Purpose of this document

This document discusses the setup of the Vendor Cards for all types of product purchases. Typically, food banks do not establish vendor records in Ceres for financial donors. 

Ceres Object release 5.00.00 is required for the functionality described in this document. 

• Overview
• Creating Vendors
• Related Topics

Overview

Food banks purchase product and services throughout the year and need an accurate method of keeping track of what was purchased from each vendor.  Many of the vendors are retail chain stores and the food banks need to track purchases for the entire chain.  To accomplish this, a parent vendor/ vendor structure was created.  The individual chain store would be setup as a vendor and the parent company as the parent vendor. The vendor can be linked to the parent vendor for tracking and reporting purposes. This procedure describes the vendor entity setup and options.

Creating Vendors

No.:  This is the main identifier for the vendor, which can be entered as any combination of text and numbers.  Ceres can be set up to automatically number each vendor for you, or you can enter the number manually.

Name:  This field provides the main name of the vendor.  Up to 50 characters can be added here, using any type of text or numbers.  Therefore, enter the name as you want it to appear on any documents.

Name 2:  This field is an extension of the Name field.  This field can be used for names longer than 50 characters.   This field is also 50 characters in length.

Address:  This field would typically be the street number and street name of the vendor.   Up to 50 characters can be added here, using any type of text or numbers.  The contents of the Address field are often used when you print something, so enter it as you want it to appear. 

Additional addresses, phone numbers, and contact information can be setup using the Supplement Address functionality.   A Supplemental Addresses FactBox displays to the right of the Card.  This FactBox provides a link to any Supplemental Addresses that have been setup for this vendor.   See the Supplemental Address documentation for more information.

You can also create additional addresses using Vendor Order Address.  See the Vendor Order Address procedure for more information.

Address 2:  An extension of the vendor’s address, such as a suite number or building number.  Up to 50 characters can be added here, using any type of text or numbers.   

City:  Enter the city of the vendor.  Up to 30 characters can be added here, using any type of text or numbers.  Enter it as you want it to appear in printed documents.

State:  Enter the state of the vendor.  Up to 30 characters can be added here, using any type of text or numbers.  Enter it as you want it to appear in printed documents.

Zip Code:  Enter the zip code of the vendor.  

Note: If you fill in the zip code field with a zip code that is linked to a single city in the zip code table, Ceres will fill in the city field automatically. If there is more than one city linked to the zip code, Ceres displays a list of the relevant cities for you to choose from. If the zip code is not set up in the zip code table, you must enter the city manually.

Country/Region Code: Select the Country Code from the lookup list, primarily used to determine the address formatting on documents applicable for the selected Country.  In addition, this field can be sorted on or filtered in various lists to view or select vendors for a specific Country. 

Search Name: Automatically defaults to the Name field but can be overridden.  This can be used as an alternative field from which to search or find the vendor.

Date Vendor Added: This field can be filled in by the user indicating when the vendor record was added to Ceres.

Balances Due $: Displays the balance due for this vendor. You can drill down on this field to display the transactions that makeup the balance due.

Document Sending Profile:  If a vendor only wants a hard-copy or email copy of their purchase order sent a default document sending profile can be setup for the vendor to indicate as such. Select a Document Sending Profile from the lookup list.  This field is used to determine how the purchase order will be sent to the vendor.

IC Partner Code:  Generally, not used by food banks.

Responsible Person Code: Enter the code for the person responsible for this vendor by entering the Code or selecting from the lookup list.

FBC Fields:  The fields that start with FBC are Food Bank Code fields.  The fields are the Food Bank equivalent of the UNC fields. The FBC fields are linked to the pre-defined UNC fields.

Fund No.: If applicable, enter the Fund No. or select it from the lookup list, for the default Fund from which payments to this vendor will be made.

Dormant: Check this box to designate that this vendor is dormant.  Selecting this field means Ceres automatically sets the filter value to Yes and excludes this record from displaying on the List.

Blocked: You can prevent specific transactions from being processed for a vendor by choosing a relevant level of blocking.

<Blank> - No blocking, all actions allowed

Payment - Only payments are blocked

All  - All actions are blocked

Last Date Modified: This field is maintained by Ceres and displays the date the vendor was last modified.

Last Modified By: This field is maintained by Ceres and displays the login identification of the user that last modified the vendor.

Address Information:  The previously entered address information from the General FastTab will also display here.

Primary Contact Code:  If you are using the Relationship Management functionality in Ceres, this field will display the contact code that is linked to this vendor. 

Contact:  Display the contact name for this vendor.  If you are using the Relationship Management functionality in Ceres, then this field will display vendor contact name.  If not, this field can be updated manually.

Phone No.:  Enter the primary phone number for the vendor.   The field is 30 characters in length, and you should use a consistent format when entering the number, such as: (123) 456-7890 for example.  

Phone Ext. No.:  Enter the phone extension for the phone number above.  If entered on the General FastTab, the same number will be entered here and vice versa.

