Configuring Warehouses
When you create a warehouse, you specify the way you intend to use the warehouse by classifying the warehouse with a warehouse type. Once you have created and saved the warehouse, you can return to the warehouse profile to configure the warehouse for your business operations.
This topic shows you how to configure each type of warehouse. Configuration involves creating the proper bins, enabling parent warehouse functionality if appropriate, setting up bin defaults and costing parameters for each warehouse type, and linking customer, sales rep or technician records to the warehouse if applicable.
When configuring a warehouse, you first specify or create default bins. You can create as many different standard bins as your business requires, although some special bins are used only in certain types of warehouses. In a later step, you can configure e-automate to use a specific default bin on certain transactions.
Next, for some warehouse types, you can enable parent warehouse functionality by selecting a parent warehouse. Let’s use the following example to describe parent warehouse functionality. Suppose you are editing a technician’s warehouse, and on the technician’s warehouse profile you specify your main warehouse as the technician’s parent warehouse. e-automate uses the technician’s parent warehouse in the Inventory Logistics Console (see the topic, Inventory Logistics Console) by automatically specifying the parent warehouse, or main warehouse, as the source warehouse for transfers destined for the technician’s warehouse.
Additionally, if you check the Use parent warehouse for receiving orders checkbox, the system will automatically specify the parent warehouse’s defined bin on purchase orders destined for the technician’s warehouse. You could override this setting on the purchase order and still specify the technician’s warehouse, but e-automate will choose the parent warehouse’s bin first. This checkbox applies only to purchase orders.
Setting up bin defaults on the Advanced tab involves specifying bins in the warehouse to be used for certain e-automate transactions. e-automate uses the bin default settings when an inventory item involved in the specified transaction type does not have bin defaults for this warehouse identified on the item record. For example, if you set a sales fulfillment bin default, you specify a bin to be used for sales invoices and sales order fulfillment in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item. If you have not specified bin defaults on an inventory item, e-automate looks to the warehouse profile to see which bins it should use.
In addition to transactional bin defaults, e-automate also allows you to define a costing type for the warehouse. Costing types allow you to specify how the inventory in each warehouse is treated on the general ledger. For example, a warehouse using normal costing will group all of the cost for each non-serialized item together into a single costing pool, sharing average cost for items on hand. Inventory items in a normal costing warehouse will affect the general ledger based on the system’s calculated average cost, while a warehouse using zero costing will not have any general ledger impact and will display zero cost. If you configure a special costing warehouse that is excluded from the company’s average cost, then that warehouse will have a specific average cost for each item stored therein.
Finally, as an optional step, if you ship inventory items to your customer, technician, or sales rep warehouses, you can link the customer, technician, and sales rep records to the corresponding warehouse type. You can then synchronize the addresses in both records to enable automatic address updates any time you change an address. For example, you can link a customer warehouse by first editing the customer record and then pointing the record to the warehouse profile. Once the customer record is linked to the customer warehouse, you can return to the warehouse profile and select the linked customer to enable address synchronization. When you have linked a warehouse to a customer record, e-automate assumes you want to use that warehouse on service call transactions and pushes the customer warehouse to all equipment created and linked to that customer. You can override the warehouse designation as necessary.
A technician warehouse works the same way as a customer warehouse. You first point the technician profile to a warehouse, and then identify the technician and enable address synchronization from the warehouse profile. Linking a sales rep is easier than linking customers and technicians because you can perform all linking from the warehouse record alone. Simply point the Sales Rep field to the sales rep you want to link to the warehouse.
Getting to the TransactionGetting to the Transaction
From the Inventory menu, select Warehouses to open the Inventory Warehouses window.
Select the warehouse to be configured and click [Edit] to open the Edit Inventory Warehouse window.
Note: You can also double-click on the warehouse record to edit the warehouse.
Configuring a Company Site WarehouseConfiguring a Company Site Warehouse
To synchronize this warehouse address with the company’s address, check the Synchronize address with company address checkbox.
