Purchasing#

Minimum expiration dates#

To prevent the purchase and sale of perishable goods that are close to expiring, you can specify a minimum shelf life for each item that you ship or receive. The shelf-life fields then need to be filled in as described in the following table.

Based on your needs, you can specify minimum expiration dates for shipments and receipts on location, item, item category, item reference, or stockkeeping unit cards, or do so on the Warehouse Setup page.

Workflow#

When you post an item, the system searches for its expiration date in the following order:

1. Item references
2. Item master (item card)
3. Item category (as specified on the item card)
4. Stockkeeping units
5. Warehouse Setup

You then see an error message if an item is about to expire (or has expired already).

By user#

If a certain user still needs to be able to post items with low shelf lives, you can turn on the Ignore Min. Expiration Dates toggle on the relevant line in User Setup.

With the toggle active, the user is informed during posting that the entered items are below the minimum and is asked whether to post them regardless. Choosing No will cancel the posting process.

By location#

You can also add expired inventory to certain warehouses (such as scrap locations) by turning on the Ignore Min. Expiration Dates toggle on the relevant location cards.

Time limits on blanket orders#

To prevent terms and conditions specified on a blanket order from being used after the order has expired, you can now set not only a quantity but also a time limit there:

1. Open a blanket order.
2. On the FastTab, in the Blanket Order Until field, specify up until when the order is valid.

You then see an error message if you try to use the order after the expiration date. If the field isn’t filled in, the blanket order will be valid indefinitely.

Extended purchase history#

The purchase history available in the standard app has been extended to show archived purchase quotes, purchase orders, blanket orders, and return orders as well.

Delivery schedule adherence#

The Schedule Adherence FactBox shows you vendors’ compliance with requested or confirmed delivery dates, that is, how many of their deliveries arrived too late—or too early—and by how much.

Setup#

You can analyze a vendor’s schedule adherence based on the Requested, Promised, or Expected Receipt Date on purchase orders. To select the date that will be used as the basis for analysis:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Purchases & Payables Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. On the KUMAVISION FastTab, select the required option in the Schedule Adherence Date field.

The system then checks if the field with the same name is filled in when you create a purchase order. You see an error message if it isn’t.

Evaluate schedule adherence#

To analyze a vendor’s adherence to delivery schedules:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Vendors, and then choose the related link.
2. Select a vendor, and then choose Find entries > Schedule Adherence. You can also open a vendor card, and then choose History > Schedule Adherence.
3. On the General FastTab, set filters as necessary, the purpose of each being as described in the following table.

Optimized purchases#

With this feature, you can raise the quantity on a requisition or planning worksheet to meet, for example, a minimum order value, cubage, or weight.

On the Optimized Purchase page, vendors will be listed with their inventories, as well as their receipts and shipments, over the past few months so that you can adjust any quantity required and then copy it to the relevant worksheet.

Setup#

Item Vendor Catalog#

Before you can use the feature, you need to ensure that the items that you want to change quantities for have been linked to the specified vendor on the Item/Vendor Catalog page.

medtec365 Setup#

The period that enhancements should be made for can be specified in medtec365 Setup, in the Inventory Level Period field on the Inventory FastTab. You see an error message if you try to adjust worksheet quantities without the field being filled in.

Item units#

To be able to see the cubage and weight of an optimized purchase, you must also fill in the Cubage and Weight fields for the relevant item units of measure.

Optimize worksheets#

View optimizations#

To see how quantities have been adjusted:

1. Open a requisition or planning worksheet.
2. On the ribbon, choose Home > Optimized Purchase.

Only quantities that originate with unblocked items and the same supplier (according to the item/vendor catalog) will be shown on this page.

Statistics#

The following statistics fields are also shown on the page:

• Qty. on Order
• Inventory at Location
• Total Inventory
• Lead Time
• Inventory Level (Weeks)
• Avg. Pos. Adjmt. per Week
• Avg. Neg. Adjmt. per Week

Add items#

To help you select the right items and quantities so that you can achieve the cubage required for a certain container or the amount needed to get an invoice discount, the line amount, cubage, and weight of all items shown on the Optimized Purchase page are totaled in the footer.

When you adjust a quantity or add a new item, these fields are then updated and the system runs the pricing function (that is, if weight and cubage values have been filled in for the relevant unit of measure and prices have been set up as well).

