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Allocating Products |
  
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Allocating Products |
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Allocating Products means reducing the OnHand Available Quantity and enabling that item to be invoiced. Items will only be invoiced if they have been allocated.
The Quantity that's been Allocated shows in the Detail record of the Sales Order.
Allocation support is very flexible. You have full control over allocation.
Typically when orders are entered they are for immediate delivery and there is adequate credit etc and you would prefer to allocate all items at this time. Alternatively, when entering an order for future delivery you may prefer to allocate nothing at this time.
However, in other circumstances you may wish to allocate some items now but not others. For example, assume an order for delivery next week that has several items that must be shipped or the Customer will not accept the shipment. As a precaution you may prefer to allocate those critical items now.
Allocate mode
The Allocate checkbox shows your current Allocate mode.
Checked means Allocate.
Unchecked means do not Allocate.
The current Allocate mode is appplied whenever the OnOrder Qty field is edited for an item.
When Allocate is checked you can Reallocate all items for your Current Order or for All Orders that are not on Hold.
When Allocate is unchecked you can UnAllocate all items on your Current Order.
Back-orders because of insufficient stock
In the standard Inventory setup where Allow Negative OnHand Available Quantity is not checked, Products can only be allocated to the extent that the OnHand Available Quantity is sufficient.
For example, assume Allocate is checked and the current OnHand Available Quantity is 7 for some Product. If we enter an OnOrder Qty of 5 for that Product then the system will be able to fully allocate it. Our Allocated quantity shown on the Sales Order will be 5 and the new OnHand Available Quantity will be 2.
Now assume Allocate is still checked and we then enter another order for that same Product with an OnOrder Qty of 3. Our Allocated quantity shown on the Sales Order will be 2 and the new OnHand Available Quantity will be 0.
Services
A Service item is a Product whose Service field is Checked.
The Allocate mode is ignored for Service items. They are always Allocated immediately.
Their OnOrder Qty and Allocated Qty are therefore always the same.
They cannot be on Back Order.
They do not affect OnHand Available Quantity.
Sales Order Credits
Usually the OnOrder Qty entered on the Detail record of a Sales Order is a positive value and is handled as described above.
If the OnOrder Qty is negative then this indicates a Credit item.
The Allocate mode is ignored for Credit items. They are always Allocated immediately.
Their OnOrder Qty and Allocated Qty are therefore always the same.
They cannot be on Back Order.
They immediately increase OnHand Available Quantity (except for Services which never affect OnHand Available Quantity).
Products returned to Inventory
Sales Order Credits are suitable for entering transactions such as a reversal of part or all of a previously issued Sales Invoice where all Products are being returned to Inventory immediately and are available for resale.
Products not returned to Inventory
If the Products are not being returned to Inventory, (if they're defective for example), then you might choose not to enter them as Sales Order Credits under their own Product code since these Products being returned are not available for resale to others.
If you do choose to enter them as Sales Order Credits under their own own Product code then you should subsequently enter an Inventory Issue transaction to remove them from Inventory.
You could still process the Sales Order Credit through the Sales Order module by simply using a Product code for some Service item and specifying an OnOrder Qty as -1 and the Price as whatever the amount of the credit is. You could set up a Service item for that purpose and use its Product code for issuing credits of this kind.