Operations

The following checklists are provided as examples of how you might use Inventory Control to perform various daily and periodic tasks.

While we attempt to present the tasks in a logical order, you should adjust the checklist as necessary to meet your own needs. You may wish to consult with your accountant for advice on organizing your own checklists to ensure the efficiency and security of your business operations.

Daily Operations Checklist

EACH DAY
Enter receiving, sales, credit memos, and transfers using Inventory. If you are using Job Cost, also enter job usage transactions. Post these transactions.

If you are using Order Entry Sales and credit memo transactions are entered using O/E Orders. The posting of invoices in O/E will automatically generate and post sales and credit memo transactions for inventory.

If you are using Purchasing with Inventory Control Enter your receiving using P/O Receivings. When these receivings are posted in P/O, receiving transactions are generated and placed in the Inventory Transaction file for all inventory items received. These receivings do not have to be entered again using Inventory. They will simply be posted along with other transactions that you enter directly using Inventory.

Enter, print, and issue work orders to assemble BOM.

Log work orders as completed using Completed work orders. Close these work orders using Close work orders.

Back up data files to removable media.

EACH DAY, AS NEEDED
Enter new items, using Items. Enter a status record for each warehouse at which you plan to stock the item. If the item is a kit, enter a kit definition using Kits.

Inquire into item information, using View items.

Inquire into serial number information, using View serial numbers.

Inquire into lot number information, using View lot numbers.

Enter new price codes using Price codes, and new commission codes using Commission codes.

Use Item prices to enter new item prices for a specific warehouse, and to change item prices.

Enter new sale prices using Sale prices and new contract prices using Contract prices.

Use Group price changes to change prices for groups of items.

Print price lists using Price list.

Determine which items have dropped below reorder level or which are out of stock using Purchasing advice.

Determine the current stock status of inventory items using item find.

Print a list of incomplete work orders using Incomplete work orders.

Inquire into completed work orders using View work order history.

Print information about completed work orders using the Work Order History Report.

Chapter 5: Inventory Accounts

Introduction

An Inventory Account is a current asset account in General Ledger summarizing the value of items in inventory.

OpenPro.com Inventory Control provides for multiple inventory accounts. You may enter as many as your company needs.

You may set up multiple inventory accounts in this selection. You will then assign each inventory item to one of those accounts. All postings (inventory sales, usage, and receivings) debit or credit the inventory account associated with that item.

Chapter 6: Control Information/ Business Rules

Introduction

The Business Rules is located in Rules Setup/Business Rules. This Inventory Control information selection contains basic information about the accounting setup of your Inventory Control Package. The information contained in the Business Rules explains various functions in the Inventory Control package and supplies default values for other functions. This has information like the default inventory control number, next inventory transaction number, inventory default cost, etc.

To Begin:

To set up all of the defaults, from the main menu you need to click on rules set up. From the drop down menu you click on business rules and you are able to enter all of your default information.

Chapter 6: Control Information/ Business Rules/Tables

Introduction

The Business Rules table section is located in Rules Setup/tables. This Inventory Control information selection contains basic information about how to setup the user defined fields, container sizes, and upc and uom options.

To Begin:

This is where you can turn on an off options for UOM and and UPC’s. You can also turn on multiple cost and price options per UPC.

Default information for Inventory control

To fill out all of the default information for Inventory Control you need to go to “maintenance”. In order to get here, from the main menu you click on inventory control, and then on “maintenance”.

Another Drop down menu will appear with all of the default options.

From here you are able to default the options by clicking on whatever option you would like to default and enter in the desired default information.

Chapter 7: Warehouses Requirements

Introduction

To Begin:

In order to set up the warehouse requirements you need to go to the main OpenPro menu. From there you go to rules setup and a separate drop down menu will appear. From this menu you choose “maintenance” and then click on set up company. You do this for each different warehouse location.

If you selected multi–warehousing, use this selection to designate valid warehouses and requirements for each warehouse. You update this table from the Item Maintenance screen.

