For the most professional warehousing operations, SQLWorks includes a powerful automated order allocation system.

‘Order Allocation’ can be accessed by users who have the SQLWorks Advanced Stock module under ‘Products’ in the main Navbar .

The top of this window gives you a series of filters for every stock order recorded in SQLWorks , with a series of configurable order allocation stages that your warehouse stock must move through to be dispatched in the panel below.

Typically stock will be progressing through one of six stages:

• ‘Unallocated’ – Stock that has not yet been processed.

• ‘Allocated’ – Stock from a specific warehouse reserved for a specific order.

• ‘Released’ – Stock in a specific bin location or locations, approved for picking.

• ‘In Pick’ –  Stock that has been picked and due to be dispatched to the customer.

• ‘In Transit’ – Stock that is part of internal stock movements between warehouses

By default all lines that meet your search criteria are displayed on the relevant tabs on the bottom of the window. These display is automatically ‘locked’ to editing, however using the radio buttons users can make the list ‘Selectable’ to turn on or off individual (or groups of) order lines, or ‘Editable’ to change individual allocation qty within a line. Right clicking a selectable or editable line opens helpful options for highlighting mass, order group or inverse line selections.

In the unallocated tab clicking the ‘Auto Set Values’ button on the right will allocate anything SQLWorks can, when you save it will move order lines to the ‘Allocated’ Tab. Since not every allocated stock item within an order is always available for dispatch, SQLWorks releases the order allocation based on the dispatch rules set in the order:

• ‘Allow Back Orders’ – When picked, any outstanding stock is cancelled unless SQLWorks is told to hold as outstanding items for back ordering.

• ‘Allow Part Order’ – SQLWorks will allocate order lines as they become available, unless told to wait until the full order can be fulfilled.

• ‘Allow Split Line’ – Send partial quantities from lines whenever they are available.

You can specify saved defaults for your company’s SQLWorks order allocation, which can be overridden with a rule for specific customer’s sales account, and are then applied to each specific order for the account.

Once released, SQLWorks can auto-generate intelligent picking notes – itemising stock to be picked using optimal warehouse walking route based on the known locations of your warehouse bins. When a pick is complete, warehouse operatives can re-enter stock ‘Fail Quantity’ figures into your order allocation history, along with reporting reasons for why the stock in question could not be picked. The remaining quantity is then automatically moved to invoice, allowing you to dispatch large numbers of orders with ease and efficiency.

An inventory Audit Log also allows you to look back through a complete history of every order line, or you can refer to the ‘Order Processing’ Tab within the Stock Ledger for a graphical summary and past failed order data.

For a more professional stock control solution – contact us about SQLWorks today: 01271 375999

Stock by account

It’s often useful to be able to see what a company has been quoted for, ordered, or has been invoiced for, over a longer period of time.

SQLWorks provides a useful summary of this information under each company’s ‘Stock by Account’ table.

Opening a company’s Sales Ledger Account in SQLWorks and clicking the ‘Stock’ Tab in the main window will display a table that breaks down a company’s stock data by month. Users can choose the financial year to observe, filter by Product, Stock Group or more, and choose to count the number of quotes, orders or invoices.

This is a useful feature for repeat customers, providing a quick and easy summary of activity on a customer’s sales account over the course of 12 months. For a more detailed list of stock or custom items quoted, ordered or invoiced, click the ‘Detail’ tab and specify the date range with which to search that company’s sales account.

Either table can also be exported to Microsoft Excel if needed, so that SQLWorks can always report your sales account activity in the way that is most convenient for you.

 

Contact our SQLWorks team for more information: 01271 375999 

Stock comes in many different forms, so SQLWorks stock ledger can be set to value stock, per item, in four different ways – known as stock costs:

1. Default Purchase Cost – specify a purchase cost against any stock item in any currency, and when you buy in that currency, SQLWorks will match the costs using the appropriate exchange rate.

2. Average Cost – this is an average taken across all purchase invoices over the total quantity of stock. Accurate to up to 4 decimal places, this can be recalculated with a right click or set to automatically update via Preferences > Accounts Prefs > Stock. If no stock is available average cost will estimate an average from recent sold stock using your invoices.

3. Standard Cost – Your custom valuation, not derived from any financial transactions in the system, and used to give a stock item an arbitrary value.

