Pre-Orders and Standing Orders (v6.0)

Modified on Mon, 9 Oct, 2023 at 1:57 PM

Pre-Orders and Standing Orders

Purpose of this document

The document discusses the process of creating Pre-Orders and Standing Orders in Ceres.

Pre-Orders can be thought of as a queried forecast. Meaning, the Food Bank would like to know the quantity of a purchased item each queried Agency expects they will order. This information then allows the food bank to determine how much of a given Item they should purchase in order to fulfill the expected demand. Pre-Orders are normally a one-time order to fulfill a requirement. An example would be pre-orders for turkeys at Thanksgiving time.

Standing Orders can be thought of as blanket orders that are repeated at intervals until the entire order has been depleted. As an example, an agency may wish to receive 10 cases of a product a month for the next six months.

Ceres Object release 6.00.00 is required for the functionality described in this document.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Setup
Pre-Order Worksheet

Setup

Allocation Journal Setup

Item Journal Templates can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Item Journal Templates” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Item Journal Templates” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Item Journal Templates” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

This will open the Item Journal Template Screen. Highlight the ALLOC template and then on the ribbon select Related à Template à Batches.

This will open the Item Journal Template Batches Screen. Add at least one Pre-Order journal batch. If you have multiple locations and want to control pre-orders by location, enter a batch for each location. In our example we have set up two locations, one for Kansas. Only the fields applicable to pre-orders will be described.

Pre-Order Allocation Type – This field is used to indicate whether the batch is related to pre-orders.

Pre-Order – This batch is related to pre-orders.

None – This batch is a regular allocation batch and not related to pre-orders.

Location Code – This field is optional but recommended for multiple location sites that are using pre-orders. Enter the appropriate location for the batch. When pre-orders are sent to the allocation journal, the process will attempt to locate an allocation batch with a matching location code. This will facilitate separating pre-orders by location when necessary.

Inventory Setup

Find the Pre-Orders FastTab on the Inventory Setup page.

Pre-Order Alloc Jnl Template – Specify the Allocation Journal Template to be used for the creation of allocation orders from the Pre-Order Worksheet. If one does not exist you will need to create one.

Pre-Order Alloc Jnl Batch- Specify the default batch to be used for the creation of allocation orders from the Pre-Order Worksheet. If one does not exist you will need to create one. In multi-location companies that wish to segregate the allocation orders by location, it will be necessary to create multiple batches and on each batch, specify the location for that batch.

Qty. Limits Application Method – Specify the Application Method for imposing quantity limits on Pre-orders.

Always Allow – Selecting this method will allow the agency to exceed any quantity limits currently imposed on the item without any warnings.

Allow with Warning – Selecting this method will allow the agency to exceed any quantity limits currently imposed on the item, however, the system will warn that requested quantity exceeds limits and will prompt for verification that it is okay to ignore the limit.

Don’t Allow – Selecting this method will enforce currently imposed quantity limits and will not allow the order to exceed those limits.

Item Setup

It is necessary to indicate which items are eligible for pre-orders or standing orders. This is done by toggling on the field “Eligible for Pre-order” on the Replenishment FastTab of the Item Page. Items that are not designated as eligible will cause the import to fail if they are specified on the Excel import templates.

Excel Templates

Although pre-orders and standing orders may be entered into the pre-order worksheet manually, the more streamlined process allows for importing the data from an Excel spreadsheet. The layout of the Excel Spreadsheet is simple and involves just 3 fields. An example template is shown here.

Agency No. – Enter the agency number associated with the pre-order or standing order.

Item No. – Enter the item number from inventory that is being pre-ordered. It is important that items to be used in pre-orders have been properly setup as shown above in the Item Setup section.

Quantity – Enter the quantity pre-ordered by this agency for the item specified. If the import is for standing orders, this quantity should be the entire quantity for the standing order. For example, if an agency will have a standing order for 12 months, requiring 10 of the item to be ordered each month, you would enter 120 in the quantity field (12 times 10).

Pre-Order Worksheet

It is important to note that both Pre-Order and Standing orders are both done from the pre-order worksheet. The main difference between Pre-Orders and Standing Orders is that Pre-Orders typically represent a single order that once allocated is complete. Standing Orders, on the other hand, represent a larger order quantity, that will be allocated onto several agency orders over time.

The Pre-Order Worksheet can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “Pre-Order Worksheet” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “Pre-Order Worksheet” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “Pre-Order Worksheet” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

This will open the Pre-Order Worksheet as shown here.

Creating Worksheets

If no worksheets are created the Name and Location Code will be blank and it will be necessary to create a new worksheet. This can be done directly from the drop-down in the Name field.

Create as many Worksheets Names as needed. It is recommended that in a multi-location setup that you keep a separate Worksheet Name for each location although that is not required. Also, you may wish to segregate Pre-Orders from Standing Orders if your Food Bank does both types of orders. In the example shown below we have created two Worksheet Names for the Kansas location to segregate the two types of orders. Once you have created all necessary Worksheet Names, you can click on the worksheet name you wish to use and press OK or simply double-click on the desired worksheet name.

