Suggested Stock Order
WinNetStar includes a comprehensive set of features to assist the user in managing inventory levels. The process is based on best reorder points (BRP) and best stocking levels (BSL) expressed in days supply combined with a methodology for determining at what level of sales activity you wish to stock a particular inventory item. These two concepts, when used together correctly, will help to ensure that your inventory levels remain adequate to fill demand while ensuring that you do not tie up excess funds in your inventory. The criteria for BRP, BSL and Stock Class are established in the Stocking Source and generally assigned to large groups of parts – for instance, all captive parts from one manufacturer might have the same Stocking Source with the same BRP and BSL expressed in a number of days supply. The Stock Class is also determined by criteria set up in the Stocking Source where you will define the number of months with a sale within a given time frame for the inventory item to be considered a stocked item – for instance, if an item has sales during 4 months out of the past 12 you might consider it an item to keep on hand. The system then uses sales history to upgrade or downgrade the Stock Class of inventory items to help identify new items to stock or items that no longer justify stocking. Sales history is also used by the system’s Suggested Stock Order to convert the BRP and BSL from days supply to an actual quantity needed on hand to fill demand. The following screen shots illustrate the set up and use of the systems Suggested Stock Order.
Stocking Source Setup
Stocking Source criteria are location specific and must be maintained for each location separately.
Double click on a line to open the Stocking Source for editing or click on the Add New menu option to add a new source. See next page.
The Stocking Source # is required and can be alpha numeric. The Description is not required. Insert a number of Days Supply for your Best Stocking Level and Best Reorder Point. The Best Reorder Point will generally be your lead time (at what point you will need to order the item so that you can continue to fill demand until the next order arrives). The Best Stocking Level will affect your total inventory, your average investment in inventory and your inventory turnover. The higher this number is, the higher your investment in inventory will be over time and result in lower inventory turns.
Stocking Class Criteria is established for existing items separately from new items. The criteria are often times the same but can be different. Existing items with a sales history already in place will be evaluated for upgrade or downgrade based on the number of historical months with a sale over the review period identified (number of months to review). Newly added inventory items, that receive an initial Stock Class 6, will be evaluated based on their creation date going forward in time. For a more detailed analysis of Stock Classes, see the Stock Class Rules help document.
Creating a Suggested Stock Order
You can create and save your ordering criteria for repetitive use. Double click on a line to open for use or click on Add New to create a new Suggested Order.
A Regular Stock Order is used for your non-seasonal items that have a Stock Class 1.
A Special Stock Order ignores BRP and BSL and will order back up to the historical sales levels for the months selected. This type of Stock Order is generally used for Seasonal Items (Stock Class 5).
Check the box for Minimum Qty of 1 AFS for Stock Class 1 if you want to always order those items even when sales history does not support the order.
Select the options for your order on this screen then click on the Create Suggested Order menu item.
The system will open the Suggested Order tab when the calculations are complete showing you a list of items and the suggested order quantity. There are many columns available on this screen and you may customize your view using the Column Chooser feature. You can filter this list, you can delete items off of this list, and you can edit the order quantity of each item. Once you have the list displaying only those items you wish to order, you should click on the Order Summary tab which will display a list of suggested Purchase Orders.
Click in the box on the left margin for each suggested Purchase Order you wish to create and then click on the Create and Save PO’s menu option. This will create a new Purchase Order for the appropriate Supplier that can be accessed via Suppliers>Find>Purchase Order. If you have PO approval authority, you can also click on the Approve and Save PO’s menu option to create an approved Purchase Order. After your PO is approved, you can send it to your supplier.