In
the Parent warehouse field,
use the lookup to select a parent warehouse for the company site
warehouse, if needed.
Note: Typically, the company
site warehouse is used as a parent warehouse for other warehouse types,
so you would leave this field blank.
Note: The parent warehouse is
used by e-automate as a default source bin for transfers going to
the warehouse being edited.
If
you selected a parent warehouse and you want e-automate to receive
any purchase orders destined for this warehouse into the identified
parent warehouse, check the Use parent
warehouse for receiving orders checkbox.
Note: This only applies to purchase
orders.
In the Standard bin field, use the lookup to select your company site warehouse’s standard default bin. This bin is used by e-automate during any inventory transaction where no bin default is identified on the inventory item profile, or where no transactional default bin is identified on the Advanced tab of the warehouse record. If you do not specify transactional defaults on the Advanced tab, e-automate will use this bin.
If you have not yet created a bin to use as the Standard bin, do the following:
In the Standard bin field, click the drop-down menu and select New to open the New Inventory Bin window.
In the Bin field, enter the name or number of the bin.
In the Description field, enter a brief description of the bin.
In
the Picking order field, enter
a number. This number is used to determine the printing order on picking
lists.
Note: The Warehouse
and Stock Type fields are
pre-populated when you create a bin from within the warehouse profile.
On hand qty represents the
number of items currently being held in this bin.
Click [OK] to save the bin and return to the warehouse profile.
In the Defective bin field, select a default defective bin for this warehouse. This bin type is used to receive items that are considered defective. Items usually stored in this bin are either returned to the vendor or written off. If no defective bin is identified, create a bin as previously described in Step 5.
In the Unavailable bin field, select an unavailable bin for the company site warehouse. The unavailable bin is used by e-automate to store inventory you do not want generally available. If no unavailable bin exists, create a bin as previously described in Step 5.
In the Drop-ship bin field, select a drop-ship bin for this warehouse. The drop-ship bin is used as a temporary bin in which inventory is passed through during the drop-shipping process. If no drop-ship bin exists, create a bin as previously described in Step 5.
In the Special order bin field, select a special order bin for this warehouse. The special order bin is used by e-automate to receive inventory items that have been special ordered. If there is not a special order bin available, create a bin as previously described in Step 5.
In the Sales shipped bin field, select a sales shipped bin for this warehouse. This bin type is used to move inventory items from their respective bins to the shipped bin once they have been shipped on a sales order. The items are removed from the regular bin, ensuring that the system does not appear to have more inventory than it actually does.
Click the Advanced tab to bring it forward.
In the fields in the Bin Settings region, use the lookup to specify default bins for the various transaction types displayed. These bin default settings are used when inventory items do not have bin defaults for this warehouse identified on each inventory item. If you have not yet created a bin to use in these fields, do the following:
In the appropriate field, click the drop-down menu and select New to open the New Inventory Bin window.
In the Bin field, enter the name or number of the bin.
In the Description field, enter a brief description of the bin.
In
the Picking order field, enter
a number. This number is used to determine the printing order on picking
lists.
Note: The Warehouse
and the Stock Type fields
are pre-populated when you create a bin from within the warehouse
profile. On hand qty represents
the number of items currently being held in this bin.
Click [OK] to save the bin and return to the warehouse profile.
Repeat Step 10 for each field in which you want to identify a transactional bin default setting.
See below for transactional bin descriptions.
Sales fulfillment: Bin to be used for sales invoices and sales order fulfillment in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Purchasing receiving: Bin to be used to receive inventory received on a purchase order in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Inventory Increase quantity: Bin to be used when you use the increase quantity transaction in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Inventory Decrease quantity: Bin to be used when you use the decrease quantity transaction in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Inventory Transfer source: Bin to be used as the source bin when you create a transfer in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item for transfer source.
Production Pre-assembly: Bin to be used by the assembly process when drawing inventory for assembly in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Production Post-assembly: Bin that will be used by the assembly process when placing inventory in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
In
the Costing region, in the
Costing Type field, use the
lookup icon to select the costing type for this warehouse.
