Free 2BizBox ERP v4.0 is published!

Hello Everyone!

After a half year's hard work, we published 2BizBox v4.0 recently. You can download it at:
http://www.2bizbox.com/product/download.

Many functions are lauched in this new version:

• Add Shipping Swap Order from QA Location.
• Add “Backflush” to Part Property, including Pre-flush and Backflush, widely used in Work Order for consumable parts.
• Add inventory and accounting management for Non-Productive Part.
• Enable to set Manufacturing Tolerance Rate in the Mfg BOM.
• Add Quality Inspection Type for parts, including “Compulsory Inspection, Exemption from Inspection and Sampling Inspection” when receiving the work order.
• Add new function on “Disassemble Work Order” .
• Add “Initiate Tracking” and enable to add tracking information when shipping and receiving.
• Add a new permission “VIEW_INVENTORY_COST” to enable the control on viewing part cost information.
• Add a new permission “VIEW_SALES_COST” to enable the control on viewing part sales cost.
• Add “Send Notice” function for Transfer Order.
• Add “Print Approval Comment” option on Sales Order Print.
• Add “Print Replaced Items” option on Bill of Material Print.
• Add VO “Commodity Code” in customizing PO Printing Template.
  

To see a detail introduction to the new functions, you can read "What's new" in our forum:

http://www.2bizbox.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1156

Supply Chain Parts - Solution for Vendor Part Number

For a part we purchase from the vendor, it has a vendor part # (or manufacturer part #". Usually we'd like to mark a new part # for this part, according to our material coding rules. Next time when we purchase the part again, we will use our part # for this part on the purchase order. Then how to let the vendor know which part we are purchasing?

A traditional way is to write the vendor part # somewhere. In 2BizBox Box, we provide a "Mfg Part #", which you can add in the Part's MFG info.

If the same part has several vendors, just add as much manufacturers as you need.

Then, when you are updating the PO of this part, you can choose to display the Mfg Info on the PO:

This is a submitted PO with Mfg Part #:

Then, you can choose to print it with only MPN (Mfg Part Number) or both MPN and MFG (Mfg Info.):

Besides Mfg Part #, 2BizBox provides a more intelligent solution for users that both the vendor and customer applied 2BizBox for trading -- Supply Chain Parts.

Supply Chain Parts, allows vendor and customer that both applied 2BizBox to make orders with part numbers of each. That means, when vendor and customer add supply chain parts for each other, they can write their own part number on orders, and the 2BizBox of the opposite side will automatically interpret the part number to its owns. Furthermore, supply chain parts can be used on batch receiving POs.

In the following case, you will see how two companies, ABC Company as the Vendor and XYZ Company as the Customer, use supply chain part to complete the purchasing process.

Suppose XYZ Company is going to purchase the part "XYZ007-A5" from ABC Company whose corresponding part number is "ABC12-01-01".

1. Create SO by PO Exchange Data

In order to create SO with PO exchange data, the vendor ABC Company should add part number of customer's to its Supply Chain Part first. In "Sales Box - Sales Order - Supply Chain Parts", click "2Add Supply Chain Part":

When adding a supply chain part, enter Customer Address ID and part number and then choose the corresponding part number from the vendor's inventory. In this case,  ABC Company sets Supply Chain Part for XYZ Company as "XYZ007-A5 and chooses Part "ABC12-01-01" from its inventory:

Click "2Add" to create the Supply Chain Part. When updating supply chain part, re-confirm the mapping part # and click ""2Upate" to finish.

Now, XYZ Company can make the PO for "XYZ007-A5".

In the PO Property page, click "2Export" will pop up the exchange data window. Click "2Copy to Clipboard" to copy the exchange data.

XYZ Company can save the exchange data to document and send it to ABC Company.

By receiving the exchange data, ABC Company can open "Sales Box - Sales Order - General", click "2Add Sales Order by Customer PO":

Paste the exchange data to "VG Data" and click "2Add":

It will turn to the updating SO interface, and you can see the Customer and Part info successfully applied to this SO, and the Part # automatically replaced by "ABC12-01-01".

2. Create Proforma Receiver and Receive Multi-POs by Proforma Invoice Exchange Data

Receive multi-POs is another function of supply chain parts. Let's take ABC & XYZ Company for example either.

