Distribution Help and User Guide v17

1. Changes to Standard Sage Screens

1.1. PL - Enter New/Amend Account Details

A Distribution tab has been added to these screens with the fields show in the screenshot above. The settings for ‘Default lead time in days’ and the ‘Safety margin’ are both used by the Calculate Minimum Stock Levels screen as overrides when a stock item is being analysed where this supplier is the preferred supplier. The Stock cover in days‘ figure displayed is a calculation of the Default lead time multiplied by the Safety margin.

The Update Stock Item Lead Times button allows you to update every stock item where this supplier is the preferred supplier with the lead time recorded in this tab.

The Landed Costs options allow you to record the appropriate settings for this supplier for Landed Costs. The Update Stock Item Supplier Landed Costs button would be used to update the details of landed costs recorded on stock items where this account has been setup as a supplier of that item, and you’ve made a change to the setting regarding value or percentage based.

See the section on Maintain Landed Costs in the Distribution Stock Control menu for more information about this functionality.

1.2. SC - Enter New/Amend Stock Item Details

A Stock Movements button has been added to these screens which allows you to view the Future Stock Movements screen for this stock item. See the documentation on the Future Stock Movements screen within the Material Planning Help and User Guide for more information.

A Distribution tab has been added to these screens with the fields show in the screenshot above.

The first tick box allows you to set a stock item as superseded, and then select the stock item that has superseded it in the drop down. When processing a sales order or purchase order for this stock item, you will be prompted that the item has been superseded.  You can choose to keep the item you originally selected should there be stock still available or change it to the new stock code.

The Round forecast min stock quantity up to is an option used by the Calculate Minimum Stock Levels function, and is a drop down that allow you to specify how many decimal places you would like the minimum stock level suggestion to use for this stock item.

If you check the tick box beneath, then this stock item will not be included in the Calculate Minimum Stock Level process.

The dimension fields in the bottom half of the screen are used as part of the container loading feature in Distribution. You can specify the size dimensions here and the volume will automatically be calculated. You can also specify the Weight field. If you check the Use container loading box, then when adding lines to a purchase order for this stock item, it will measure their volume and weight against the remaining capacity of the selected container. See the Container Enquiry screen in the Purchase Order Processing menu for more details.

The Suppliers tab has fields added used by the Material Planning routine and the Landed Costs functionality.

The Usual order quantity field acts as a multiple for the quantity suggested for suggested purchase orders. So if you enter a value of 2, then the suggestions would always be in a multiple of 2, e.g. 2,4,6….22,24 etc.

The Minimum order quantity field is the minimum amount that a purchasing suggestion will be if there is a demand for this item in the Material Planning routine.

Unlike the standard Sage fields for usual and minimum order quantities (which are displayed further down), our fields allow you to enter a usual order quantity that is less than the minimum order quantity. An example of where you might do this, is if you have a minimum order quantity of 20, but can only order in multiples of 5. The standard Sage fields would not allow you to enter a smaller usual order quantity than the minimum order quantity, hence we used our own fields instead.

The Landed Costs section in the top right allows you to record whether landed costs are applicable for the purchase of this stock item from this supplier, and whether they will be percentage based or value based. See the section on Maintain Landed Costs for more information about this functionality.

A Landed Costs tab has been added to these screens with the fields show in the screenshot above.

This tab on the stock item shows the values recorded against each supplier defined on that stock item and allows them to be edited on this screen. The total cost is updated onto the supplier landed cost figure and used on the purchase order.

1.3. SC - View Stock Item Balances

Boxes have been added to this screen to show quantity of this stock item on current Proformas and Quotations. The Forward Order box shows how many are required for sales orders that have yet to be allocated.

Drill down is provided on the indicated fields below: Double click on any of these areas to drill down into a list of the orders that are contributing to these figures. If you double click on an order in the list, then the appropriate order enquiry screen would open.

By clicking the Distribution button at the bottom, you can access the View Previous Sales Orders or View Stock Movements screens.

View Previous Sales Orders

If you double click on an order line, then it will open View Sales Order for that order.

View Stock Movements

See the documentation on the Future Stock Movements screen within the Material and Resource Planning Help and User Guide for more information.

1.4. SC - View Monthly Trading Figures

The View Monthly Trading Figures has been enhanced to include a usage calculation and graph for the usage, lost orders and the sales figures.  The Usage Analysis tab includes sales plus any BOM, Works Orders or Internal issues in the stock module. The Lost Order Analysis tab reflects any order lines for this stock code that have been tagged as Lost Orders. See the changes on the SOP Order Entry/Amendment section for details on that functionality.