Manage certificates and declarations#

File a certificate or declaration#

You can now store and monitor the validity of certificates and declarations from a vendor card. To set up the feature:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Certificates and Declarations, and then choose the related link.
2. Fill in the fields as described in the following table.

You can then see the certificates and declarations stored for the vendor in the Long-Term Supplier Decl. and Short-Term Supplier Decl. fields, found on the Foreign Trade FastTab of the vendor card.

Using the lookup on either field will take you to the Vendor QM Data page, where you can choose New on the ribbon and fill in the fields as described in the following table to add a declaration or a certificate.

Search for valid certificates#

As certificates are only in use for a limited period, their validity must be checked at regular intervals.

For this purpose, you can run the Vendor QM Notification report, where you can set filters on the Notification Date field, for example.

Additional purchase fields#

For additional vendor fields, you can specify if you want to make them available in purchasing and have them copied to the headers of posted documents; additional item and resource fields will be included on the lines.

On the Additional Field Setup page, you can also specify whether these fields can be changed manually. The system then logs the time they were modified and the ID of the user who edited them.

Copy items (ease-of-use function)#

The standard Copy Item function has been extended to include copying the following records:

• Stockkeeping units
• Packing types
• Item substitutions
• Related items
• Item label information
• Alternate prices
• Additional item fields
• Additional variant fields
• Additional unit of measure fields
• Attributes

Minimum order value and freight limits#

Optimizing unit costs is key to a successful wholesale transaction. For this reason, you can now specify how much you must order from a vendor at the very least and up to which amount transportation fees will be paid by the supplier.

1. Open a vendor card.
2. On the Receiving FastTab, fill in the Minimum Order Value and Carriage Paid Limit fields. The amounts in both fields must be in the currency specified for the vendor.

What you enter in these fields is then shown as part of purchase order statistics and on requisition and planning worksheets for informational purposes.

In statistics#

To see what you purchased:

1. Open a purchase order.
2. On the ribbon, choose Order > Statistics.

On worksheets#

Minimum order values and carriage paid limits are also shown on requisition and planning worksheets.

Additionally, you can see in the Accepted Order Value (Vendor) field what has been requisitioned from the vendor.

When you release a purchase order, the system then checks the current order value and fee system against the minimum value and fee limit. You’re notified if what you entered on the document falls below either.

However, a check for a minimum order value is only performed if the currency that is specified on the order matches the currency that you stored with the vendor. You see a message if they don’t but can decide to release the order anyway.

The line values that are being compared are gross or net, depending on whether you turned the Prices Including VAT toggle on the General FastTab on or off. The toggle setting on the related vendor card must match the setting made here; otherwise, the check isn’t run.

The same is true for requisition worksheets. However, because their lines don’t have Line Amount fields, the amount to compare the minimums to is calculated based on the Quantity, Unit Cost, and Line Discount % values that you specified on each line. If Prices Including VAT is turned on, the tax that you expect to pay is also added.

If the values in the Buy-from Vendor and Pay-to Vendor fields differ here, the check will apply to the Buy-from Vendor settings.

Consignment items#

The standard reordering policy Order is typically based on consignment transactions. For this reason, the configuration templates have been extended to include a field for specifying how consignment items will be stored.

Setup#

Item#

To specify the storage method for a consignment item:

1. Open an item card.
2. On the Warehouse FastTab, fill in the field described in the following table.

medtec365 Setup#

Bins#

You must also set up a bin for consignment items at each location they’re assigned to. This bin is specified for the warehouse in the same way as a standard bin, except for the field described in the following table.

Workflow#

Create a consignment item#

If you’re using a template to create a consignment item or applying the template to an existing product, stockkeeping units are created in one of the ways described in the following sections. What all of these have in common is that on each SKU card created through this process, the Reordering Policy field will be set to Order.

Local procurement#

Stockkeeping units with the Purchase replenishment system will be created for all sites included in the Other Consignment Locations Fltr. (see medtec365 Setup).

Centralized procurement#

Stockkeeping units with the Transfer replenishment system will be created for all sites included in the Other Consignment Locations Fltr. (see medtec365 Setup).

Only for the warehouse selected in the Main Consignment Location Code field (also found in medtec365 Setup) will the system create an SKU card with replenishment system Purchase.