When ABC Company prepares for shipping to XY Company, they use a proforma shipper. Do as follow:

1. Click "Related Information - Export Exchange Data"

2. Check the items to be exported and click "OK":

3. Copy the exchange data to clipboard and click "OK"

Now ABC Company can send the exchange data to XYZ Company.

By receiving the exchange data, XYZ Company should add the Supply Chain Part for "XYZ007-A5" first, since this time, it is a mapping to vendor. Open " Warehouse Box - Vendor Group - Supply Chain Parts" and click "2Add Supply Chain Part":

Choose vendor ID (ABC Company's ID) and the Part #, click "2Add":

Now XYZ Company can open "Warehouse Box - Vendor Group - General" to create the Proforma Receiver. Click "2Add Proforma Receiver":

Enter the vendor ID (ABC Company's ID" and paste the exchange data, click "2Add":

It will open the "Add Proforma Receiver" interface. The PO# , item, and Part # will be automatically filled in. Click "OK" to create the Proforma Receiver:

When the Proforma Receiver is created, click "2Receive" at the bottom：

You will see all the PO Items are received in one time. The parts received by Proforma Receiver, will be put in location named by "Receiver#.item". 

2BizBox Price & Discount Walkthrough

When you create a SO or PO in 2BizBox, you definitely want the system to give you item prices because you've set various prices in advance. There are list price, contract price and discount codes in 2BizBox, but have you made clear which one will be considered first in what circumstances? In this article, we will introduce you very systematically the Price and Discount in 2BizBox, and their priority levels.

Before we dig into the essential, there are several basic concepts for you to comprehend:

Price and Discount. On the Updating Order Item interface, the "Cost/UOM" is the part price of per unit. Discount is the reduction percent to the part price. In 2BizBox you can define the price and discount in many ways.

Part Inventory List Price. To a part for sale, the Part Inventory List Price is the basic price without priority when adding a SO or Quote Item. The list price can be edited when updating part properties, or imported by "Import Part Inventory Basic Information" in control panel. 

Standard Cost. It is the pre-defined cost price of a part that is purchased or manufactured. Standard Cost also can be edited when updating part properties, or imported by "Import Part Inventory Basic Information" in control panel. It is the basic price for PO Item without priority.

Now let's take a look at the complete price & discount levels in 2BizBox.

1. Sales Order Price & Discount
 
The following chart shows the descending priority levels of prices & discounts in a Sales Order:

1.1 Sales Order Price
 
Customer Contract Price. The "Customer Contract Price" in Sales Box is the first consideration in a Sales Order. You need to specify the exact price of the part and appoint this price to certain customers. When adding a customer contract price, you have to fill in the "List Price" and "Disc%". The "List Price" in Contract Price is prior to "Part Inventory List Price", so even if there's no discount here, you can still specify a contract price for specific customers.

Latest Quote Price. After Customer Contract Price comes the "Latest Quote Price (Same Part # & Customer ID)". As the literal meaning suggests, when you are making a Sales Order, the system will take the most recent approved quote price if the sales order is made to the same customer and with the same sales item.

Part Inventory List Price. Finally, if a part has no contract price or last quote price, the basic inventory list price will be the only choice. 

1.2 Sales Order Discount

Contract Price Discount. There are two discount rates settings in 2BizBox, one is the contract price discount, which is mentioned above, and it is also the first consideration for discount.

D Code. Short for "Discount Code", each D Code represents a discount rate, and is applied to the part. 

You can set D Code in "Sales Box - Sales Order - Control":

The "D Code" is constituted by only one letter or number. One D code must be related to one Customer Type, and in one D Code, you can set one discount rate. 

Two conditions must be satisfied to apply the "D Code":

1. the SO Customer is appointed to the same Customer Type as D Code:
  

2. The part has "D Code" in inventory information. 

2. Quote Price & Discount
 
The following chart shows the descending priority levels of prices & discounts in a Quote:

Quote Price and Discount is similar to a Sales Order, and simpler. The Quote Price only has Contract Price & List Price, while the Quote Discount only has the Contract Discount to apply.