Note: The company site warehouse
typically uses Normal Costing.
Click [OK] to save the warehouse configuration.
Configuring a Customer Site WarehouseConfiguring a Customer Site Warehouse
To associate a warehouse with a customer in e-automate, do the following:
From the e-automate toolbar, click [Customers] to open the Customer list window.
Select the customer with which you want to associate the warehouse and click [Edit] to open the Edit Customer window.
Click the Account tab to bring it forward.
In
the On-site warehouse field,
use the lookup to select the customer’s warehouse.
Note: You must first have created
the customer warehouse and classified it as a customer warehouse for
it to be in this list.
Click
[OK] to save your association
and return to the Customer list window.
Note: You can close the customer
window as necessary.
From the Inventory menu, select Warehouses.
Locate the customer warehouse you want to configure, select the warehouse and click [Edit] to open the Edit Inventory Warehouse window.
In
the Customer field, use the
Lookup icon to select the customers with which this warehouse should
be associated.
Note: If you have not already
associated the customer record with the warehouse, the customer does
not appear in the Customer
lookup.
To synchronize this warehouse address with the company’s address, check the Synchronize address with company’s address checkbox.
In
the Parent warehouse field,
use the lookup to select a parent warehouse for the customer
site warehouse, as needed.
Note: E-automate uses the parent
warehouse as a default source for transfers orders and requests going
to the customer warehouse.
In the Standard bin field, use the lookup to select the customer site warehouse’s standard default bin. This bin is used during any inventory transaction when no bin default is identified on the inventory item profile, or where no transactional default bin is identified on the Advanced tab of the warehouse record.
If you have not yet created a bin to use as the Standard bin, do the following:
In the Standard bin field, click the drop-down menu and select New to open the New Inventory Bin window.
In the Bin field, enter the name or number of the bin.
In the Description field, enter a brief description of the bin.
In
the Picking order field, enter
a number. e-automate uses this number to determine the printing order
on picking lists.
Note: The Warehouse
and Stock Type fields are
pre-populated when you create a bin from within the warehouse profile.
On hand qty represents the
number of items currently being held in this bin.
Click [OK] to save the bin and return to the warehouse profile.
Click the Advanced tab to bring it forward.
In
the Costing region, in the
Costing Type field, use the
lookup icon to select the costing type for this warehouse.
Note: The customer site warehouse
typically uses Normal Costing.
Click [OK] to save the warehouse configuration.
Configuring a Drop-ship WarehouseConfiguring a Drop-ship Warehouse
In the Drop-ship bin field, use the lookup to select the drop-ship warehouse’s drop-ship bin. The drop-ship bin is used by e-automate as a temporary bin in which inventory is passed through during the drop-shipping process.
If you have not yet created a bin to use as the Drop-ship bin, do the following:
In the Drop-ship bin field, click the drop-down menu and select New to open the New Inventory Bin window.
In the Bin field, enter the name or number of the bin.
In the Description field, enter a brief description of the bin.
Leave
the Picking order field as
populated by e-automate.
Note: The Warehouse
and Stock Type fields are
pre-populated when you create a bin from within the warehouse profile.
On hand qty represents the number of items currently being held in
this bin.
Click [OK] to save the bin and return to the warehouse profile.
Click the Advanced tab to bring it forward.
In
the Costing region, in the
Costing Type field, use the
Lookup icon to select the costing type for this warehouse.
Note: The drop-ship warehouse
typically uses Normal Costing.
Click [OK] to save the warehouse configuration.
Configuring a Fixed Asset WarehouseConfiguring a Fixed Asset Warehouse
To synchronize this warehouse address with your company’s address, check the Synchronize address with company address checkbox.
In the Unavailable bin field, use the lookup to select the fixed asset warehouse’s unavailable bin. The unavailable bin is used by e-automate to store inventory you do not want generally available.