Procure an item#

When you enter a consignment item on a sales order, a purchase order or a transfer that includes a purchase order are then suggested automatically on the associated worksheet depending on the location and stockkeeping units involved.

The purchase order is linked to the sales order by reserving items on the sales lines. As a consignment item typically has no inventory available, you’re notified about the consignment when you enter this kind of item.

If non-reserved inventory exists, however, you see a message that you might need to reserve the item manually.

Confirm an order#

You can run the Create Purch. Order Cnfrmn. function from the Lines FastTab ribbon on a purchase order to enter a number and a date for a confirmation document. The number is then copied to the Current Cnfrmn. No. fields on the selected lines.

For a better overview, the field was also added to sales lines. Clicking the field there opens a page that shows the confirmation note. On this page, you can:

• Run the Show action to see the purchase order.
• View the type and number of the order.
• Identify the sales order by the Sales Order No. and Sales Line No. fields that have been added to the confirmation lines.

As for bullet point 2 and 3, the fields are automatically filled in when a confirmation line is created provided the relevant item was reserved on the sales document (or indirectly via a transfer).

Another field that was added to order confirmation lines is the Source field. It is filled in with the Manual option when you create a confirmation note manually.

A source entry with the Whse. Receipt option selected is also created on receipt of a delivery. The entry links a purchase line to the sales line that the purchase order was set up for (provided an item reservation exists) and will remain even after the item is no longer reserved.

Change a quantity#

Typically, you cannot change the quantities on purchase and sales orders that you reserved items from.

However, for consignment items, you can adjust the quantities at any time (that is, prior to receipt) both on purchase and sales orders, with the changes copied to all relevant reservation entries and document lines.

What you still cannot do is change a quantity mid-transaction (=during transfer) or after you’ve shipped or received part of the delivery.

Specify a default bin#

As the default bin for consignment items, the CONS bin is automatically suggested on receipt of a delivery if it hasn’t already been specified by a user or through a two-step logistics process using warehouse bins.

Change an item or a variant on receipt#

On the Warehouse Receipt page, you can run the Change Consignment action on the Lines FastTab to change an item number or a variant, or both.

Clear backlog#

On the Warehouse Receipt page, you can also use the Clear Backlog action to create warehouse shipments after a receipt has been posted.

Before the function can be run, you must turn on the Can Clear Backlog toggle for the relevant user in User Setup. A default purchase order type for clearing backlog needs to have been set up as well.

Print a label (incl. reservation data)#

To print a label for an item on receipt and create a corresponding ledger entry:

1. Open an item card.
2. On the ribbon, choose Related > Item > Label Information.
3. Fill in the fields as necessary.

A label is then printed when you post a warehouse receipt that includes the specified item. If the item was reserved from a sales order, the system also prints the number and name of the customer and the number of the sales order on the label.

Create a purchase return#

You see a corresponding message when you enter a consignment item on the Sales Return Orders page manually. You can then create a purchase return order from that page by using the Create Return Document function on the ribbon.

Afterward, the reservations made for consignment items from purchase lines will be copied to the relevant sales lines.

Discount reasons#

You can now also specify the reason for granting a line discount on a document.

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Discount Reasons, and then choose the related link.
2. On the ribbon, choose New.
3. Fill in the fields as described in the following table.

To assign a reason:

1. Open a purchase document.
2. Select the relevant purchase line, and then fill in the Discount Reason field.

Discount reasons can also be used for transactions in kind.

For this purpose, you need to create a discount reason = 100% and assign it to the relevant document line. After selecting the reason, the associated line discount is then filled in automatically.

A discount only applies to a single line and is subtracted from the line amount there.

Requisition worksheets (ease-of-use function)#

You can now open item and SKU cards from requisition worksheets.

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Requisition Worksheets, and then choose the related link.
2. Choose a worksheet from the list.
3. Select a line, and then choose Related > Line > Item Card or SKU Card on the ribbon.

You can also choose Related > Line > Item/Inventory Turnover on the ribbon to see the movements of an item, as well as the priority texts, block prices, minimum order values, and carriage paid limits specified for it.

Stockkeeping units#

To simplify inventory management, medtec365 provides you with suggestions for minimum inventory levels based on historical data, and the option to directly copy them to stockkeeping units.

A new ease-of-use function also lets you add this information to multiple records at once. However, you can only create or change an SKU if the status of the associated item card is set to Pending.