See requirements on the top right side of the screen:

Chapter 8: Price Codes

Introduction

You can use this selection to define the price codes that will be associated with individual items. These codes allow you to devise a more sophisticated price structure than simply using the primary price of an item. There are eight types of price structures available, each defined by a different price code type.

When an order is entered in O/E, or an invoice is entered in A/R, the price of an item on the order or invoice will be calculated automatically, based upon the calculation method specified in the item's price code. The calculated price will display and you will have the option of accepting it or entering a different price.

In POS and O/E, additional pricing options are available by using multiwarehouse pricing, sale prices, and contract prices.

These options are described in the chapter titled “Prices”.

In POS, O/E, and A/R, the customer's trade discount may be applied in addition to the discount specified by a price code.

This chapter refers to “Price-1”, “Price-2”, “Price-3”, “Price-4”, and “Price-5”.

These are the five prices assigned to an inventory item. Prices are normally in descending order, with Price-1 being the highest.

You will also see references made to “Average cost”, “Standard cost”, and “Replacement cost”. These are the costs that are retained for an inventory item.

Refer to the chapter titled “Items” for a further explanation of these prices and costs.

CAUTION: You should not delete a price code unless you are sure that it is not currently used for any inventory items.

To Begin:

Select Price codes from the Inventory Maintenance.

Entering Price Codes

This is the screen you see:

Type & Description

  1. Discount Price by Quantity Ordered: Price is discounted according to the quantity ordered.
  2. Discount Price by Customer Type: The item’s price basis is discounted according to the customer’s type.
  3. Discount Price by Quantity Ordered: Within customer type. The item’s price basis is discounted according to the customer type, according to the quantity ordered.
  4. Mark up by Quantity Ordered: The item's price basis is marked up according to the quantity ordered.
  5. Mark up by Customer Type: The item’s price basis is marked up according to the customer type.
  6. Mark up Price by Quantity Ordered Within Customer Type: Price is marked up according to the customer type and for each customer type, according to the quantity ordered.
  7. Pick price-1, price-2, price-3, price-4, price-5 by quantity ordered. The price is selected from the prices entered in the Item file (price-1, price-2, price-3, price-4, and price-5) according to the quantity ordered.
  8. Pick price-1, price-2, price-3, price-4, price-5 by customer type. The price is selected from the prices entered in the Item file (price-1, price-2, price-3, price-4, and price-5) according to the customer type.

The fields to be entered from this point forward depend on the price type you specify in field number 3. Each of the types is shown in the following sections.

Chapter 9: Commission Codes

Use this selection to enter sales reps' commission codes that will be associated with individual inventory items.

The use of commission codes is optional, even if you specified in the O/E that sales reps and commissions be used.

If commissions are used, these codes will enable the system to automatically calculate default commission values during the billing procedures of Order Entry Plus and Accounts Receivable.

This is part of the Setup. In order to get to commission codes you need to go to the main menu and select “inventory control”. From the drop down window that appears click on commission codes.

This will take you to the following screen:

Once you have entered a commission code, go to Inventory Control “item find” and select a commission code for desired items.

Representatives also have the default commission percent setup if there is a tier commission setup for the Representative.

Chapter 10: Inventory Items

Introduction

Information on each item in your inventory is kept in the Item file. This chapter describes this file, tells how to set it up, and shows how to print item lists.

Use this selection to enter items.

To Begin:

In order to view or edit items you need to select “item find” from the main OpenPro menu. This will take you to the following screen:

Add Item

In order to add an item, from the main “item find” screen click on the blue add new item Here button located in the top middle of the screen. From this screen new items could be added or Imported using the import assist. A page similar to the following will appear:

From this screen enter all of the required information, in blue, and then you are able to enter in additional information. Once you have finished entering your new item, click on the blue add button located at the bottom middle of the screen.

