Backflushing is an alternative method of allocating components or materials to manufacturing, whereby stock is deducted only after production has been completed.
Backflushing makes it easier to work with quantities that would otherwise be highly impractical to ‘pick’ for use on Works Orders, and is a particularly useful technique when:
Components are too small or numerous to be ‘counted out’ in a sensible timeframe. (e.g.: screws, nuts, bolts, other low-cost parts used in volume.)
When materials are divisible, liquid, molten, gaseous, in lengths, weights, or otherwise issued ‘approximately.’ (e.g.: paint, ingredients, chemicals etc.)
Where a ‘spare’ quantity needs to be returned to stock after manufacturing is finished. (e.g.: scrapings, leftovers, recycled material.)
In SQLWorks every component on a Bill of Material (BOM) has a default allocation method – either ‘Standard’, ‘Backflush’ or ‘Return’ which defines how stock of this item will be ‘used up’ in the Stock Ledger. These work as follows:
‘Standard’ – This is the default, and is used for all items that need to be counted out in advance of production. Components will be removed from stock when the user clicks ‘Take’ on the Works Order, before production begins.
‘Backflush’ – Components will only be removed from stock after the Works Order is built, and the user is then asked to specify how much has been used.
‘Return’ – Similar to backflushing, however components will only be removed from stock after the Works Order is built, and the user is then asked to specify a ‘spare’ quantity that gets returned to stock.
By changing a component stock item to ‘Backflush’ on a BOM, nothing will be removed from stock at the ‘Take’ stage, instead being deducted only after that BOM has been ‘built’ on a Works Order. The user can then specify how much has (or hasn’t) been used.
This is significantly more practical for certain items – although production managers may need to initially estimate the stock quantity of a Backflush item that they expect to use on its BOM (e.g.: how much paint an item typically needs.)
The user can edit a component’s default type by right clicking on it in a BOM, and choosing ‘Change Component Type.’ Components set to Backflush will be marked with a small ‘B’ symbol in the BOM.
When ‘Taken’ within a Works Order, only Standard items will listed as being removed from stock, and Backflush items will always show a taken quantity of zero (with the user then prompted after the ‘build’ stage for the correct quantity used for Backflush, or quantity excess for Return.)
For many manufacturers, drawing down stock ‘post-production’ in this way may be the only way to accurately update your usage of resources. Using backflushing is an efficient way of tracking manufacturing using more fluid components, and allows SQLWorks to keep your production precise.
If a business harnesses important physical assets, keeping track of these over time quickly becomes essential.
Whether it’s your own machinery, or a piece of equipment you maintain for a client, attributing costs to these accurately is an key part of your business financial planning – and helps you make smarter decisions about future investment.
SQLWorks supports this process with a dedicated asset register – allowing the user to save a range of information (including make, model, warranty and more) for both in-house and client assets to aid day-to-day business operations. Asset Register can be found in the Stock Ledger, and helps the user build a centralised and definitive list that can be controlled with permissions groups, like any other SQLWorks Ledger.
For in-house assets, SQLWorks users can also link these assets to Purchase Orders – ensuring that asset’s data contains a detailed maintenance history that includes financials.
Helpfully, this also works across multiple Purchase Ledger suppliers, so that maintenance costs (such as repairs or replacement parts) remain accurate even if an asset’s service contract changes hands. This helps a company stay flexible, since accounting and contract periods may be much shorter than machinery lifecycles.
Assets may also be optionally enabled as a special tab in a customer’s Sales Ledger account – ensuring a service engineer can easily access known information about a client’s asset as a part of routine account maintenance. This might include location, serial numbering for identification, or notes on past repair work.
SQLWorks ensures business managers can properly document and maintain a full asset register – itself an asset to a well-informed team.
For expertise and software assistance, please contact our SQLWorks Team today
Managing outbound goods often requires an overarching view of business operations ‘as-a-whole’ – looking across all sales accounts, orders and products. We’ve given users the power to do this via SQLWorks Dispatch Planner.
Dispatch Planner gives order managers and warehouse teams a comprehensive dashboard to maximise visibility and control over orders. Dispatch Planner is accessible within the Stock Ledger, and (by default) loads a comprehensive list of all outstanding customer sales Orders with key information about each order.