1.5. SC – Locations

We have added a new tick box to the Edit Warehouse Details screen when maintaining Locations in Stock Control. This controls whether landed costs will apply to purchase order lines that are being delivered to this warehouse.

1.6. SOP - Enter New/Amend Order/Quotation

There are numerous buttons that can be added to these screens if they are enabled in the distribution settings.

The following Buttons are added to the Order header screen on the Order Details tab:

Add Historical Lines: Enables you to search for stock items ordered previously by that customer, so that you can review previous selling prices, and if desired add some of these items to the current order. When adding historical items, you can see the last sale date, last selling quantity and price.  Entering a quantity into the Order Quantity field will update the selling price from the price book if this is configured for the customer and then click the Add to Sales Order button to create these as new lines on the current order. If you have been granted permissions via the Sales Price User Permissions screen within the Distribution Sales Order Processing menu, then a prompt will appear after amending the selling price as to whether you wish to create a new price band, or amend an existing one with this selling price change.

This screen will look back a range of months as specified on the Telesales tab in the Distribution Settings.

The Build Kit column and Auto complete kit build check box can be disabled with the relevant setting on the General tab in the Settings.

Note that you can get direct access into creating new sales orders with this screen via the Telesales Order Entry menu option within the Distribution\Sales Order Processing menu.

Copy Lines: This screen enables you to search for lines on a previous sales order in order to copy them onto the current sales order. You can filter by order number or stock item code, and then select the lines that you require and click the Add Lines button to copy them onto the current order.

This screen will look back a range of months as specified on the Telesales tab in the Distribution Settings.

Telesales: This screen provides a rapid alternative method for adding lines to this sales order in a way that is suitable for telephone selling. The stock item search feature will search the stock code, name, description and manufacturer part number fields.  Free stock figures are shown against each item in the search results to enable users to see what free stock is available.

Add multiple items to the rapid order entry page, then add these to the current open sales order using the Add lines to Sales Order button at the bottom of the page.

You can return to Historical, Copy Lines or Telesales entry at any time, or use the full order entry edit line feature.

Templates: You can select from any templates that have been created via the SO Template menu options within the Sales Order Processing menu in Distribution. You can use the templates to add lines to existing orders in addition to using them on empty sales orders.

Create Preallocation: You can use this screen to create a preallocation between a sales order line and a purchase order on the system for the same stock code. This will reserve the required quantity on that purchase order, so that when it is goods received, it can be allocated straight to this sales order.

Once a preallocation exists for a sales order line, the button for this screen will change to Amend Preallocation, where you can amend the Quantity to preallocate if necessary. Preallocations are also visible on the purchase order, and can also be amended there.

Analysis Codes tab:

The distribution module moves the analysis codes from their previous location of the bottom of the Delivery & Invoicing tab, and instead moves them onto their own tab.

Shipping tab: If enabled in the settings, this tab gives you the facility to record shipping details for the order, going to the level of size dimensions and weights. You can also record whether the items are being shipped as a parcel or a pallet, which carrier and service they are going with and on what vehicle type. You can also record a date required and a collection date. Finally, a box at the bottom allows you to record any special instructions for the shipment. The field values available in this screen are maintained via the Shipping Maintenance screen in the Maintenance menu.

At the bottom of the screen when on any of the tabs displayed above, two new buttons have been added for View Preallocations and Order Line Dates.

The View Preallocations button would show any Preallocations for any of the items on the sales order, typically these would be links to purchase orders showing which purchase orders will allocate to this sales order when they are received.

The Order Line Dates screen gives a single screen where you can quickly review and edit the requested and promised delivery dates for all lines on this sales order. The allocated quantity is also displayed for review.

Two new buttons are available from within each line on a sales order.  The Distribution button and the Lost button.

The Distribution button gives the facility to drill into the standard Sage screens for View Stock Item Balances and View Stock Item History. Also available are the options to View Previous Sales Orders for this item, which displays previous order dates, order numbers, quantities (and quantities despatched) and the unit selling price. By double clicking on an entry in this screen, you can open View Order for the relevant sales order. The fourth option on the Distribution button is to view the Stock Movements screen for the stock code on this line. See the description of the Future Stock Movements screen in the Material and Resource Planning Help and User Guide.

The Lost button is used to reflect that this order line is no longer going to be ordered, and you want to record it as a lost order line. You can record a reason from the drop down (with the options defined in the maintenance menu screen) and record some additional info for reporting later. Once this has been recorded, you would then delete the line from the order via the standard Sage button on the order header. Lines marked as Lost can be reviewed via the Lost Orders Enquiry screen within the Sales Order Processing menu within Distribution.