If you have not yet created a bin to use as the Unavailable bin, do the following:
In the Unavailable bin field, click the drop-down menu and select New to open the New Inventory Bin window.
In the Bin field, enter the name or number of the bin.
In the Description field, enter a brief description of the bin.
In
the Picking order field, leave
the number automatically populated by e-automate.
Note: The Warehouse
and Stock Type fields are
pre-populated when you create a bin from within the warehouse profile.
On hand qty represents the
number of items currently being held in this bin.
Click [OK] to save the bin and return to the warehouse profile.
Click the Advanced tab to bring it forward
In the Costing region, do the following:
Verify
that Zero Costing displays
in the Costing type field.
Note:
The Costing type field
is grayed out because the warehouse type automatically determines
the costing type.
Verify the Exclude from company average cost calculations checkbox is checked.
Click [OK] to save the warehouse configuration.
Configuring an Other WarehouseConfiguring an Other Warehouse
To synchronize this warehouse address with the company’s address, check the Synchronize address with company address checkbox.
In
the Parent warehouse field,
use the lookup to select a parent warehouse for the other warehouse,
if needed.
Note: The parent warehouse is
used by e-automate as a default source bin for transfers going to
the warehouse being edited.
If
you selected a parent warehouse and you want e-automate to receive
any purchase orders destined for this warehouse into the identified
parent warehouse, check the Use parent
warehouse for receiving orders checkbox.
Note: This only applies to purchase
orders.
In the Standard bin field, use the lookup icon to select your other warehouse’s standard default bin. This bin is used by e-automate during any inventory transaction where no bin default is identified on the inventory item profile, or where no transactional default bin is identified on the Advanced tab of the warehouse record. If you choose not to specify transactional defaults on the Advanced tab, e-automate will use this bin.
If you have not yet created a bin to use as the Standard bin, do the following:
In the Standard bin field, click the drop-own menu and select New to open the New Inventory Bin window.
In the Bin field, enter the name or number of the bin.
In the Description field, enter a brief description of the bin.
In
the Picking order field, enter
a number. e-automate uses this number to determine the printing order
on picking lists.
Note: The Warehouse
and Stock Type fields are
pre-populated when you create a bin from within the warehouse profile.
On hand qty represents the
number of items currently being held in this bin.
Click [OK] to save the bin and return to the warehouse profile.
In the Unavailable bin field, select an unavailable bin for the other warehouse. The unavailable bin is used by e-automate to store inventory you do not want generally available. If no unavailable bin exists, create a bin as previously described in Step 5.
In the Special order bin field, select a special order bin for this warehouse. The special order bin is used by e-automate to receive inventory items that have been special ordered. If there is not a special order bin available, create a bin as previously described in Step 5.
In the Sales shipped bin field, select a sales shipped bin for this warehouse. This bin type is used to move inventory items from their respective bins to the shipped bin once they have been shipped on a sales order. The items are removed from the regular bin, ensuring that the system does not appear to have more inventory than it actually does.
Click the Advanced tab to bring it forward.
In the fields in the Bin Settings region, use the lookup icon to specify default bins for the various transaction types displayed. These bin default settings are used by e-automate when inventory items do not have bin defaults for this warehouse identified on each inventory item. If you have not yet created a bin to use in these fields, do the following:
In the appropriate field, click the drop-down menu and select New to open the New Inventory Bin window.
In the Bin field, enter the name or number of the bin.
In the Description field, enter a brief description of the bin.
In
the Picking order field, enter
a number. E-automate uses this number to determine the printing order
on picking lists.
Note: The Warehouse
and the Stock Type fields
are pre-populated when you create a bin from within the warehouse
profile. On hand qty represents
the number of items currently being held in this bin.
Click [OK] to save the bin and return to the warehouse profile.
Repeat Step 10 for each field in which you want to identify a transactional bin default setting.
See below for transactional bin descriptions.