There are several screen that can access from this screen including, history information, BOM, BOO Routing, multiple upc, bar coding labels, sizing, etc.

To add a note (when creating a new item): You are also able to add notes to your item, either when you are entering your item or just viewing it. In order to add a note when you are creating an item for the first time, you simply click on the add note button to the top right hand side of the screen. The button looks like a pencil and paper. Once you have clicked this button the following screen appears:

From here you are able to add in any note that pertains to that item, as well as keywords that relate to that item for search purposes.

To edit an item

In OpenPro Inventory Control you have to ability to edit the information that you have input into the OpenPro inventory accounts system. In order to do this you go to the main “item find” screen that resembles the following:

Once at this page, enter all desired search information for the item that you would like to edit and click on the blue Search button located at the bottom of the screen. You also have to option to check the fast checkbox and search. This will give you a list of every item that you have in the system.

From this screen, to edit an item, you click on the green edit button. This will bring up the same page that you saw when you first entered the item’s information. When you see the screen you are able to make all necessary changes to the item and click on the green save button at the bottom of the screen when you are through.

Inventory Control

Important processes, such as: inventory transactions, Move orders, Adjustments, and receipts of inventory (non Purchase order receipts).

Location Inventory

Summary list of inventory at different locations.

Depending on whether the inventory is serialized or lot controlled, the screen changes, and you can drill down to see the inventory.

Item Availability

This shows what inventory is available; it is date and time stamped so you can see all in-coming and outgoing inventory.

With Available to Promise like this, you promise inventory to a customer and use the system logic to give a good idea when the inventory will be available. You can Drill down to see the details as well.

This is an example of drilling down the required items.

and the Work Order that is requiring this item.

Item MRP

Similar to the Available to Promise, but this is taking a MRP snapshot of your inventory.

This will show forecasts from the Master Production Scheduling process and have drill down capabilities to view the details as well.

Item Requirements

This selection allows direct access to, and entry of, status information for items that are already on file. The Status screen is essentially the same as in the Items selection.

This selection is provided separately to allow you to easily enter status information when item information already exists. For example, when you start stocking an existing item at a new warehouse, you only need to enter status information for the new warehouse.

In order to get to item requirements, go to the “item find” screen and click on the gray requirements button located to the right of the item.

The following screen will appear:

From here you are able to either: set up a new location by clicking on the set up a new location button; edit a location, by clicking on the green edit button; or delete a location by clicking on the red delete button.

When you add or edit a new requirement the following screen will appear:

Quote Calculator Method

This is part of the Product Configurator used in manufacturing and quoting processes; it allows you to have a base product and options, like size, color style etc. These options can change the price of the product and the character of the product.

Where BOM is used:

This shows you where higher-level BOM products, such as the product shown above, are located.

Chapter 11: Prices

Introduction

Use this selection to:

  • Change existing prices for an item or group of items,
  • Enter prices for an item in a specific warehouse (if you selected to use multi-warehouse pricing in Control information),
  • Enter sale or contract prices for an item or group of items,
  • Print a list of sale or contract prices for a group of items,
  • Print a price list for a group of items, and
  • Print a price list for a particular customer.

This chapter also explains how to use the Purge sale prices and Purge contract prices selections on the Utility menu.

Overview of Prices

Inventory Control provides for the following types of prices:

  • Item default prices
  • Sale prices
  • Contract prices

Item default prices are the prices that exist for an item in the Item file (Price1/2/3/4/5 for the stocking unit and for each alternate unit). If you do not enter a price code or set up any other prices for an item, Price-1 is used for the corresponding selling unit and will be used as the default selling price. Price-1 is always used as the default price if the item is sold using the Inventory selection.

When using the Purchasing Order, Price-3 can be designated as the “regular” price for an item. If an item is sold at less than its “regular” price, it is reported in P/A as a markdown.

If an item has a price code for the selected selling unit, the item's selling price is calculated by applying the price code to the item default prices. Price codes are used only in Order Entry and POS.