1.7. 1.7 POP - Enter New/Amend Order

The Default container field is used when you have enabled the setting called Enable container loading management on the General tab of Distribution Settings. This feature enables you to track how full a container is, and the same container can be used on multiple purchase orders. When using this field, you can click the magnifying glass symbol to either select from a container defined on a previous purchase order, or create a new container record.

When adding a new container record, you select the container size from a list of possible sizes that is maintained via the Container Size Maintenance screen within the Maintenance menu in Distribution. Lines added to the purchase order will use the size and volume dimensions specified on the stock item record. The system will generate a generic reference number for this container, but you can also enter the actual container number if known. Once a container has been created/selected on a purchase order, then the magnifying glass symbol changes to an icon with an arrow on it, and clicking on this takes you to the Container Enquiry screen. This screen is documented within the Purchase Order Processing Menu section.

The distribution module also adds four new tabs to the purchase order header:

Preallocations, Material Planning, Tracking Dates and Landed Costs.

The Preallocations tab will show any preallocations for this purchase order, such as whether any of the quantities on the order are already preallocated to any sales orders before they are received.

These preallocations cannot be amended via this tab but can be amended on the relevant order line.

The Material Planning tab is relevant if this purchase order was generated from a suggestion in MRP. If this is the case, then this tab will display the list of reasons that caused this purchase order to be generated.

The Tracking Dates tab allows you to track the shipment of this purchase order using a tracking profile defined in the PO Tracking Maintenance screen within the Maintenance menu. Each stage will have a provisional date calculated from the Requested Delivery date of the purchase order, and the actual dates can be updated and marked as confirmed as updates are received on the progress of the order. A Notes button is also available for each stage to record any further information. The Vessel Name, Forwarder and Container Size can either be selected from a selection list maintained via the Maintenance menu, or allow for free text typing.

The Landed Costs tab shows provisional landed costs breakdown and allows you to record actual landed costs and then apportion them across the relevant lines. The provisional totals give you totals for all landed costs on the order, and you then populate the actual totals as the costs are received. You can apportion these actual costs across the multiple lines on the order, apportioned either by percentages, the weight or the volume dimensions. Once you have used the Apportion button to split the costs between the lines, then click the Update PO Lines button to update the landed costs on the order lines. Depending upon when you are updating stock costs in Sage200, you may want to record these actual costs and apportion them before receiving the items into stock (you certainly want to do this before receiving the supplier invoice and matching it to the order). When the invoice is matched to the order, the landed costs nominal postings will be split between the designated nominal control accounts for the landed costs types.

See the section on Maintain Landed Costs within the Distribution Stock Control menu for full information on the configuration required for this functionality.

The Confirmed check box on the front tab of the purchase order allows you to record that the supplier has acknowledged and confirmed the order details and dates. This information is also available when drilling into the purchase orders from within the stock item balance screen.

The View Preallocations button, at the bottom of the screen when on any of the tabs, displays any preallocations against any of the lines on the purchase order. It is possible to edit any of these preallocations or create new preallocations via this screen.

The Tracking Dates button, also at the bottom of the screen when on any of the tabs, displays information for tracking dates against each line on the order. This differs from the Tracking Dates tab which displays the tracking progress for the order as a whole, whereas this button displays it against each order line if this information is being record separately for the lines.

Two buttons have been added to each line within the purchase order, Tracking and Preallocations.

The Tracking button allows you to record line specific tracking dates information which works in the same way as the Tracking Dates tab on the order header, but at a line level.

The Preallocations button allows you to maintain any preallocations for this order line.

1.8. POP – Record Purchase Invoices

We have made a change in the functionality of the nominal coding on invoices being matched to purchase orders where landed costs are involved. Standard Sage200 landed costs functionality adds the landed costs to the value of the stock, so a posting is made to the default landed costs nominal account to correspond with the increase of the stock value. With our enhanced landed costs functionality, we reverse this posting out of the default landed costs nominal account, and instead split it between the nominal accounts specified against the landed costs types (defined within the Maintain Landed Costs screen in the Stock Control menu).

So in this example, 1300.00 has been added to the cost of the received stock, and this has then been reversed from nominal account 94999 and split across specific nominal accounts to reflect the split of shipping, duty and transport.

2. Sales Order Processing Menu

2.1. Manager SOP Back Orders

This allows the very quick allocation of stock to sales orders without the need to open each sales order and order line.  It is also possible to unallocate stock too.

The Warehouses button can be used to filter the displayed order lines by warehouse. You can also filter by all of the other fields displayed above the list, and the filters can be reset via the Clear Filters button. Note that by default, sales order lines that are preallocated will not appear as the tick box that controls this starts as not ticked.