Fax No.:  Enter the fax number for this vendor.  The field is 30 characters in length, and you should use a consistent format when entering the number, such as: (123) 456-7890 for example.

E-Mail:  Enter the e-mail address for this vendor.  Up to 80 characters can be added here, using any type of text or numbers, in a standard e-mail address format.  

Home Page:  Enter the Internet home page for this vendor.  Up to 80 characters can be added here, using any type of text or numbers. 

Our Account No.: This field is used to enter the account number assigned by this vendor for your Food Bank. 

Last Invoice Date:  System maintained field that display the last invoice date for this vendor.

Tax Liable and Tax Area Code:  Fields to setup up use tax for this vendor.  Generally, not used by food banks.

Pay-to Vendor No.:  If payments for purchases from this vendor need to be paid to a different Vendor, fill in the Pay-to Vendor No. or use the lookup button  to select the Pay-to Vendor No. from the Vendor List.

Invoice Disc. Code:  The default entry in this field is the No. for this vendor.  This field can be used if this vendor shares the same invoice discount with another vendor, in which case the other vendor would be selected in this field.  This allows a group of vendors to share the same discount calculation.  If the discount calculation is unique to this vendor, don’t change the contents of this field.  Instead, set up terms for the invoice discount code by navigating to Related Information, pointing to Purchases, and then clicking Invoice Discounts on the Vendor Card.

Send to Parent Mailing Address:  If this field is checked and if a supplemental mailing address is set up for the parent vendor, the supplemental mailing address of the parent vendor will flow to the General FastTab of the purchase order.  Refer to the Supplemental Address Procedure Document for more information.

Send to Parent Statement Address:  If this field is checked and if a supplemental mailing address is set up for the parent vendor, the supplemental statement address of the parent vendor will flow to the General FastTab of the purchase order.  Refer to the Supplemental Address Procedure Document for more information.

Gen. Bus. Posting Group:  This field can be left blank or filled in with the appropriate selection, depending on the objectives of the individual food bank.   Please press F1 for more information on these fields.

Vendor Posting Group: This field is typically used by most food banks to differentiate between vendors and donors.  This selection will determine which payable account will be used in posting transactions for this vendor.

Prepayment %:   Specify the % of the amount on a purchase order that this vendor requires up front before they will fulfill the order.

Application Method:  The User has two choices.

Manual (Default)  -  with this selection Payments and Credit Memos will only be applied if you specify a Document to apply to.

Apply to Oldest - with this selection, if a Document is not specified, Ceres will apply to the vendor’s oldest open entries.

Payment Terms Code:  Select the appropriate code to match to payment terms offered by this Vendor.

Payment Method Code:  Select the code normally used for this vendor, such as: Check, Wire or Cash.

Priority:  This field can be used in conjunction with Suggest Vendor Payments function on the Payment Journal to prioritize payments if there is a limited amount available for payments.

IRS 1099 Code:  If applicable enter a 1099 code for this vendor.  Each code represents a 1099 Form and the box on the form in which you want the 1099 amount to appear for this vendor. 

Federal Id No.:   For 1009 reporting, enter the vendor’s Federal Id number.

Tax Identification Type:   Select the tax identification type for this vendor.  The options are Legal Entity or Person.

Check Date Format and Check Date Separator:  Optional fields to designate the date format and what character will be used to separate the date fields on the AP check.  Generally, the check date format and check date separator are controlled by the setup on the Bank Account and General Ledger Setup.

Location Code:  Select a location, if product from this vendor is generally received at the same location. 

Shipment Method Code:  In this field, you can select a code for the method that you want the vendor to use when shipping items to you.  Once you have entered the code here, when you print purchase orders to send to this vendor, Ceres will suggest the chosen shipment method as a default.

Shipping Agent Code:  If the vendor typically ships the product to the food bank, you can enter the shipping agent that the vendor normally uses for your purchase orders. You can enter a maximum of 20 characters, both numbers and letters.

Lead Time Calculation:  In this field, you can enter a date formula for the amount of time that it generally takes to replenish this item. Ceres uses this field to calculate the date fields on order and order proposal lines.

On the purchase order line, the Order Date + Lead Time Calculation = Planned Receipt Date.  If you have not entered a lead time calculation on the Item cards, Ceres will use this field to calculate the lead time on purchase orders for this vendor.

Order Handling Group Code:  In this field, you can enter the default order handling group code to purchase order for this vendor.

Order Routing Group Code:  In this field, you can enter the default order routing group code to purchase order for this vendor.

Using the Copy Feature to Setup new Vendors

Vendors can also be setup by using the copy functionality if the vendor that you are setting up has numerous field values in common with another vendor in Ceres.  The field values of the selected vendor will be copied to the new donor that the user is currently setting up.  The User can then edit the fields on the new vendor as needed.  To use this functionality, follow the steps outlined below.

Related Topics

1. Parent Vendor Overview
2. Purchase Order Overview
3. Preferred Pickup Days & Times
4. Supplement Addresses
5. Vendor Order Addresses
6. Purchase Replenishment & Planning
7. Appian Overview
8. Roadnet Overview