Item default prices can be changed using either the Item prices or Items selection.

Sale prices are the prices charged for specific inventory items or groups of items, for a specific period of time. If a sale price is in effect when a ticket is entered in A/R or an order is entered in Order Entry, the price used is the lower of the sale price and the price is calculated based on the item’s default or warehousespecific prices.

Sale prices are entered using Sale prices. Six distinct types of sale prices can be defined for the stocking unit and for each alternate unit of an item, as shown below. However, A/R and Order Entry use only the types that are indicated for “Use sale prices by” in Control information.

If multiple sale prices exist for an item, the type that appears highest on the following list is used by A/R and Order Entry.

  1. Sale price for an item at a specific warehouse
  2. Sale price for an item at “All” warehouses
  3. Sale price for a category/sub-category at a specific warehouse
  4. Sale price for a category at a specific warehouse
  5. Sale price for a category/sub-category at “All” warehouses
  6. Sale price for a category at “All” warehouses

Warehouse-specific sale prices may be set up only if you selected multiwarehouse pricing in Control information.

Contract prices are the prices charged for specific items, or groups of items, to specific customers. They may be set up for a specific period of time, or to remain in effect until removed from the file.

If a contract price exists for an item/customer when a ticket is entered in A/R or an order is entered in Order Entry, the contract price is used instead of any automatically calculated price. A contract price can instead be defined to only be active when it is the lowest price.

Contract prices are entered using Contract prices. Three distinct types of contract prices can be defined for the stocking unit and for each alternate unit of an item, as shown below. However, A/ R and Order Entry use only the types that are indicated for “Use contract prices by” in Control information.

If multiple contract prices exist for an item, the type that appears highest on the following list is used by A/R and Order Entry:

  1. Contract price for a customer for a specific item
  2. Contract price for a customer for a category/sub-category
  3. Contract price for a customer for a category

Warehouse-specific contract prices cannot be defined.

Deleting Prices

Any of the prices that you define through this selection may be deleted by clicking F3 when the individual price information is displayed. Sale prices and contract prices may also be deleted by using either Purge sale prices or Purge contract prices.

In addition, if you delete an item using either Items or Purge inactive items, any associated prices for the deleted items are also removed. If the status record for an item is deleted (using Status, Items, or Purge inactive items), warehousespecific prices for the item in the related warehouse are deleted as well.

To Begin:

Select Prices from the I/C menu. Then select Item prices from the Prices menu.

Changing Item Prices

If you are using multi-warehouse pricing (as specified in Control information), you are asked if you wish to enter prices by warehouse. Follow the screen instructions to update item default prices or prices for a specific warehouse.

NOTE: If you selected to enter prices by warehouse, the warehouse you specified is shown at the top of this screen.

Enter the information as follows:

The existing non-zero prices for the item is displayed, along with the item's stocking unit, pricing unit, average cost (standard cost for standard valuation), and replacement cost.

If the item has a pricing unit that is different from its stocking unit, enter the revised prices per pricing unit. The price per stocking unit is then calculated and displayed.

If all prices for an item are currently zero, the message displays “No prices exist for this item”.

To enter new prices for an item (for example, if price-3 is zero or alternate unit prices do not already exist), use the Items selection.

Entering Sale Prices

Use the Sale prices selection to enter sale prices and dates for inventory items or groups of items.

When entering A/R invoices or O/E orders, if a sale price is in effect for an item, the lower of the sale price and the automatically calculated price will be used as the default for the item.

Sale prices that have expired may be cleared from the file using this selection, or the Purge sales prices selection on the Utility menu (see the section titled Purging Sale Prices near the end of this chapter).

Select Sale Prices from the Prices menu.

If you are using multi-warehouse pricing (as specified in Control information), you are asked if you wish to enter sale prices by warehouse. Follow the screen instructions to update item default sale prices or sale prices for a specific warehouse.