The Display button is used to list sales orders for allocation (or unallocated) according to the search criteria selected.  Items shown on the Allocate Stock tab may be selected and allocation quantities amended if required.  When the Allocate Selected Items button is clicked, stock will be allocated to the selected sales order line items, provided free stock is available.  Existing sales order allocations may be removed via the Unallocate Stock tab.

The Details button may be used to open the sales order that the selected line is linked to. If an allocation is for a traceable stock item, then the Amend Serial/Batch No button can be used to review the traceable allocation and amend if required.

The Distribution button gives a quick shortcut to the View Item Balances, View Previous Sales Orders, View Stock History and View Stock Movements screens.

2.2. Create New SO Template

Allows the creation of a pre-configured list of stock items to be used repeatedly to create a sales order, or to add them to an existing order. You need to enter a unique name for the template, and then add the relevant stock codes and quantities, in addition to the warehouse that they should be supplied from. These templates are then selectable on a sales order via the Templates button detailed in the SOP Enter New/Amend Order/Quotation section previously. The Narrative field is stored on the template, so is displayed when the template is amended or selected for an order, but does not transfer to the created sales order lines.

2.3. Amend SO Template

Allows the templates created in the previous screen to be amended. The templates can be deleted via the Delete Template button if no longer required.

2.4. Lost Orders Enquiry

This screen displays all sales order lines that have been marked as ‘Lost’, using that button within a sales order line. After reviewing these, you can tick the Authorised checkbox which then results in only unauthorised lines being displayed when the tick box at the top of the screen is checked.

You can use the Add button to manually create lost order line records (such as when a line has been deleted from a sales order before the Lost button was clicked against it). You can also Edit existing entries here or delete them if required.

2.5. Sales Price User Permissions

This screen enables you to select Sage users who either have the option of creating a new price book from within the Add Historical Lines screen on a sales order line, or updating an existing one. When the user changes the Selling Price in this screen, they will be prompted as to whether they want to create or update a price band, as applicable.

2.6. Mark Up Pricing

This screen enables you to enable mark-up pricing at a product group level per customer. If you select the Use Markup checkbox for a customer/product group combination, then the Markup % column should be edited to indicate the mark up amount.

The first column of checkboxes can be selected if you wish landed costs to be factored into the stock item cost before the mark up is applied.

This functionality differs from the Markup Pricing screen in the standard Sage200 Price Book module in that you can specify different markup rates per customer.

2.7. Change Fulfilment

This screen is linked to functionality where it is possible to use the Sicon fulfilment methods, as opposed to the standard three Sage fulfilment methods –  From Stock, Supplier via Stock and Direct to Customer. Our fulfilment methods effectively mirror the behaviour of the standard Sage fulfilment methods (using our Preallocations), but with the added benefit that you can then use this screen to change that fulfilment method used for an order at a later stage.

The screen features various filter options at the top of the screen, but you can then tick the sales order lines that you wish to change the fulfilment methods for, and use the Change Fulfilment button to proceed.

If you select a sales order line that is linked to any existing preallocations, then a prompt will appear advising that changing the fulfilment method will remove these preallocations, but not change any other details of that purchase order.

Then you will be presented with the screen where you can choose the new fulfilment method for the selected sales orders.

If you are choosing from Stock or Supplier via Stock as the new fulfilment method, then you’ll also need to select the relevant warehouse for the sales order line to use. You’ll also be able to allocate the stock if there is any available.

If you’re choosing Direct Delivery as the new fulfilment method, then you’ll need to amend the relevant sales order in order to receive the prompt to create the new purchase order when saving the sales order.

2.8. Telesales Order Entry

This screen gives direct access into the Add Historical Lines functionality, but with the difference that you can click ‘Create Sales Order’ to generate a new order directly from this screen. See the description of Add Historical Lines within the changes to SOP – Enter New/Amend Order/Quotation for further details.

3. Purchase Order Processing Menu

3.1. PO Tracking Enquiry

This screen allows you to search for purchase orders using information recorded on the Tracking Dates tab. So if a supplier has advised you that a particular vessel has been delayed, or a specific container is stuck in customs, then you can search via this screen to see which purchase orders are affected. You can select the criteria using the fields at the top of the screen, and then click the Update button to display the relevant order lines.  The View Purchase Order button will open the relevant order for the selected line.

You can use the Docs to Forwarder and Stage Confirmed checkboxes to update the same fields on the Tracking information for those order/order lines.

If the tracking information has been recorded on the purchase order at the header level, then the Purchase Order line column will be empty in the displayed list. If the tracking information has been recorded at a purchase order line level, then the stock code for that line will be displayed in this column.

