Note: These instructions assume you’ve already imported or manually input your suppliers into the Order Manager during setup. Before entering an inventory item, add your suppliers into the Order Manager either manually on the View Suppliers screen, or by importing a database. See Import Suppliers, Customers, Inventory, or Cost, Price, Weight and/or Supplier SKU to learn how to import multiple suppliers.
The Inventory screen is used to enter all inventory data and to view the records afterward. Each inventory item record requires a unique Local SKU, an Item Name, and a Supplier Name. (Note: A Local SKU is the part number you use to refer to an item in your store or stores. A Supplier's SKU is the part number the item's supplier uses to refer to the item. Because an item can have more than one supplier, an item can have more than one Supplier's SKU. If you wish, you can use a Supplier's SKU as the Local SKU.)
Although you can save an item record with only a Local SKU, Item Name, and Supplier Name, we recommend completing the following fields for an inventory item record.
Go to Main Menu> Inventory button> View to open the Inventory screen.
Click Add to create a "blank" item record that you can fill in to create a new product in your inventory database.
Figure 1: The Inventory screen above displays the Target Qty. field because the POCalcMethod parameter (in the Purchase Order group) is set to Target. Qty. The POCalcMethod parameter determines whether Target Qty., or Reorder Point and Reorder Qty., or Target Qty. and Reorder Point fields are displayed on the Inventory screen. This parameter and the fields displayed then determine how the quantity to order is calculated when you create purchase orders automatically. See the PO Calculation Method Parameter section of the Purchase Orders article for more information.
Enter a unique Local SKU for each new item. This is how items are identified in the program. SKUs can include letters, numerals, spaces, underscores (_) and dashes (-). We do not recommend using other punctuation marks. In particular, they must not include quotes (”r;), apostrophes (’r;), commas (,) and semicolons (;). SKUs are limited to 250 characters in length however; many places in the program can only display about 40 characters, so think small!
Enter an Item Name. This gives a short description of the item.
Click in the Drop Ship checkbox if you do not stock the item and you ship it directly from your supplier to the customer.
Click in the Ignore QOH checkbox to indicate an item is always in stock.
The remaining upper left column of check boxes are optional. For more information about these fields, see the article about the View Inventory Product Info tab.
Enter a # On Hand. This is your current quantity on hand for this item.
Enter Published Weight and/or Actual Weight. The published weight (Published Wgt.) is the weight displayed for your customers. The Actual Weight is the weight used to calculate shipping. Enter these weights in generic units, i.e. for an item that weighs 7 pounds, enter "7".
The remaining upper right column of check boxes are optional. For more information about these fields, see the View Inventory Product Info tab article.
Enter Pricing information.
Select a Category from the list of inventory categories, which can be created at the List Maintenance screen. (See the article, Creating Inventory Categories, for more information.)
Barcode field: Type or scan the barcode for the product. Set system parameter BarcodeAtInventoryDoesSearch = false to enter barcode information at this screen. Use the Multi-Record Editor or the Enter Barcodes screen to enter barcodes for a group of items. It is also possible to import barcode information from a text file or tell Order Manager to auto generate barcodes.
Do NOT set this field equal
to the name of another Order Manager field name, such as SKU.
Credit Account: Select an account from the drop-down. Only for use with Quickbooks, if you want to export sales data for some products to different accounts in QuickBooks.
Enter an Email BCC address that will receive an email whenever the product is ordered.
Storage location: Where the item is located in your warehouse. Order Manager only supports a single location per item at this time.
Fulfillment Center: If using fulfillment centers, select the fulfillment center name for this product from the drop-down list. The user must create the fulfillment centers in the Order Manager. See Fulfillment Centers for more information.
Don't Do Fulfillment: Overrides the default the setting of system parameter DefaultFulfillmentCenter, if one has been set.
Country of Origin: Enter the two letter country code for the location where the product originated. Used for USPS and UPS customs forms.
Not for Sale (part): Check this box if the item is part of a kit and should not be sold individually.
The Selling by Lots box is where you designate an item as a "Lot," i.e., an item comprising multiple single unit SKUs. (For more information about lots, see Purchasing in Lots in Chapter 4.) If item is NOT a lot, go to Step 6. If the item IS a lot, complete the following steps:
Enter the Single Unit SKU of the item that comprises the lot in the bottom left corner of the screen. A Single Unit SKU is assigned to the individual piece that, in multiple quantities, makes up a lot. If the lot has its own Supplier's Lot SKU, enter it in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, in the Purchasing in Quantity Lots section.
Enter the number of single pieces that make up the lot in the Qty. in this SKU field.
In the For Purchase Orders, order field, choose which SKU to use: This SKU (i.e., the lot SKU) or the Single-Unit SKU. When you create a purchase order the Single Unit SKU is displayed with the quantity needed to complete a lot by default. To display the Lot SKU on purchase orders, select This SKU.
Pick a Primary Supplier for the item. Enter the Supplier’s SKU (optional), Unit Cost, the # on Order (if any), and Supplier’s Barcode for this SKU (optional).
Enter the Supplier’s Purchasing Rules about how you purchase from your supplier. (For more information about configuring the Purchasing in Quantity Lots box, see the Purchasing in Lots section of the Creating Purchase Orders doc.)
Choose by the Piece, by the Lot, or by the Piece in fixed Lots (this is not typical). If this item is NOT a lot, leave it set to the default, by the Piece.
If the supplier of this item has a Minimum Order Qty., enter that number in the field. If the item is a lot, select Lots, otherwise leave it set to Pieces, which is the default.
If you purchase the item in a lot, complete the fields in the Purchasing in Quantity Lots box. If the item is NOT a lot, leave this area blank.
When you are finished entering data for the new item, click the Save button.
Enter any additional information on the various tabs of the Inventory screen. See View Inventory for links to articles about each tab on the Inventory screen.
Click the Close button to exit the Inventory dialog box.
Updated 1/9/09
Modified: 12/2/11