4. Batch Cost – Used for advanced warehousing, batch cost records the cost of each item from a specific purchased batch, and can vary between batches, allowing for more accurate manufacturing, re-sale and accounting.

On costs/landed costs, accounting for extra stock costs obtained with freight charges, duties and import taxes, can also be recorded specifically or as averages, and users can specify whether to include or exclude on-costs from their stock valuations.

When generating reports in SQLWorks, users can specify the default valuation for your stock from among the stock cost methods, choosing the one most appropriate for your business. By setting a default cost type, this also affects your Sales Ledger, directly affecting profit and associate reports.

 

Learn more about SQLWorks stock today: http://www.sqlworks.co.uk/stock/

SQLWorks Stock Ledger tools have been designed to give you complete control over your warehouse(s) and the constant movement of goods necessary for your business to profit.

Stock Ledger can be entered from the Navigation Bar on the left of SQLWorks, under ‘Products’ (1), in one of two versions: ‘Simple’ or ‘Complex’. These different levels of functionality fit your needs and complexity of your business, with complex stock including advanced features such as internal movements, stock locations and batch control.

Opening the Stock Ledger displays a list of every stock item known to your business (2) and allows you to search or filter the list to find the stock item you need. Selecting an item from the list loads its information in the main window for viewing or editing, with movements, orders and other stock functions all found in the lower half of the Main Window.

Keeping count your stock can depend on workflow, so separate figures for ‘Actual’ (available for sale), ‘Pending’ (not yet for sale), ‘Allocated’ (reserved for order), ‘Free’ (warehoused) and ‘Available’ Stock are all recorded (3), to ensure maximum accuracy.

At the top half of the Stock Ledger are tabs governing the attributes of the selected stock item (4) – including a summary of activity, purchase and sale pricing, ordering defaults, analysis categories and other notes.

In the lower half of the Stock Ledger are tabs governing activity on the selected stock item (5) – including a summary dashboard, full stock movement history, linked transactions, deliveries, stock status, any manufacturing/bills of material data, works orders, stock history & linked CRM entries.

‘Stock Audit’ allows SQLWorks to take a snapshot of your stock, producing printed figures for stock checking, calculating a variance factor based on counts from your warehouse team, and permits you to correct your SQLWorks’ Stock Ledger based on this data.

Storing your stock in each warehouse, and its stock bins, can be mapped in any way that you choose: SQLWorks understands where stock is being kept, and keeps track of crates, packs and individual units to ensure that exact quantities are never confused. Buy in crates of a thousand, store as individual units and sell in packs of five – safe in the knowledge that SQLWorks understands the difference. From the ‘Info’ Tab on the toolbar a set of ‘Allowed’ permissions even blocks items from being sold in the Sales ledger in error, and a monthly ‘lock down’ feature can be used to ensure historic data remains an accurate record.

Materials or component parts can be logged as such to avoid miss-selling, and product ‘bills of material’ from those parts saved for accounting of finished products. Any product in SQLWorks can become a kit, built from an unlimited number of sub components in a known construction time, costed as you see fit.

Valuation can vary widely across companies: that’s why SQLWorks understands different types of stock prices: including setting a ‘Default Cost’ for basic use, ‘Average Cost’ across units or materials or ‘Batch Cost’ for varying costs between batches, or a ‘Standard Cost’ for your own asset valuation as needed, and recording sale prices in up to 3 sales currencies (set by the user) to allow for international stock movements.

Batch management gives you the ability to record the item price differently between batches, track shifting margins and buy, store or re-sell the same item deploying different quantities and valuations depending on the batch. All pricing data links directly to your SQLWorks Accounting tools, to ensure that each area of your business software operates as one.

Adjustments to your stock are easily made from the ‘Movements’ button on the toolbar: for example stock movements can be entered in bulk for rapid updating of stock figures, or imported/exported from an external file. For those that need it, Stock Ledger includes an optional serial number system – using unique item numbers SQLWorks can be set to prompt, or even block, users against moving stock without evidencing its serial number. Speak to our team about how the Stock Ledger can best be configured for your businesses workflow.

SQLWorks logs not just your current stock, but your stock history – allowing you to trace movements or individual items long after the event, or monitor stock levels and finances over time. This information is then relayed using graphs for ease of use, and ensures that you always have accurate stock data at your fingertips.

 

For more information, contact our team today: http://www.sqlworks.co.uk/contact/