3.2. Container Enquiry

This screen lets you search for any containers that have been defined in Distribution, and displays their current contents, highlighted in red if the container is overloaded.

These containers are created from within the relevant purchase order, when using the container loading management setting on the General tab of Distribution Settings.

You can use the Edit button to either update the actual container number or select a different container size (defined within Container Size Maintenance in the Maintenance menu).

3.3. Purchase Order Expected Deliveries

This screen displays a list of future deliveries expected for outstanding purchase orders.

You can filter by stock code, supplier or due date. If you want to drill into the detail, then the View Details button will open the line on the purchase order, while the View Order button will take you to the order header.

4. Stock Control Menu

4.1. Calculate Minimum Stock Levels

This feature allows the calculation of suggested stock item minimum stock levels per warehouse based on usage over the previous 3 months (or specified date range). In the example below, we have selected a product group ‘Accessories’ and all the stock items in this group have been listed.  For each item a calculation is made for the average daily usage over the last 2 years, 1 year and last 3 months (unless a date range is specified).  It is the 3 month figure (or specified date range) that is used in the minimum stock calculation.

NB: it is recommended that you run the min stock calculation at least once per month. The min stock adjustments will then be taken into account by the MRP module, and the suggested purchase orders it creates as a result.

You can drill on the free stock field or click the Show calculation button at the bottom of the screen in order to show how the system has determined the forecasted min stock level.

In the example below, our average monthly usage is 28.67 over the last 3 months.  We have specified in the settings that there are approximately 21 working days in a month, making an average daily usage of 1.37. With a lead time of 5 working days, that we measure the supplier on, plus a safety margin of 1.5 to keep an extra 50% on the shelf to allow for late deliveries, our min stock forecast is suggested at 11.

In this example, this is rounded up from the exact calculation of 10.275 because of the rounding setting for this stock item to only suggest in whole number.

It is possible to drill into each usage figure to see the actual usage and sales per month along with a graphical view of the data.

To make it easier to see the suggested changes in the min stock levels you can sort the %change column.  You can then see the significant increases and decreases in minimum levels and check that these are acceptable not just a single sale anomaly.

Once the min stock levels have been analyzed, the Forecast min stock figure can be manually adjusted.  Select the check box for each item that you want to update, or choose select all.  Then click the Update Selected Min Stock levels button to carry out the update.

4.2. Transfer Small Stock Item Batches

This screen is designed to allow you to easily deal with remaining batches that remain in stock but are unlikely to be able to be sold or used because they are too small in size. You can search for items by product group and then enter a maximum batch quantity size. So in the example above, we are looking for remaining batches in the PAINT product group where there is a quantity of 5 or less.

Once the batches are displayed, you can select the relevant batches that you wish to process and then either transfer them to a different warehouse, or else write them off. Click the Proceed button for this to occur for the selected batches.

4.3. Maintain Landed Costs

With these enhancements to the standard Sage functionality, you can break landed costs down into more detailed types and have landed costs posting to multiple nominal codes to reflect the breakdown of the costs. You can also record the landed costs total on a purchase order, and then apportion that value between the relevant item lines on that order. See the changes to the POP – Enter New/Amend Order section.

You can configure up to 6 cost elements that make up the total landed cost. For each cost type, you can select a nominal code that the landed costs will be posted to.

Once these are set, there are still further areas that will need configuring:

• As per standard Sage 200, Landed Costs are enabled for each product group in the Product Groups screen within the standard Stock Control/Stock Maintenance
• You need to enable Landed Costs on the Distribution tab on the supplier account via the Amend Supplier Details screen within the standard Purchase Ledger/Purchase Accounts
• Landed Costs are enabled on a per warehouse basis, via the Locations screen within the standard Stock Control/Stock Maintenance
• The relevant supplier account needs to be added to the stock item as a supplier, and have landed costs set correctly in the Supplier screen (via the Amend Stock Item Details screen within the standard Stock Control/Stock Records menu).
• Finally, for that stock item, on the Landed Costs tab of the stock item, the landed costs can be split between the different types specified above.

See the documentation about changes to the standard POP – Enter New/Amend Order screen for details of how to process landed costs on each order. The split of nominal postings can be seen on the changes to the POP – Record Purchase Invoice screen.

4.4. Import Landed Costs

A new landed cost import has been created to setup each of the 6 cost elements per supplier for a stock item. The file needs to be in a csv file format, with columns setup as per the column headings in the import screen. Click the browse icon to select the relevant csv file, and then the Check File button can be used to validate the file. Once the file has passed the validation step, the Import button activates for the import.

