Relevant's ERP offers a number of “centralized” features, including Centralized Engineering, Centralized Order Entry and Centralized Purchasing. These features are available when used in conjunction with the Multiple Division feature. This article will focus on the Centralized Order Entry feature; future articles will focus on the other centralized features.

Scenario
Your company receives an order from a customer for three products. As luck would have it, each of the products is produced at a different division. In the past, your customer has complained that it is inconvenient to have their PO split into separate sales orders. They would rather have each PO covered by a single sales order, regardless of where the products are produced and shipped. From your perspective, this is a situation that calls for the “Centralized Order Entry” feature in Relevant.

Below are FAQ’s about “Centralized Order Entry” (referred to as “COE” throughout this article).

What is COE?
COE allows a “selling” division to enter a single sales order for products that will be shipped from multiple “inventory” divisions. For example, ABC Company has three divisions, located in Ohio, Montana, and New Jersey. The main sales office in Ohio receives a customer order for products that must be shipped from all three divisions. In this example, Ohio is called the “selling” division, while Ohio, Montana, and New Jersey are each called an “inventory” division.

Why use COE?
First and foremost, customer service. If COE is utilized, a single sales order document covers the requirements for printing, mailing, and tracking an order for which shipments are to be made from multiple divisions. In the example above, if COE had not been utilized, three separate orders would have been required, one for Ohio, one for Montana, and one for New Jersey. Use of a single order is especially helpful if the customer submitted a single purchase order for the products. An internal reason to use COE is the reduction of paperwork and record maintenance.

How is COE activated?
This is a very simple process. (1) A flag in the installation record activates the feature on the system. (2) A user-maintained table defines each valid combination of “selling” division and “inventory” division. (3) If desired, a flag in the Product Catalog can be used to prohibit the use of a product in the COE process, or to limit shipments from only one division or from a restricted list of divisions.

What is the “selling” division?
The selling division “owns” the order. In the example, Ohio is the selling division, which is the key division specified on the order and is responsible for entering and maintaining the order. The order entry staff in Ohio has the necessary expertise to process orders, including knowledge about the products, pricing, customer agreements, and order entry procedures.

Can there only be one “selling” division for the company?
No, there can be multiple selling divisions. In fact, every division in the organization can be designated as a selling division. For this reason, COE could also be referred to as “distributed order entry”. In the example, Montana and New Jersey can also be configured as selling divisions.

What is an “inventory” division?
The inventory division “owns” the inventory and is responsible for shipments to the customer. In the example, all three divisions are designated as inventory divisions. The inventory division is specified on each order line. A single order may contain multiple lines for various “inventory” divisions, including the selling division itself. The production staff at the inventory divisions have the necessary expertise to process shipments, including knowledge about planning, production, inventory control, and shipping procedures.

Can a “selling” division also be an “inventory” division?
Yes, this would be quite normal. A selling division may sell many of its own products, as well as those of other divisions. In the example, Ohio is both a selling and inventory division.

How does COE affect inventory planning?
The “inventory” division is solely responsible for procurement, production, and shipment to the customer. All inventory planning, including MRP, is done exclusively at the inventory division. In fact, inventory demands generated from COE orders are no different than demands generated from other sources and are treated exactly the same.

How does COE affect sales history?
Historical sales data is attributed to the “selling” division. Standard sales history reports and screens show sales history grouped by selling division, product, commodity code, salesperson, and/or sales period. Although not grouped on screens and reports, the “inventory” division is captured as information on all sales history records and can be presented in any desired format using the Business Wizard and/or Crystal Reports.

What about accounting?
The accounts used for inventory, sales, and COS belong to the “inventory” division. The accounts used for AR, discounts, tax, and other charges belong to the company (these accounts are retrieved from the AR Control Record for the company). The sales and COS accounts are automatically captured as default values on each order line during creation of the sales order. They are then applied to the shipping and invoicing transactions for posting to the GL. The inventory account is determined by the accounting method configured for the item and is automatically applied to the shipping transaction.

What happens with packing slips?
The system creates a separate packing slip for each “inventory” division on a centralized order. In the example, the inventory requirements for Ohio, Montana, and New Jersey will result in three separate packing slips. The packing slip numbers are determined uniquely for each division, based on the control record for each division. Each packing slip is printed at the physical location where the shipment is to be made.

How are COE shipments and invoices processed?
After printing the packing slips, each packing slip is shipped and invoiced separately at each division, using the standardized procedures provided by the system. In general, the shipping and invoicing processes are exactly the same for COE orders as for non-COE orders.

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