The Preferred Suppliers function is used to support purchase order automation in
- drop ship,
- just in time (special),
- back-order and
- stock replenishment tasks.
Each of these tasks requires the selection of a preferred supplier to create the related Purchase Order.
Preferred Supplier : Configuration
You can setup preferred Suppliers on the Preferred Suppliers table for each Item in the Item Master.
To configure this table, go to:
PRODUCTS/SERVICES > Items > Select Item > Purchasing/Costs tab > Preferred Suppliers section.
This table stores:
| Supplier | A Supplier from your Suppliers List. |
| Item Code | The Supplier’s part / SKU code. This code will appear on the Purchasing Documents. When received into the WMS, the system will transform this code into the Sales (internal) Item Code. |
| Description | Item description |
| Unit Cost | The last known cost; manually entered. The unit cost is expressed in the Supplier currency (not in the base currency). |
| Stock | Suppliers last known stock level; manually entered. |
| Minimum Order Quantity | The supplier’s threshold. The value in this column is used by the Purchase Order generator by Item and Order. Refer Using Purchase Orders. |
| Average Lead Time | Time to process the order(in days). |
| Use on Docs | Use this data on Purchase Documents. |
| Default | Check this field, to make this supplier, the default preferred supplier. |
Preferred Suppliers: Edit | Change order type
You can edit preferred suppliers on the Sales Quote and Sales Order Documents. This is useful if you need to Drop Ship a Standard Item (one you don’t normally Drop Ship).
Sales Quote Document | To edit preferred suppliers in Sales Quote Document, go to: SALES > Sales Quotes > Select Sales Quote > Preferred Suppliers |
Sales Order Document | To edit preferred suppliers in Sales Order Document, go to: SALES > Sales Orders > Select Sales Order > Preferred Suppliers |
Document not in Edit mode
When you click on Preferred Supplier, a modal (popup) window will appear. In the example below, the Document has two line Items in the Line Item table.
The Preferred Suppliers for the Items are displayed as View only (because the Document in not in Edit mode).
Document in Edit mode
To enter the Document in Edit mode, go to:
SALES > Sales Quotes > Select Sales Quote > Edit > Preferred Suppliers
When you click on Preferred Supplier, a popup window will appear:
When the Document is in Edit Mode, you can select and change the preferred supplier for every Item in the Line Item table.
In the above example, the Document has two line Items in the Line Item table.
Click on the drop down in the Supplier column and select the appropriate supplier.
You can also mark an Item for Drop Ship, by checking the corresponding check box under DS column.
You can mark an Item as Special Order, by checking the corresponding check box under SO column.
You can select and change an Item’s default order type (Drop ship or special order).
In the above example Item ABC123 is set to Drop Ship, and DEF345 is set to Special Order.
Preferred Suppliers: Set costs
To set preferred suppliers costs, go to:
SALES > Sales Order > Configure > Dropship/Special Order > Edit
Set Inherit cost from field using the options from the drop down.
The purpose of this control is to determine where the unit cost for preferred suppliers should be derived from. The different options are –
Sales Order | The arbitrary cost on the Sales Order.A typical use case is where you are brokering the sale of an Item.You agree on a cost with the supplier, back to back with agreeing on a cost with the end customer. |
Unit Cost (from Preferred Supplier) | The unit cost specified on the preferred supplier table located on the Purchasing tab of the respective Item Master. |
Unit Cost (from Item) | The unit cost specified by you on the respective Item Master. |