Furthermore, you can now enter transaction codes on stockkeeping unit cards so that they can be grouped by type of warehouse transaction.

medtec365 requisition#

The medtec365 Requisition option has been added to the Reordering Policy field for quantities you need to reorder. You can select the policy on the Planning FastTab of a stockkeeping unit card.

If you select this option, the Reorder Point and Order Multiple fields can be changed on the card. Standard business logic is then used to restock. This means that:

• Demand will be calculated according to the filters set on the relevant item.
• The working date is entered as the starting date on the purchase order.
• Standard blanket orders and forecasts might be included in the calculation.

In medtec365 Setup, you can also fill in a default planning period that the system can use to calculate an ending date for reordering.

Afterward, standard functionality would go through all stockkeeping units set up for the item, with an eye on transfers as the first option to meet current demand.

The medtec365 best practice process, on the other hand, determines how much of demand can be supplied by a certain SKU. If this results in an inventory level below the reorder point specified for the unit, a reorder quantity will be created.

This quantity is then rounded up based on the order multiple entered for the relevant item, as well as the purchase unit of measure if the item is typically received in a unit greater than 1.

Afterward, the quantity is copied to a planning line, where the Order Date field is filled in with the specified starting date and the Expected Delivery Date is calculated based on the lead time of the item.

MRP data#

Depending on the reorder policy selected, you need to maintain various data sources with an impact on requisition worksheets.

Example
The medtec365 Requisition best practice process is chosen as the reorder policy. In this process, only the Reorder Point and Order Quantity fields are relevant. When the quantity of an item falls below the reorder point, the system replenishes inventory up to that point based on the quantity ordered.

For more information about standard reorder policies, see Setup Best Practices - Reordering Policies - Business Central | Microsoft Learn.

Weighting schedule#

On this schedule, you can specify the time span and weightings for viewing historical data. Besides a date formula, you can also enter fixed dates.

To create or open a schedule, choose the Search icon, enter Weighting Schedule List, and then choose the related link.

Schedules can be stored in the following places (and will be searched for in that order of priority):

• medtec365 Setup – Purchasing FastTab
• Item category cards – Weighting Sched. Code (Usage)
• Item cards – Purchasing FastTab
• Stockkeeping unit cards – Purchasing FastTab

If the DEFAULT schedule is entered for a certain item and WEIGHTED for its SKU, the schedule assigned to the SKU will be used in subsequent calculations.

Create SKUs#

You can run the Create Stockkeeping Unit action from an item card to create multiple stockkeeping units at once (or use the general search function to find the feature).

The purpose of each field found on the request page of the report is described in the following table.

Item planning suggestions#

To monitor stockkeeping units, you can use an item planning suggestion.

Calculate planning parameters#

To identify parameters for monitoring:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Item Planning Suggestion, and then choose the related link.
2. On the ribbon, run the Calculate Planning Parameters action to fill in the fields as described in the following table.

Besides calculating current inventory levels and weighting item usage, the system will also suggest new parameters for both processes. These suggestions can then be edited manually, if necessary.

For this purpose, the old parameters will be copied from the master records in read-only format. The calculation of new parameters is done in the following way:

• The new reorder point equals the consumption that would result from totaling the usage per day in the specified period and adding it onto the lead time and safety stock quantity.
• The new maximum inventory equals the new reorder quantity added onto the consumption that would result from totaling the usage per day in the reorder cycle period.

Edit a suggestion#

After a suggestion has been calculated, you can review the results and, if needed, adjust the values in the page fields. All fields are described in the following table.

Statistics#

The page also provides you with various statistical sources to help you decide what data to create or change.

Item Details – MRP: FactBox#

This FactBox shows you the stockkeeping data that is available for the selected line.

Item Details – Usage: FactBox#

This FactBox shows you, based on the selected weighting schedule, all movements of the item during the specified period.

Item/Inventory Turnover: ribbon function#

To see the past movements of an item, select a line, run the Item/Inventory Turnover action on the ribbon, and then choose Show Matrix.

Availability by Event: ribbon function#

Shows all receipts entered for the selected item line.

Copy Changes to SKU: ribbon function#

When all parameters have been reviewed, they can be copied to the stockkeeping units linked to the items. To copy data, select the lines you want and run the Copy Changes to SKU function on the ribbon. You’re then asked to confirm the transfer.