Name – Enter the name of the worksheet.

Description – Enter a more meaningful description of exactly what this worksheet is to be used for.

Location Code – Enter the Location Code for this Worksheet. This location code will be used to select the proper allocation journal batch with a matching location code for multi-location Food Banks.

Assigned-to User – This optional field can be used to specify the user assigned to these orders.

Pre-Order Worksheet Lines

Line No. – This field is generated by the system. Any system error messages may reference the line number field to help the user find the line causing the specified error.

Agency No. – Enter a valid agency number for the pre-order or use the associated assistbutton to open a list of agencies to select from.

Agency Name – Once an Agency is selected the Agency Name will populate and show in this field to help the user verify they have chosen the correct agency. Agency name does not populate until the planned quantity is entered.

Item No. – Enter a valid item number for the pre-order. The item setup must have been previously completed indicating that the item is available for pre-orders. As such, only items previously setup for pre-orders will be available in the assistbutton list of items to choose from.

Item Description – Once an Item has been selected the Item Description will populate and show in this field to help the user verify that they have chosen the correct item.

Planned Quantity – This is the total number that this agency intends to order of the specified item. Since the pre-order system is specifically designed to assist food banks in ordering product for future orders, no check will be made as to whether or not the product has enough available inventory to fulfill the requested quantity.

Note: Quantity limits are not enforced at this point in the process.

Qty. to Allocate – Enter the quantity of the pre-order or standing order to allocate in this allocation run. This field will normally be zero until you are ready to create allocations via the “Send-to Allocation Journal” function. Enter the quantity for each line in this field on all lines to be sent to the allocation journal. There is a function called “Autofill Qty. to Allocate” that can be used to complete this field on all lines at once.

Remaining Qty. to Allocate – This field is calculated automatically and represents the difference between the Planned Quantity and the quantity that has already been allocated. This field is used more in standing orders where the Planned Quantity represents a total to be allocated over several orders.

Qty. on Allocation Journal – This field is calculated automatically and represents the total of this pre-order line that currently exists on allocation journals. This is the total of quantities open on allocation journals that have not been made into agency orders.

Qty. on Agency Order – This field is calculated automatically and represent the total of this pre-order line that currently exist on open agency orders.

Qty. Available – This field is calculated automatically upon running the “Calculate Qty. Available” or the “Send-to Allocation Journal” processes. It represents the current available inventory that can be used to fulfill the pre-order allocation run.

Allowable Quantity – This field is like the Qty. Available, however it will respect quantity limits if the inventory setup has been set to not allow pre-orders to exceed quantity limits. In these cases the allowable quantity will display the quantity with the quantity limits imposed.

Unit Gross Weight. – This is the unit gross weight of the item specified on the line.

Ext. Gross Weight – This is the product of the Planned Quantity multiplied times the Unit Gross Weight for the item specified.

Order Date – Enter the date of the order. This field will be sent to the allocation journal. When importing from Excel, you will be able to specify this date on the import request page.

Shipment Date – Enter the date of shipment for this order. This field auto-populates with the current date when lines are manually entered in the pre-order journal. This field will be sent to the allocation journal. When importing from Excel, you will be able to specify this date on the import request page.

Created By - This field will be populated by the system with the User ID that created the line or imported the lines from Excel.

Date Created - This field will be populated by the system with the system date the line was created or imported from Excel.

Time Created - This field will be populated by the system with the system time the line was created or imported from Excel.

Item Details FactBox

The Item Details FactBox will display the pertinent item information filtered for the location specified on the pre-order worksheet.

Manual Entry of Journal Lines

Entering lines into the journal directly is acceptable. Alternatively you may use the import feature, which is documented in the Worksheet Processes under the Get External Data function.

Note: The default sorting order of the lines is not setup for manual entry. If you wish to manually enter lines, it is suggested that you change the sort order of the lines by clicking on the Line No. Field header to change the sort to Line No. You may need to click it a second time to ensure that the sort is ascending indicated by the arrow pointing up in the header.

Worksheet Processes

All worksheet processes can be accessed from the menu.

Get External Data

This process is used to import the pre-orders from Excel. Click on Get External Data.

This will open the import request page as shown here.

Order Date – Enter the date the orders are to be dated. This is normally today’s date by can be any valid date. This date will flow to the allocation journal when that process is run.

Shipment Date – Enter the date that these orders will be delivered or picked up by the agency. This date will flow to the allocation journal when that process is run.

Workbook File Name – Use the ellipsis (…) to open a file location dialog to located the pre-order Excel template you wish to import.

Worksheet Name – Use the ellipsis (…) to select which Worksheet Name to import from the options presented. If the indicated Workbook has only one Worksheet Name, this field will be completed automatically when you click on the ellipsis.

Click OK to process the worksheet. If the worksheet is processed without errors, the process will complete and the journal will populate as shown here.