EXAMPLE: Since multi-warehouse prices are not being used, this screen does not appear.

If you enter I, and did not select to use this type of sale price in Control information, a message displays to inform you that sale prices by item are not active.

If you enter C, and did not select to use either sale prices by category or subcategory, a message displays to inform you of this.

Sale prices may be entered by item, by category, or by sub-category, regardless of the types selected in Control information. However, these sale prices will not be used in A/R or Order Entry until they are also selected in Control information.

Chapter 12: Bill of Materials

Introduction

Chapter 13: Item Labels

To Begin:

In order to view item labels, you need to go to the main Inventory Control menu and select “item find”. Once you have done this click on the edit item button next to the item that you would like a label for. This will bring up the following screen:

The options that you can have a label for include: Part number, UPC code, Manufacturer number, and Vendor number. The label button is located to the right of the option that you would like to choose, in red.

You are able to view all of the label options like the example above.

Chapter 14: Item Serial numbers

Introduction

This is based upon the item file and flag setup for that item.

To Begin:

In order to view a serial number:

Chapter 15: Distributions to G/L

Introduction

The Distributions to G/L selection enables you to print a report showing the distributions to G/L accounts.

The report may be used to drive a guide General Ledger package, or the file may be used to drive a General Ledger computer package.

If you interface to OpenPro.com’s G/L package, the transfer of information is initiated from within that package and is described in the G/L User Guide.

  • If you use some other G/L package, you can export this file using the file utilities described in the Installation and Systems Guide. You must then reformat the information into a format usable by your system.
  • Whether your G/L package is OpenPro.com, guide, or foreign, use the Distributions to G/L selection to purge the A/P Distribution file after the data has been transferred.

Important note – if OpenPro.com G/L is not used
The Inventory Control Distributions to General Ledger report lists the debits and credits that must be entered into your guide ledger.

Back up your data files and then print this report. All accounts should be printed. The date range should be from the earliest date to the date at the end of your accounting period. Specify that the file should be purged. By purging the distributions that are printed on the report, the only distributions remaining in the file, if any, will be for transactions that apply to the future accounting periods.

Important note – if OpenPro.com G/L is used
The A/P Distribution to G/L file contains debits and credits (created by A/P transactions) that will be transferred to OpenPro.com General Ledger.

The distributions are actually transferred by selecting “GL to Post” from the G/L menu, and then specifying that you want to get distributions from the A/P package. Refer to “Get Distributions” in the G/L User Guide.

Prior to running Get distributions, print the Inventory Control Distributions to G/L Report. All accounts should be printed. The date range should be from the earliest date to the end of your accounting period. Do not specify that the file be purged. If you purge distributions here in A/P before transferring them to the G/L package, you would have to enter these distributions again guidely in the G/L package, using General journal. This defeats the purpose of the Get distributions selection.

The purpose of printing this report is to obtain an accurate list of the debits and credits that are to be transferred to G/L.

You may print the report to disk and then obtain a printed copy using Print reports from disk. In this way, you can retain a copy of the report on the hard disk in case a spare copy of the report is needed.

Chapter 16: Physical Inventory

Introduction

To Begin:

Enter the following information:

A Physical Inventory request can be entered. This can be used for cycle counting or a complete physical process.

Physical tag reports can be run for counting.

The above screen shows the entry process for entering counts.

Physical tag reports can be run for counting.

Processing the physical table report will generate adjustments for the count.

Costed variance reports can be run.

Other reports like stock status, etc can be run as well.

Chapter 17: History

Introduction

History detail is kept for all transactions that add and remove inventory.

To Begin:

Chapter 18: Year–End

Introduction

The Year–end selection updates the YTD items’ history information at the end of your fiscal year. It does this by moving the current year–to–date purchases and discount amounts to the last year purchases and discount amounts, and clearing the current year–to–date amounts.

To Begin:

NOTE: This function is done automatically so no process is required.

[Last Review Date January 2015]