EBMS includes a comprehensive inventory management system. Managing inventory is a very important part of managing a profitable company. Managing pricing, tracking parts, and cataloging options is especially important for a sales, manufacturing, distribution, or service company. Associating the items sold to the purchase invoice is often necessary to properly process warranties or to meet mandatory reporting requires. The inventory module includes the tools and data required to properly purchase, sell, and manage a large number of inventory items.
Complete the following settings before using the inventory tools within EBMS:
Select
Set the Method to markup prices: EBMS can calculate pricing based on Margin or Markup. Review Product Pricing > Price Formulas for pricing formula details.
The Inventory Method should be set to Perpetual unless perpetual inventory value is not calculated. The optional Periodic option should only be used when EBMS is not used to calculate inventory values. Review Tracking Counts > Overview for more details on these settings.
Set the Available Quantity Calculation to the first option - Processed Count + Incoming received - Outgoing Ordered unless inventory is available as soon as the product is placed on a purchase order. The 2nd option will include the available quantity as soon as product is placed on a PO.
The Allow propagation of adjustments should be enabled unless extensive transactions are created in a manufacturing or multiple warehouse environment. EBMS allows a user to sell a product before the purchase order is processed. If the cost of the item on a purchase order is changed after the item has been sold, EBMS updates the cost on all the documents that contain this item. This process can be extensive depending on the number of steps that a item has traveled. A simple link between the purchase order and the sales invoice requires very little processing but the steps may include many levels if manufacturing, multiple warehouses are involved. A single line on a purchase order may also effect many sales orders, manufacturing batches, or warehouse transfers and will be multiplied if the cost within manufacturing effect multiple levels or if the item has traveled through multiple warehouses. Disabling the Allow propagation of adjustments option will keep the financials accurate but will not propagate the new cost of goods sold value to the end product when it is sold.
Enable the Use Single G/L account option to combine the Purchase and Inventory Variance accounts within the Advanced tab of the product record. Review Tracking Count > Inventory Variance for more details on dividing these transactions.
EBMS contains various special order purchase methods. Individual purchase method types can be disabled. Review Purchasing > Purchase Methods for a description of each of the listed purchase method options.
Tracking Counts and Value: Review the Tracking Counts section for more details.
Purchasing: Review the Purchasing section for more details on purchasing tools.
Special Orders and Drop Shipments: Review the Purchasing > Special Orders and Drop Shipment Overview for details.
Multiple Units of Measure: Review Tracking Counts > Unit of Measure to create multiple units of measure to buy, sell, and manufacture the same item.
Components: Review Adding Components to Create an Assembly Kit for instructions to create multiple level bill of materials (BOM)
Accessories: Review Adding Accessories to an Item for instructions to attach add-on items to equipment or other whole goods.
Component Formula Tool: Review Component Formula Tool > Overview for instructions to add formulas and calculations into a bill of materials
Locations: Review Multiple Inventory Locations > Overview to track the stock levels at multiple warehouses or review Tracking Counts > Stock Locations to assign inventory to different locations within a warehouse or location.
History: Review Inventory History section.
Classifications: Review Product Catalog > Classifications for a list of available product types
Serialized items: Review Serialized Items to management serialized items that are manufactured, sold, and purchased.
Serialized Items as a Vehicle: Review Recording a Vehicle or Equipment by VIN Number to track a customer's vehicle or other equipment or to manage vehicles that are refurbished.
Lots: Review Lots > Overview to manage product that requires tracking by lot number, date, or other batch identifier.
Manage Service Labor: Review Using Product Codes for No Count > Service Items for more details.
Discounts: Review Discounts for instructions to use a product item to calculate a discount.
Product Catalog: Review Product Catalog > Entering New Products for instructions to organize the powerful product catalog.
Vendor Catalogs: This tool allows the user to have access to a large amount of product data from multiple vendors without importing items that the company has never sold. Review Multi-Vendor Catalog to interface large vendor catalogs with the EBMS product catalog.
Online product catalogs: Review E-Commerce for details on displaying a product catalog online to create an integrated B2B website for customers.
Substituting an Item: Review Substituting and Item to guide sales persons when products are substituted or replaced.
Colorize Stock Level: Review Stock Level Color for instructions to colorize based on either Net Ordered, Available, or On Hand values compared to the Minimum stock level value.
Inventory Turnover: Review Inventory Turnover for details on measuring turnover rates.
Purchase and Sales History: Review Product Catalog > History for more details on a complete multiple year audit trail of product sales, purchases, and other inventory activities.
Sales Activity: Review Product Catalog > Sales and Purchase Activity for tools to review sales activity by individual customers and range of dates.
Product Returns and Trade-ins: Review Product Returns, Trade-Ins, and Sales History for activity statistics and reasons.
Lost Sale History: Review Product Catalog > Lost Sales for instructions to collect and evaluate lost sale statistics.
Price Levels: Review Pricing for more details on pricing, price levels, and price formulas.
Special Pricing: Review Pricing > Special Pricing Overview for instructions to setup promotional and customer specific pricing.
Percentage Pricing: Review Percentage Pricing for instructions to calculate discounts or a percentage price.
Point-of-Sale: Review [Sales] > Point of Sale > Overview
Barcodes: Review Barcodes for scanner programming and barcode tips.
Made-to-Order (MTO) Kitting: Review Made-to-Order Kitting
Configure to Order Kitting: Review Configure to Order Kitting Overview for instructions to special order product with options and customizations.
Product Attributes: Review Product Attributes > Using Attributes within a Sales Order or Proposal for instructions to organize and locate a large number of similar items