4.5. Stock Item Location Wizard

This feature has been created to enable you to quickly add all or selected stock items to a new stock location.

The stock location wizard can be used in two ways.  The first method allows you to select a number of stock items and assign a warehouse location, reorder, minimum and maximum stock levels. The stock items can be filtered by product group.  To add the stock items to the warehouse, select the destination warehouse and one or more stock items to add to it.

The second method allows you to copy all warehouse items from one warehouse to another.  If this option is used, the reorder level and min/max stock levels will be copied from the source warehouse to the destination warehouse. This will update existing records, or add the destination warehouse to the stock items that are missing it.

4.6. Stock Shortage Transfers

This feature greatly enhances the standard Sage Transfer Stock option, to provide a means of allocating stock, print a picking list, then despatch it (with a despatch note), move it to an In Transit warehouse before receiving it the other end.

Each Stock Transfer is a separate record, with its own Transfer Batch No reference. A single transfer reference can contain as many different stock items as desired, but must have a single origin warehouse and a single destination warehouse. The window on the right hand side of the screen will show all of the transfer items for the selected transfer batch on the left hand side, with columns displaying the Quantity, the Allocated quantity, the Despatched Quantity and the Received Quantity. You can filter the transfers displayed using the filters at the top; by default, all transfer statuses other than Received are displayed.

A new transfer batch reference can be generated using the New Transfer button. Select the From and To warehouses, and set the requested date. You can also record the Courier and the Delivery Code if you want to record these. The Add button at the bottom can then be used to add stock items to this new transfer record. You can select the bin that each transfer line will come from, and record the quantity on that line and choose how many you would like to allocate at this time. This allocation will use the Stock Control Internal Area specified as the Stock Transfer Internal Area on the Stock Transfer tab of Distribution Settings. You must also specify an anticipated Despatch Date before you can save the transfer record.

This new transfer record will be created with a status of New. If you didn’t fully allocate the stock to the transfer during creation, then the Allocate button in the main transfers screen will allow you to do this.

The next processing step, is to print the Picking List for this transfer, via the Print Picking Lists button. If you haven’t fully allocated each line on the transfer, then the picking list won’t print and you’ll see a message displayed explaining this. The picking list generated is a standard Sage report, so could be amended using the Sage Report Designer. The act of printing the picking list will change the status of the transfer to Picking.

Once a transfer record is at the stage of Picking, then it can be despatched using the Despatch button. This will generate a despatch note for the transfer, and this report is also a standard Sage report that can be amended using the Sage Report Designer. This will move the stock from the From warehouse into whichever warehouse has been specified as the Stock Transfer Transit Warehouse on the Stock Transfer tab of the Distribution Settings. This will also update the status of the transfer record to Despatched.

The final processing step is then to Receive the transfer into the To warehouse. This will fully receive all of the items on the transfer and change the status of the transfer to Received, so manual stock adjustments will be needed if they have failed to receive the full despatched quantity.

If you Edit the transfer, then there is also access to a History tab that audits the various actions and which user triggered them and when.

4.7. Stock Shortages

The screen utilizes the Warehouse Replenishment Groups defined within the Maintenance menu to suggest stock shortage transfers to keep target warehouses at their minimum stock levels. So if a central warehouse holds the stock that can replenish engineer vans, then this screen would suggest which transfers should be created for the vans.

You can use the filters at the top of the screen to filter the rows that are displayed, with the Only display items with shortages being a useful check box to only show the rows that need to be looked at. Usually, you would select the Warehouse group, but you could also search by a combination of the Source and Destination warehouses.

If you are happy with the suggested transfer(s), then you can use the Create Transfer button to generate a new transfer record, which is then processed via the Stock Shortage Transfers screen.

5. Preallocations Menu

5.1. Preallocations

Preallocations allow you to create connections between outstanding purchase orders to effectively allocate that stock before it has arrived. Typically, this allocation would be to a sales order, but if you are using the Sicon manufacturing module then stock can also be pre-allocated to works orders and kits. A typical method for the creation of preallocations is if you are using the Material Planning functionality to suggest purchase orders. With the option enabled in Material Planning settings, all suggested purchase orders will then create preallocations to the sales order that requires them. Works Orders and Kits also use preallocations where they are linked to sales orders, so that when their finished items are booked in, they can be automatically allocated to the sales order line.

It is also possible to manually create preallocations from within a sales order line, and also a purchase order line – see the sections on changes to SOP Enter New/Amend Order/Quotation and POP – Enter New/Amend Order at the start of this guide.

