The purchase order assistant supports the user in the optimized automatic reordering of required items. The requirements are calculated on the basis of the current stock and project consumption, including, if applicable, the deduction of already triggered orders.

Automatic purchase orders can be created with regard to the stock requisites or project related (part-picked).

The purchase order assistant can be started in “orders, list view” via the  button.

 

Prerequisites to use the  purchase order assistant

The purchase order assistant only takes items into account for which certain parameters have been set.

For items kept in stock:

 

Purchase order articles	An order can only be prepared (manually or automatically) for items that are marked as order items.
Automatic inventory management	If the automatic inventory management is activated, the consumption of a project is registered when clicking the checkbox “stock booked” in the warehouse monitor.
Automatic purchase order	If the checkbox is activated, the warehouse monitor controls the stock.  When the minimum stock level is reached, the order assistant will order the respective item in the next order automatically.
Minimum stock level	The minimum stock level states how many pieces of an item have to be at least in stock frequently.
Supplier	The different items have to be assigned to a supplier, from whom a product is usually ordered.
Optional: purchase order suggestion	To ensure that the order assistant not only reorders the exact immediate requirements (minimum stock level + project consumption), but works towards the optimum stock level, a item value for the order suggestion can be stated. This way, also packaging and scale prices can be taken into account.

 

Commissioning order items:

Purchase order articles	An order can only be prepared (manually or automatically) for items that are marked as order items.
Automatic purchase order	If the automatic inventory management is activated, the consumption of a project is registered when clicking the checkbox “stock booked” in the warehouse monitor.
Purchase order commissioning	If the checkbox is activated, the order assistant monitors the order-related requirements and triggers the order.
Supplier	The different items have to be assigned to a supplier, from whom a product is usually ordered.

 

The respective project consumption will only be taken into account when the checkbox “store booked” or “reserved” has been activated for the respective projects. If the checkbox is disabled, the inventory transaction is cleared and the respective items will no longer be taken into account when ordering.

 

Example for the autofill of a stock (warehouse)

 

In the example, the necessary parameters have been set for only five items. Four items have a minimum stock level of twenty pieces, one has a lesser consumption and is not supposed to be available in large quantities. Its minimum stock level is ten pieces. The initial stock for all of the five items is zero.

 

Stock options of an article selection

 

On day X an order is received, for which an order confirmation is created. After all items have been registered, the project becomes “store booked” via the respective checkbox.

 

Stock consumption in a project

 

The purchase order assistant is started in the interface “purchase orders”. After a brief examination, a list of all suppliers for whom items with an open inventory exist, is displayed. Either per drag&drop or via the arrow buttons, the suppliers, for whom orders shall be created, are moved into the right selection.

 

Purchase order assistant to find open purchase orders

 

After clicking “OK”, one purchase order for each one chosen supplier will be created.

 

Automatically generated order

 

The order has been carried out as follows:

 

Item	Minimum stock level	+ project consumption	= total requirement	Purchase order proposal	Order
Side cap Set PVC 45° 137 mm beige	20	30	50	100	100
Side cap Set PVC 45° 137 mm brown	20	45	65	100	100
Side cap Set PVC 45° 137 mm dark green	10	15	25	20	40
Side cap Set PVC 45° 137 mm grey	20	90	110	100	200
Side cap Set PVC 45° 137 mm white	20	80	100	100	100

 

For the items in dark green and grey, the simple purchase order suggestion would not have been sufficient to cover the requirements. For this reason the order has been doubled.

This simple example exemplifies how the purchase order assistant operates. In practice, all consumption of all projects are taken into account (including the material consumption within BOM (bills of materials) items and bundled in each one order per supplier. Also items that have fallen below their minimum stock level are incorporated in the order automatically, without a separate order having to be triggered (e.g. through a manual store booking). If the project consumption does not cause the minimum stock level to be undercut, no purchase order will be triggered.

In the items themselves, the history of project consumption and purchase orders are visible via the stock monitor.

 

Open purchase order quantity of an article