Common Import Errors

An invalid agency number is specified in the template. You will receive this message.

An invalid Item number or an item not setup for pre-orders is specified in the template. You will receive this message.

An invalid quantity or a negative quantity is specified in the template. You will receive one of these messages.

Calculate Qty. Available

This process is used to import the pre-orders from Excel. Click on Calculate Qty. Available.

This process is only available when quantities have been entered in the Qty. Allocate field. Otherwise the system will not know how many of each item is required in this allocation run.

The result of the calculation will update the two fields “Qty. Available” and “Allowable Quantity”. “Qty. Available” is the total available and “Allowable Quantity” is the quantity available with quantity limits applied if limits are in place and being enforced.

Autofill Qty. to Allocate

This process is used to import the pre-orders from Excel. Click on Autofill Qty. to Allocate.

Use this process to complete the “Qty to Allocate” field automatically with quantity remaining to allocate. Here is the journal prior to running the process. Notice the quantities are all zero.

After running the process the quantities have been updated.

If the quantities show up in Italic Red font, then either the product is not available or you may have not used the “Calculate Qty. Available” process. Always use the “Calculate Qty. Available” process after using “AutoFill Qty. to Allocate” to update the quantity available and identify potential inventory shortages. Here is an example of the “Qty. to Allocate” if we have not re-run “Calculate Qty. Available”.

Save as Standard Worksheet

This process is used to save the current Pre-Order Worksheet as a Standard Worksheet. This would facilitate the ability to keep and reuse very common standing orders or pre-orders. Click on Save as Standard Worksheet...

The request page will open for you to complete.

Name – Enter a unique name code for the worksheet to be saved.

Description – Enter a meaningful description that will help identify the worksheet in the future when it is needed again.

Location Code – Enter the location code associated with the Standard Worksheet to be saved.

Save Assigned-to User – Choose whether to save the field “Assigned-to User ID” in the standard worksheet by clicking this field. If toggled off, this field will be blank when the standard worksheet is retrieved.

Save Order Dates – Choose whether to save the field “Order Date” in the standard worksheet by clicking this field. If toggled off, this field will default to the current work date when the standard worksheet is retrieved.

Save Shipment Date – Choose whether to save the field “Shipment Date” in the standard worksheet by clicking this field. If toggled off, this field will be default to the current work date when the standard worksheet is retrieved.

Save Quantities – Choose whether to save the field “Planned Quantity” in the standard worksheet by clicking this field. If toggled off, this field will be zero when the standard worksheet is retrieved.

Get Standard Worksheets

This process is used to retrieve a previously saved Standard Worksheet. Click on Get Standard Worksheets.

A list of saved standard worksheet will open for to choose from. Click on the desired worksheet and click OK.

The worksheet will be imported into the current worksheet. Based on what options were chosen when the Standard Worksheet was saved, the fields Assigned User ID, Order Date, Shipment Date and Planned Quantity will be updated from the sheet or defaulted. Explanation of this is provided above in the “Save as Standard Worksheet” section.

Send-to Allocation Journal

Before running the “Send-to Allocation Journal” be sure to enter the “Qty to Allocate” for this run. If it is a pre-order that will send the entire “Planned Quantity” to the order, you can use the “Autofill Qty. to Allocate” process. If you are processing a standing order and you are processing less than the full remaining quantity to allocate, you must enter the “Qty to Allocate” manually on each line. Here is an example of allocating less than the full quantity remaining.

This process is used to send the allocated quantity to the allocation journal. Click on Send-to Allocation Journal

The request page will open and pre-populate the Journal Template Name and Batch Name to send the allocations to. It will attempt to select the correct batch based on location.

Journal Batch Name – This field is the allocation batch the allocations will be sent to. Normally it will be the correct batch based on your setup. You can change the batch if desired by clicking the drop-down arrow in the field and choosing and alternative batch.

Click OK to send the allocations. Upon completion of the send, the quantities on the Pre-Order Worksheet will be updated to reflect the send process. In this example, the Qty. on Allocation Journal has been updated as well as the Remaining Qty. to Allocate. If the quantity to allocate had been the full quantity remaining, then those lines would have been deleted from the pre-order worksheet automatically.

There is a link created between the pre-order worksheet line and the allocation journal line. If the line is deleted on the allocation journal or the quantity is changed, the pre-order worksheet is updated to reflect those changes. In this example, we have deleted the allocation journal line for the A00592 – Qty 100. That change has been reflected on the pre-order worksheet here.

When using standing orders, if you already have an allocation journal batch in process with open lines linked to a pre-order worksheet, you may still send more pre-order worksheet lines to the allocation journal. When this occurs you must send them to the same allocation journal batch as the open allocation journal batch previously used. If you attempt to send them to another batch you will receive the following error message.

Once pre-orders have been sent to the allocation journal you can complete the process of converting those allocations into orders from the allocation journal. Please refer to the documentation related to allocation agency order overview processing for more information on that process.