Sales fulfillment: Bin to be used for sales invoices and sales order fulfillment in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Purchasing receiving: Bin to be used to receive inventory received on a purchase order in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Inventory Increase quantity: Bin to be used when you use the increase quantity transaction in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Inventory Decrease quantity: Bin to be used when you use the decrease quantity transaction in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Inventory Transfer source: Bin to be used as the source bin when you create a transfer in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item for transfer source.
Production Pre-assembly: Bin to be used by the assembly process when drawing inventory for assembly in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Production Post-assembly: Bin that will be used by the assembly process when placing inventory in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
In the Costing region, in the Costing Type field, use the lookup icon to select the costing type for this warehouse.
If you selected either the Special Costing or the Zero Costing types and want to exclude inventory items in this warehouse from the company’s average cost calculations, check the Exclude from company average cost calculations checkbox.
Click [OK] to save the warehouse configuration.
Configuring a RTV Returns WarehouseConfiguring a RTV Returns Warehouse
To synchronize this warehouse address with the company’s address, check the Synchronize address with company address checkbox.
In the Defective bin field, use the lookup icon to select a defective bin for this warehouse. The defective bin is used by e-automate during returns to route defective merchandise to this bin.
If you have not yet created a bin to use as the Defective bin, do the following:
In the Defective bin field, click the drop-down menu and select New to open the New Inventory Bin window.
In the Bin field, enter the name or number of the bin.
In the Description field, enter a brief description of the bin.
In
the Picking order field, enter
a number. E-automate uses this number to determine the printing order
on picking lists.
Note: The Warehouse
and Stock Type fields are
pre-populated when you create a bin from within the warehouse profile.
On hand qty represents the
number of items currently being held in this bin.
Click [OK] to save the bin and return to the warehouse profile.
Click the Advanced tab to bring it forward.
In
the Costing region, in the
Costing Type field, use the
Lookup icon to select the costing type for this warehouse.
Note: The RTV Returns warehouse
typically uses Special Costing.
However, you may also want to exclude inventory items in this warehouse
from the company’s average cost calculations. If so, best practice
recommendation is that you check the Exclude
from company average cost calculations checkbox.
Click [OK] to save the warehouse configuration.
Configuring a Sales Rep WarehouseConfiguring a Sales Rep Warehouse
To synchronize this warehouse address with the sales rep’s address, check the Synchronize address with sales rep address checkbox.
In
the Parent warehouse field,
use the lookup to select a parent warehouse for the salesrep
warehouse, if needed.
Note: The parent warehouse is
used by e-automate as a default source bin for transfers going to
the warehouse being edited.
In the Standard bin field, use the lookup icon to select the sales rep warehouse’s standard default bin. This bin is used during any inventory transaction where no bin default is identified on the inventory item profile, or where no transactional default bin is identified on the Advanced tab of the warehouse record. If you choose not to specify transactional defaults on the Advanced tab, e-automate will use this bin.
If you have not yet created a bin to use as the Standard bin, do the following:
In the Standard bin field, click the drop-down menu and select New to open the New Inventory Bin window.
In the Bin field, enter the name or number of the bin.
In the Description field, enter a brief description of the bin.
In
the Picking order field, enter
a number. e-automate uses this number to determine the printing order
on picking lists.
Note: The Warehouse
and Stock Type fields are
pre-populated when you create a bin from within the warehouse profile.
On hand qty represents the
number of items currently being held in this bin.
Click [OK] to save the bin and return to the warehouse profile.
In the Unavailable bin field, if needed, select an unavailable bin for the salesrep warehouse. The unavailable bin is used by e-automate to store inventory you do not want generally available. If no unavailable bin exists, create a bin as previously described in Step 4.
In the Special order bin field, select a special order bin for this warehouse. The special order bin is used by e-automate to receive inventory items that have been special ordered. If there is not a special order bin available, create a bin as previously described in Step 4.
In the Sales shipped bin field, select a sales shipped bin for this warehouse. This bin type is used to move inventory items from their respective bins to the shipped bin once they have been shipped on a sales order. The items are removed from the regular bin, ensuring that the system does not appear to have more inventory than it actually does.