3. Purchase Order Price & Discount
 
The following chart shows the descending priority levels of prices & discounts in a Purchase order:

3.1 Purchase Order Price
 
Vendor Contract Price. In Purchase Box, there is Vendor Contract Price which is the first consideration for the Purchase Order Price. It specifies the exact price of parts from certain vendors. The "List Price" in Vendor Contract Price is prior to "Part Inventory List Price", so even if there's no discount.

Vendor Qty Price & Vendor Price. When adding vendor information to a part, we can both add Vendor Price and Qty Price. Vendor Price is the part list price from Vendor, and the Qty Price gives stepped discounts according to different purchasing quantities. A part with multiple vendors will have multiple Vendor Qty Prices and Vendor Prices.

The Vendor Price is filled in when updating the vendor info:

After submitting vendor info, you can click "2Add Qty Price" to add the Vendor Qty Price:

In Updated Quantity Price of Vendor interface, you can edit quantity price and discount:



Therefore, following the Contract Price, there are Vendor Quantity Price and Vendor Price.

Standard Cost. If there's no other prices set, the PO Item will take the Standard Cost which has been explained in the beginning.

3.2 Purchase Order Discount

Quantity Price Discount. As we mentioned before, there are quantity price in vendor information, and the Quantity Price Discount is the first choice of PO Discount.

Contract Price Discount. There might confusion on why Contract Price goes before Qty Price but Qty Price Discount goes before Contract Price Discount. Though we list four different discounts for PO, only the "Last PO Item Discount" and "Vendor Discount" works on all prices. That is to say, Contract Discount and Qty Discount are applied to their corresponding prices only. Though we give out the priorities in the system level, it is enough for common users to remember that Quantity Price * Discount goes before Contract Price * Discount.

Last PO Item Discount. When you add a PO Item with discount rate (manually discount rate), the following item added will refer to that rate.

Vendor Discount. You can find Vendor Discount in Vendor Properties, and update it in Address Box. When a PO is made to a vendor with Vendor Discount, system will give all PO items the discount rate, premised that no other discounts rate is related to these items. 

To clarify and make good use of these prices will greatly help you to manage your part and product prices. But don't forget that at any rater, you can change them manually.

Quality Inspection and other thoughts

Recently, we met an experienced ERP user Doug from America. He proposed some very core enquiries about 2BizBox's quality inspection function. We got different understandings on the quality inspection process, but we do agree to his propose and we will make 2BizBox better in the future.

Today I'd like to introduce the current 2BizBox's quality inspection box. In company settings, you can set whether the Inspection Report is required when receiving.

If not, you can receive and create location for new coming parts first, and inspect parts, create Inspection report and NCR report later. However, if you've checked this box, you have to inspect the part before it goes to the inventory.

To create an Inspection Report, just go to "Quality Box -IR", click "Add IR":

 

You will see, an IR must be created from the PO or WO.

Here comes the problem: If we don't receive the parts, how would we know when the parts has actually arrived on the dock and someone is inspecting it?

We thought that it is not necessary to show the arrival status of a PO through the system. Warehouse staff can simply use the notice function to tell someone in quality department. Then the quality inspection staff begin to make Inspection report and you know someone is inspecting it. The inspection report will tell how many unqualified products will be returned to the vendor. 

During Inspection, we find some parts with quality problems, so we'd like to return them to the vendor. Usually, we can create an RTV (Return to Vendor, in Purchase Box). However, you might have found that parts in an RTV should be get out from inventory. Yes, in this situation, we do not need to create an RTV. We simply send the parts back to the vendor directly.

Now we come to another question: how do we keep track of the return shipment, and associated accounting (debit) against the Vendor invoice?

The answer is: 2BizBox cannot do logistics tracking. Usually when we return several product to our vendor due to quality problem, they will resend good products to us again. We need staff to keep an eye on these issues, and make records. Also, the purchase order won' t be closed until we receive all the products to the warehouse. 

We believe the software can be our assistant, but cannot replace people. Also we appreciate what Mr. Doug says: "Design the system to standardize each task in the most efficient manner possible, capturing as much information as necessary to manage all aspects of the business efficiently". 2BizBox has achieved a lot till today, but we still have huge tasks to accomplish. We would like you to post any of your puzzle and advise in our forum: http://www.2bizbox.com/forum/index.php, to help us growing quickly and stably.