Double clicking on an order allows a drill-down to the exact order, meaning shopfloor teams don’t need to access individual customer sales accounts to understand workloads and even check line-level detail.
Simple ‘traffic-light’ statuses indicate whether the required stock quantity is available for each order to be shipped in full. By selecting an order, dispatch managers can also view the same information for each order line of the order – with the same status indication based on free stock availability. Orders will only be considered ready to ship in full once every line on that order is available to ship.
When ready to ship, dispatches can be sent to dispatch and invoiced (and emailed automatically to the customer) in one smooth workflow, removing the outstanding order from the Dispatch Planner list.
High volume companies may lengthen or shorten the time horizon of the viewed orders, or filter by warehouse. Where goods are not ‘Ready to Ship’, SQLWorks will make the user aware of why an order is delayed – for example, showing Purchasing Delays.
For companies that use Delivery/Dispatch Notes prior to invoice, the Dispatch Planner will also allow the generation of new delivery notes from here, list any valid delivery note numbers for each order for cross-referencing, and require the user to select an existing delivery note before invoicing a previous dispatch.
Dispatch Planner shows the real power of SQLWorks: as the ability to cross-reference stock control and ordering globally across the business allows you to manage operations quickly, efficiently, and with confidence.
You can find more detail about how to use Dispatch Planner here
Stock Audit allows businesses to perform a comprehensive stock take, record variances, verify the results, report on valuation, and automatically adjust stock levels for accuracy.
Stock takes can be initiated, or continued, by clicking on ’Stock Audit’ under ‘Products’ in the Main SQLWorks Navigation Bar (1). To begin a new stock take simply click ‘Create New’ or load an unfinished stocktake via ‘Load Existing’. Each stock take is warehouse specific, and can be given a reference ID.
Users must choose whether the final results will ’Save Quantity’ (adjust the actual quantity to a fixed number established from the stock check) or ’Save Variance’ (adjust the actual quantity according to a variance from the theoretical quantity, incorporating quantity changes which may have taken place during the stock take.)
Clicking ‘Print Sheets’ generates a series of stock take forms, listing the stock items and locations under review, which can be printed and assigned to stock counters for counting. Printed stock take sheets include a notes field for stock counters to record additional information, but do not list the theoretical quantity, so as not to prejudice the accuracy of the stock take.
Once stock counters have returned their stock take sheets, stock controllers can enter counted values in the ‘Count’ column next to each item by entering the name of the counter in the ‘Counted By’ dropdown (2) at the top of the window. The ‘Variance’ Column automatically calculates the variance, and a note of the counter’s name is recorded in the ‘Count By’ column (3)
If required, stock controllers can print “check sheets” in order to have questionable variances verified by a second counter, and enter a revised quantity in the same field by using the ‘Checked By’ dropdown at the top of the window (2). The ‘Variance’ Column automatically calculates the variance, and a note of the checker’s name is recorded in the ‘Check By’ column (3). When printing check sheets you may enter a single product code or a csv of codes, each product including its current values for all bin locations are printed on their own page.
To review the records, clicking the ‘Print Variance’ button at the top of the window produces a report on the results of the stock take, grouping the variances on each item across all monitored locations, and calculating a monetary value for the overall positive or negative variance.
By clicking ‘Finish’, the results of either the ’Save Quantity’ or ’Save Variance’ stock take are applied to the SQLWorks Stock Ledger to bring the stock levels back into alignment with the stock take.*
For additional information on stock control, contact our team today.
*If the ‘Free Qty’ tickbox is ticked at the top of the theory column, the theoretical values for the stock audit are shown excluding any allocated quantity. SQLWorks will not accept a variance which adjusts the quantity of an item below the quantity of that item which is already Allocated to Sales Orders, and will instead adjust the Actual quantity as close to the recorded variance as allowed numerically.
SQLWorks includes two levels of security permissions: Group and User security.
User security states which parts of SQLWorks a user has access to (visible within menus) and does not have access to.
Group Security sets permissions for groups of users, including every user in that group and overrides an individual’s security settings.
