Allocating special order parts to open stocking purchase orders can be an important strategy for making sure your customers receive their parts as soon as possible. This article will explain the simple steps to making allocating strategies.
What's an allocatable part?
- An allocatable part is a special order part in the ordering screen that also has a receivable amount on an open purchase order.
Why should I allocate a part?
- You want to get the part to your customer as fast as you can. You have 10 helmets on order from January on a seasonal purchase order. You intend to only order those parts once and do not want to create new POs if customers want to pay and reserve 1 of the 10 helmets on order. This would avoid creating a new PO for an 11th helmet.
- In the last scenario, we did not create an unnecessary PO because we knew we had a fixed amount of a part on order. In this scenario, you simply have a high-moving stocking part on backorder. Your regular customers, including your service department, will want to get those back-order parts reserved rather than a new special order tied to a later PO. This will make sure the customers and service department get the parts they need first.
Are there permissions for this feature?
- Yes. You can go to a user's settings to add or remove the feature. Default permissions are Parts Manager and up.
Workflow:
Step 1 - Identifying Allocatable Parts
There are three color identifiers in the Parts Ordering screen:
- White - A part added for stock
- Yellow - A special order part that is non allocatable
- Orange - A special order part that is allocatable
Click the Allocate icon in between the check box and the Part Number
Step 2 - Allocating Parts to an Open Purchase Order
You will now see the Parts Purchase Order List window. Here you can see what open POs there are, the PO#, and the PO Date. As mentioned earlier and is the default setting in this window, you would be best advised to allocate parts to the oldest POs first.
You will also see the Part Number, and Description as well as the amount available to allocate. As you select open POs the Qty amount will update the remaining amount in live time. In this case, after selecting PO 18 which has 1 part available, you will see Qty 0 as all special order parts are allocated to a PO. If there was a remaining SO quantity not allocated, that amount will stay in the special order screen.
Click the Allocate button once you are ready
Step 3 - Allocate/Open PO or Allocate and Close
Many dealerships like to print out PO hard copies after submitting POs. If this is you, then after allocating parts you will see an option to Allocate/Open PO. When you click this button it will allocate the part and open the PO Summary window where you can print your new copy of the PO.
As a note for hard copy dealers. If you decide to allocate parts to multiple POs you will not see the Allocate/Open PO button. As there is multiple POs you will only see the Allocate and Close button which you will click. Then you will go to the PO list and print your hard copies one at a time
If you are a dealership that does not use a hard copy method you can simply hit the Allocate and Close button
If you decide at this point you would like to not allocate the parts you can click cancel and return to the Parts Purchase Order List.
Congratulations, you have now allocated special order parts!
How can I tell if a special order or a PO has allocated parts?
Once parts are allocated to a PO there are a few ways to see that information across the system. For instance, after you allocate a part Dx1 will add a note to the PO memo letting you know the PO now contains Parts that have been allocated for special orders since the PO creation.
On the Ordering List, you can also see the memo description displayed showing the allocated note. This is an easy way to tell when a PO has allocated parts.
You can also review the process type in the adjustment history for a particular part. If a part was allocated the process type will read Allocated PO.
Additionally, you can open a special order invoice to view purchase order information. In the purchase order window, you will see all POs with allocated parts as well as the date.
Allocating Rules
- Example 1: Allocated Quantity Equal to the Allowed Amount
- PO#1 is a stocking order for part number 001 for a quantity of 1.
- A customer orders the same part number 001 with a quantity of 1.
- When a user selects to allocate the SO part to PO#1 Dx1 will allocate the part with the special order information.
- Example 2: Allocated Quantity Less Than Allowed Amount
- PO#1 is a stocking order for part number 001 for a quantity of 10
- A customer orders the same part number 001 with a quantity of 1
- When a user selects to allocate the SO to PO#1 Dx1 will change the stocking amount to 9 and Dx1 will add a new line with all the same part info now linked up with the special order information
- Example 3: Allocated Quantity More Than Allowed Amount
- PO#1 is a stocking order for part number 001 for a quantity of 1
- A customer orders the same part number 001 with a quantity of 5
- When a user selects to allocate the SO to PO#1 Dx1 will allocate the 1 available part and leave the remaining 4 in the ordering screen with the same special order information
Canceling Purchase Orders with Allocated Parts
If you try to cancel a PO with existing Special Order parts today, Dx1 will pop up a warning message letting you know that this order contains special-order parts and canceling this order will leave unfilled special order invoices. If you choose to do this then click the confirm checkbox and click OK to cancel the order.
Help Video:
For additional questions or support, you can click the help option in the top right-hand portion of the DX1 screen and select any of the available options.