Click the Advanced tab to bring it forward.
In the fields in the Bin Settings region, use the lookup to specify default bins for the various transaction types displayed. These bin default settings are used by e-automate when inventory items do not have bin defaults for this warehouse identified on each inventory item. If you have not yet created a bin to use in these fields, do the following:
In the appropriate field, click the drop-down menu and select New to create a new bin. e-automate opens the New Inventory Bin window.
In the Bin field, enter the name or number of the bin.
In the Description field, enter a brief description of the bin.
In
the Picking order field, enter
a number. E-automate uses this number to determine the printing order
on picking lists.
Note: The Warehouse
and the Stock Type fields
are pre-populated when you create a bin from within the warehouse
profile. On hand qty represents
the number of items currently being held in this bin.
Click [OK] to save the bin and return to the warehouse profile.
Repeat Step 9 for each field in which you want to identify a transactional bin default setting.
See
below for transactional bin descriptions.
Note: You may not need to configure
any transactional bin default settings for a salesrep warehouse, but
you can do whatever your business needs dictate.
Sales fulfillment: Bin to be used for sales invoices and sales order fulfillment in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Purchasing receiving: Bin to be used to receive inventory received on a purchase order in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Inventory Increase quantity: Bin to be used when you use the increase quantity transaction in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Inventory Decrease quantity: Bin to be used when you use the decrease quantity transaction in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Inventory Transfer source: Bin to be used as the source bin when you create a transfer in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item for a transfer source.
Production Pre-assembly: Bin to be used by the assembly process when drawing inventory for assembly in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
Production Post-assembly: Bin that will be used by the assembly process when placing inventory in the absence of a bin default defined on the inventory item.
In
the Costing region, in the Costing Type field, use the Lookup
icon to select the costing type for this warehouse.
Note: A sales rep warehouse
typically uses Normal Costing.
Click [OK] to save the warehouse configuration.
Configuring a Technician WarehouseConfiguring a Technician Warehouse
In order to configure a technician warehouse, you must first have created the technician’s warehouse and bin as well as created the employee on the employee list. When creating an employee, you associate the technician warehouse and bin with the employee profile. These steps should have been completed prior to configuring a technician warehouse.
In the Technician field, use the lookup to select the technician associated with this warehouse on the employee record.
To synchronize this warehouse address with the technician’s address, check the Synchronize address with technician address checkbox.
In
the Parent warehouse field,
use the lookup to select a parent warehouse for the technician
warehouse, if needed.
Note: The parent warehouse is
used by e-automate as a default source bin for transfers going to
the warehouse being edited as well as a default source for inventory
item replenishment.
If
you selected a parent warehouse and you want e-automate to receive
any purchase orders destined for this warehouse into the identified
parent warehouse, check the Use parent
warehouse for receiving orders checkbox.
Note: This only applies to purchase
orders.
In the Standard bin field, use the lookup to select the technician warehouse’s standard default bin. e-automate uses this bin during any inventory transaction where no bin default is identified on the inventory item profile, or where no transactional default bin is identified on the Advanced tab of the warehouse record. If you choose not to specify transactional defaults on the Advanced tab, e-automate will use this bin.
If you have not yet created a bin to use as the Standard bin, do the following:
In the Standard bin field, click the drop-down menu and select New to open the New Inventory Bin window.
In the Bin field, enter the name or number of the bin.
In the Description field, enter a brief description of the bin.
In the Picking order field, use the number automatically populated by e-automate.
Click [OK] to save the bin and return to the warehouse profile.
Leave the following fields blank unless you have a specific business reason to populate them: Defective bin, Unavailable bin, Drop-ship bin, Special order bin, and Sales shipped bin.
Click the Advanced tab to bring it forward.
In
the Costing region, in the
Costing Type field, use the
lookup icon to select the costing type for this warehouse.
Note: A technician warehouse
typically uses Normal Costing.
Click [OK] to save the warehouse configuration.
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