To review your SQLWorks users, click the ‘System Administration’ button on the main navbar. If you wish to review your users, click ‘Users.’ This displays a table with every valid SQLWorks user at your company, and administrators can double click to view or edit an individual’s user settings.
To review your SQLWorks groups, click ‘Groups.’ This displays a table with your saved Groups of users. You can also add a new group, copy or edit any existing group from this table.
To change your security settings, click ‘Security’ (1). This loads your list of groups in the left hand list, with the users contained within any selected group in the right hand list. By clicking the ‘Add’ or ‘Remove’ buttons you can add or remove individual users to the correct group.
By using the ‘Group Windows Security’ Tab along the top, you can also set the permissions for that group (and therefore the users contained within it.) Grant access by clicking the checkboxes next to each area of the system, and give ‘Basic’ (find, add new or edit) or ‘All’ permissions (find, add new, edit, edit multiple or delete.) (2)
There are no limits on the size or number of groups users can be assigned to, so your permissions structure can be as simple or complex as your internal company policies require. Please ask the SQLWorks team if you need help or advice on setting up security permissions settings, or on IT security best practice.
By default, SQLWorks has one ‘Admin’ group which has administration permissions for the Sales/Purchase Ledgers, Stock Ledger, Finance and CRM sections. This can be changed to different groups in larger organisations – for example to designate a different administrator for sales/purchasing.
Once you have your users and groups configured correctly, simply close the System Administration window, and your SQLWorks security permissions will be in place when each user next logs on.
SQLWorks Security Permissions
Bank Ledger – Security permissions for managing Bank accounts and cash accounting
Bank Accounts – Lets users see Bank accounts within the Bank Ledger.
Bank Transactions – Lets users access options for bank transactions within the Bank Ledger.
User Logs – Lets users access the recorded log of user logins.
User Prefs – Lets users set the user preferences of their own SQLWorks account.
Years – REDUNDANT.
Nominal – Security permissions for the Nominal accounting and company finances.
Analysis – Lets users access the accounts ordered by analysis code.
Audit By Code – Lets users audit by nominal code and run nominal reporting.
Audit By Year – Lets users audit by financial year and run nominal reporting.
Budget By Year – Lets users access and compare against recorded financial budgets.
Dashboard – Lets users access the SQLWorks account dashboard.
Departments – Lets users access the accounts ordered by department.
Financial Years – Lets users set system-wide financial year start/end dates.
Nominal Journals – Gives users access to Nominal Journals.
Nominal Ledger – Lets users access the accounts ordered by Nominal Code.
Nominal Audit List – Grants users access to ‘audited’ data calculated from the nominal ledger for financial years.
Nominal Code List – Allows users access to the list of nominal codes defined within the nominal Ledger.
Nominal Journals – Allows users access to Nominal Journals within the Accounts.
Nominal Ledger – Allows users access to the Nominal Ledger (General Ledger) Window within Accounts.
Standing Journal Items – Allows users access to standing journal entry line details for each journal.
Standing Journals – Allows users access to the Standing Journals window.
Standing Journals Group – Allows users access to standing journal entries.
Products – Security permissions for managing Stock
Assets – Lets users access the ‘Assets’ tab of equipment linked to a company.
Bin Locations – Allows users access to stock ‘bin’ locations within each warehouse.
Dealers – Allows users access to set dealerships, defining both approved suppliers and customers for a stock item, and cross reference the two (eg: for hazardous materials.)
Order Allocation – Allows users access to SQLWorks stock ‘Order Allocation’ tab in for reserving stock for specific customer orders.
Pricing and Discounting – Allows users permission to set current and future price break rules for stock items.
Stock Allowed – Gives users access to approvals list, restricting warehouse bins to holding only specific stock items.
Stock Audit – Gives users access to Stock Audit to perform stock takes.
Stock Browser – Allows users access to the stock browser table of all stock items.
Stock Groups – Allows users access to stock groups, to which any stock item can be assigned.
Stock Ledger – Allows users access to the Stock Ledger.
Warehouse Map – Allows users access to the Warehouse Map displaying warehouses, bin locations within these, and stock items within those bins.
SQLWorks calculates a number of different stock quantities for measuring how much stock you have.