The purpose of this screen is to display all current preallocations. These can be filtered by stock item, and by Preallocation type (Purchase Order Line, Kit, Works Order, Direct Purchase Order, Sales Order Line, Stock Transfer, Works Order Line and Direct Sales Order Line). This type filter allows you to display preallocations based on either the From Type or the To Type. If you select one of the Purchase or Sales Order types, then the Document no field will display the available order numbers that you can filter on. The Direct Purchase Order and Direct Sales Order types relate to the Sicon fulfilment methods

The standard usage of this screen is to only display current preallocations, but by ticking the Include completed checkbox, then you can display any preallocation.

The Show Incomplete Preallocations button will filter the screen to only show incomplete preallocations – which are preallocations that have failed to be processed correctly, possibly due to a lock on the destination order when the stock was received. When this has happened, then click this button and use the Complete Preallocation to try and complete it again. If at this point it still cannot complete, then it will give the option to delete that preallocation with an explanation.

You can use the Create button to create new preallocations, or the Edit button will allow you to change the quantity on the preallocation.

6. Maintenance Menu

These options allow you to maintain various information used in the functionality of the Distribution module.

6.1. Lost Order Reason Maintenance

This screen enables you to maintain a list of the reasons used by the Lost Orders Enquiry functionality within Sales Orders.

6.2. Warehouse Replenishment Group Maintenance

This screen is where you define which warehouses are assigned to which replenishment group. This information is then used within the Stock Shortages screen for warehouse replenishment. The group need a single source warehouse, while there can be multiple warehouses specified in the lower section.

6.3. Container Size Maintenance

This screen enables you to define container sizes that work with the container loading functionality within purchase orders.

6.4. PO Tracking Maintenance

This screen enables you to define tracking profiles used on the Tracking Dates tab of a purchase order. Each profile can have multiple stages, with a default number of days specified between the stages, and whether these days are Working Days Only (i.e. not Saturday or Sunday).

6.5. Shipping Maintenance

This screen allows you to set up and maintain the relevant information available within the Shipping tab of a Sales Order. You can enter multiple shipping types, and then against each one enter selection values for Dimensions, Weights, Services, Carriers and Vehicle Types.

6.6. Forwarder Maintenance

This screen allows you to define a selection list of Forwarders, that are then selected as part of the Tracking Dates tab of a purchase order.

6.7. Maintain Historical Sales Orders

This screen works alongside the Add Historical Lines button on a sales order. It allows you to define some formatting, so that you can draw attention to specific product sales for the customer. In the example above, sales of Espresso Machines will be highlighted in brown.

If you choose a customer account at the top of this screen, and then click the Edit button, you are presented with the following options for that combination:

In this Historical Notes screen, you can specify whether this formatting should apply to all occurrences of this stock code being sold to this customer, or just to a specific sales order line. You can choose a colour, enter the hover note (which will then appear when the user hovers over that line) and a hyperlink note (which will then cause the stock code to appear as if a hyperlink, and then display the hyperlink note when the user clicks on that link).

7. Utilities Menu: Settings

7.1. General Tab

Enable Kitting features: This setting adds functionality for our Kitting module into the Add Historical Lines screen within a sales order. It adds a Build Kit column against each line, and an Auto complete kit build check box that will automatically build required kits (including issuing the components), or report if it’s not able to do so.

Enable forward order enquiry: This features adds Forward Orders (unallocated sales orders) and additional fields for Quote and Pro Forma order quantities to the stock item balances screen.

Use confirmed option on purchase orders: This is a simple check box on the purchase order to show it has been acknowledged by the supplier.

Enable purchase order tracking: This setting enables the Tracking Dates tab on purchase orders.

Show item analysis codes in Min Stock Calculation: With this setting enabled, if you have the Sicon Enhancement Pack installed and feature STK015 enabled, then you can filter the stock displayed in the Min Stock Calculation screen using the Filter By Analysis Codes button. This button is not displayed if this setting is turned off.

Use Sicon landed costs: This setting enables the landed costs functionality within Distribution.

Enable container loading management: This setting enables the container loading functionality within Distribution.

7.2. SOP Tab

Enable pre allocation:  This feature enables Sales Order Lines for stock items to be allocated to outstanding purchase orders lines. The purpose is to reserve stock en route to the warehouse, usually in transit via sea, air or land. Pre-allocations can be viewed and amended after being allocated.

NB: this feature should only be used where a firm allocation is essential to the business. Where a more dynamic approach is required (e.g. order priorities changing frequently and stock being re-allocated to alternate orders) then Material Planning within Sicon Distribution would provide a better solution.

Use Sicon sales order fulfilment methods: Enabling this setting lets you use the Sicon Fulfilment methods, via the Change Fulfilment screen in the Sales Order Processing menu within Distribution.