These allow you to measure how much of each stock item are at different stages of your stock control process, and can be found displayed in the Stock Ledger for each stock item as follows. Scroll down for more information about each.
Actual
‘What I own now’
Actual Stock is the quantity of an item you currently own within your warehouse(s.)
Pending
‘What I own which is temporarily unavailable’
Pending Stock is the quantity of an item you currently own which is not to hand – for example Stock you own which is in ‘Transit’ internally, or stock currently waiting in ‘Make’ Bins for manufacturing.*
*The exact nature of Pending stock may vary between individual SQLWorks companies, and may represent stock dispatched but not processed, if this setting is applied – please contact your account manager to clarify.
Allocated
‘What’s been sold to a specific customer’
Allocated Stock is the quantity of an item you currently own which has been reserved to fulfil a specific customer’s order.
Free
‘What’s really in hand’
Free Stock is your Actual Stock minus any stock currently Pending or Allocated. This count typically represents the amount of stock you own that’s on hand, and does not include anything currently in transit, or already allocated to fulfil specific sales orders.
SOP
‘What’s been ordered’
SOP stock is the quantity of a stock item which is wanted by your customers (currently outstanding on your sales orders.) This includes any Allocated stock already reserved to fulfil specific sales orders.
SQLWorks can be configured to exclude Forward Orders from this number.
Available
‘What would I have left’
Available stock is your Actual Stock minus your SOP. This count represents the maximum quantity of a stock item you own which could still be sold if all your sales orders were fulfilled.
WoP
‘What’s needed for parts / to be made from parts’
WoP Stock is the quantity of an item currently listed on outstanding works orders – to be made from other stock items, or used to make other stock items.
POP
‘What’s on order’
POP stock is the quantity of an item currently listed on outstanding purchase orders. This is stock you are expecting to be delivered by suppliers.
SQLWorks can be configured to exclude Forward Orders from this number.
Potential
‘What I could have’
Potential Stock is all your potential stock added together. This count represents the maximum amount of stock you would have if you fulfilled all outstanding customer orders, received all outstanding purchase orders and build all outstanding works orders.
If you are using SQLWorks MRP, the Potential stock is the quantity that will be compared to your re-order level for each stock item (within your chosen time horizon) to inform whether additional stock needs to be purchased or manufactured.
SQLWorks includes a manufacture and kitting tool able to budget for and build manufactured products using a selection of saved kits.
Manufacturing is accessible to users of the SQLWorks Advanced Stock, and can be found within the Stock Ledger screen under the ‘Products’ module in the main Navbar (1).
Clicking the ‘Kit Details’ Tab opens the kitting information for the selected stock item (2), and users should click the ‘Setup’ button if using these tools for a given stock item for the first time. By default, SQLWorks saves up to 3 alternate builds for each manufactured item (although more are available) with saved descriptions for each build (3).
Each stock item in your SQLWorks stock ledger can be both a ‘parent’ (made from its stock item ‘children’ – its components) or a ‘child’ of another stock item ‘parent’. Right-clicking opens options to ‘add child’ (component part) including values for both the components and associated labour costs.
Saved builds can include many components, sub components, and more levels as needed.
On the right hand side of the panel (4) are fields displaying the ‘Base Component Cost’ (the total value of the component parts as worked out by your saved SQLWorks stock valuation model) the ‘Marked Up Component Cost’ (the total markup value once percentage markups such as labour or assembly costs have been applied to each component for this build) and the ‘Current Kit Cost’ with your assigned sale cost for the finished product.
The kit price will be re-calculated automatically as component parts change, or if you have disabled this feature, by pressing the ‘Re-calculate’ button. Users can update the cost details for a build, allowing for any recent changes to stock ledger components, their value or assembly markup costs. You can also use saved shortcuts in the quick select menu of the Stock Ledger to view ‘Parent Items’ and ‘Child Items’ for easy searching.
SQLWorks manufacturing gives you a toolkit to organize the manufacture of kits from countless components, and to keep track of costs at every stage of the production line.
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
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:
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.
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.
Standard Cost – Your custom valuation, not derived from any financial transactions in the system, and used to give a stock item an arbitrary value.
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.
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