Enable customer details pop up: When entering a Sales Order the customer account notes, SOP delivery addresses and customer analysis codes are displayed in a single window.  You can choose the delivery address for this order from this screen by highlighting the correct address and clicking the Select button.

Enable undespatched SOP Orders Warnings: When entering a Sales Order a list of un-dispatched orders is displayed.  The purpose of this warning is to allow the order taker to add additional lines to an existing order that has not yet been shipped, rather than creating a new order.

Authorise Lost Orders: This setting enables the Authorised column within the Lost Orders Enquiry screen, accessible via the Sales Order Processing menu within Distribution.

Enable ‘Add Historical Lines’ button: Turn this button on/off in a sales order.

Enable ‘Copy Lines’ button: Turn this button on/off in a sales order.

Enable ‘Telesales’ button: Turn this button on/off in a sales order.

Enable ‘Templates’ button: Turn this button on/off in a sales order.

Maintain order line dates on header: With this setting enabled, the Order Line Dates button is available on sales orders to enable rapid editing of the Requested and Promised dates on the lines on that sales order.

Skip to quantity field after selecting item: With this setting enabled, after you select the stock code on a sales order line, the cursor moves directly to the Quantity field.

Use mark up pricing: With this setting enabled, then the Mark Up Pricing available via the Sales Order Processing menu in Distribution will override the standard Sage mark up pricing.

Enable shipping: With this enabled, the Shipping tab is displayed on a sales order.

Save superseded item to analysis code: With this setting enabled, you can specify which of the analysis codes available on a sales order you would like to store the original item code if it has changed due to being a superseded item.

Use superseded item unit price: If when entering a sales order you select a stock item that has been superseded, should the sales order pull through the relevant selling price for the original item, rather than the new one. If you enable this setting, then the selling price will remain as for the original item.

Show weight radio button: With this enabled, add a new option to Show Weight to the existing radio button above the sales order line.

7.3. Sales Order Allocation Tab

First analysis code user can filter on: Select a sales order analysis code that you would like to be available as a filter on the Manage SOP Back Orders screen.

Second analysis code user can filter on: Select a sales order analysis code that you would like to be available as a filter on the Manage SOP Back Orders screen.

Third analysis code user can filter on: Select a sales order analysis code that you would like to be available as a filter on the Manage SOP Back Orders screen.

7.4. Min Stock Forecast Tab

Default supplier safety margin: Used as the safety margin within the Calculate Minimum Stock Levels calculation, would be overridden by same setting on a supplier account where populated.

Default supplier lead time in working days: Used as the lead time within the Calculate Minimum Stock Levels calculation, would be overridden by supplier lead time if populated against relevant stock item.

Default number of working days in a month: Used within the Calculate Minimum Stock Levels calculation.

Default round forecast min stock quantity up to: Select how many decimal places you would like the minimum stock level calculation to be rounded to. This value would be overridden by the same options specified against a stock code.

7.5. Telesales Tab

Copy line description from Distribution sales order entry screens to: This enables the Stock Item description text to be edited during the order entry process, then either copied to the Sales order line description as an amendment, or written to the picking list comments e.g. ‘Pick 24 banana’s’ that would then be weighed and charged by the Kg on the sales order.

Past SOP order line range in months (Historical): Determines how many months the sales history will be analyzed to return the recent items purchased.

Past SOP order line range in months (Copy Lines): Determines how many months the sales history will be analyzed to return the lines that can be copied.

Number of results returned in Copy Lines: The maximum number of rows to display in the Copy Order Lines screen.

Hide discount columns on Add Historical Screen: Tick to hide the discount column on the Add Historical screen within a sales order.

8. Sage to Sicon SO Fulfilment

This screen allows you to update existing sales and purchase orders to use the new fulfilment methods in Distribution. You can click the Run button to apply the switch to all live and on hold orders, or alternatively specify individual sales or purchase order numbers and click the relevant run button next to the order number field.

9. Enable Module

An enable string, provided by the Sicon Customer Services team, must be entered via the screen below.

10. Release Notes

The release notes page shows which release of the system includes new features or issues resolved.

At the release of Sicon v21 we announced that going forward, we will only be supporting Sage 200c and as such we are able to drop the year from our version numbers. We moved from 201.201.0.0 to 210.0.0.

New features detailed in the Release Notes relating to Pre-Release versions will not be detailed in the current Help and User Guide until the end of development phase.

11. New Features & Important Information

11.1. Sicon v21.1

11.2. Sicon v21

11.3. Sicon v20.1

11.4. Sicon v20

11.5. Sicon v19.2

11.6. Sicon v19.1

11.7. Sicon v19

11.8. Sicon v18