Recurring Orders

Customers occasionally order the same items repetitively. These may be customers under contract for monthly billing for meter clicks. A template-style order, using bill-of-materials, is the best way to use these types of orders.

Basic Concept:

The salesperson/monthly-biller would have a list of all the customers who will be billed monthly. A generic item number would be entered on each order. The system would then convert the generic item number into a specific item number (which is a Bill-of-material parent item) created for the customer, which in turn calls all of the items specific to the customer’s needs.

Step 1. Adding new item #’s.

A generic item will need to be set up which will be used by all of the monthly repetitive billing customers… for example, call the item MON for monthly billing. It will have no cost or price. Dimensional should be set to R- Repro/No Quantity. This generic item will be used in the Customer Contract Item File (Task 21).
Other generic items will need to be set up for each group of items used each month, for example: MON-MTP (for Meter clicks, Toner, Paper) whereas another item can be MON-MTPS (for Meter clicks, Toner, Paper and Service), etc…. They will have no cost or price. These are the Parent Items A “Bill-of-Materials” will need to be created for each of these items showing which component items make up the parent, See Step 2 below.
For customers that don’t have any “common” set of items, they can be set up with their own item #, for example: Customer #1234 could have the parent item # MON-1234. It will have no cost. If this customer gets charged, for example, $500.00 per month for this parent item and nothing for the items it includes put the $500.00 price on it. If the customer doesn’t get charged for this item, but gets charged for the component items that make up this item, put a price of zero on the item. Remember, these are the Parent Items. A “Bill-of-Materials” will need to be created for each of these items showing which component items makeup the parent, See Step 2 below.
Holding the order open for billing every month. The best way to accomplish this is to create an item that always has a backorder status on the order. Doing this allows the order to be invoiced as often as deemed necessary. As a suggestion, use INT-BKORDER as the item #, with Internal Backorder Item as the description of the item. The Sell-by & Stock-by is EACH with master units of 1. The cost & prices are all zero. Item type is Material & the Dimensional Type is R for repro no-quantity.
Customers under contract may pay $500.00 per month, which includes 1,000 meter clicks, one case of toner and one case of paper. See the document titled “Meter Billing” to setup the Meter billing item #. The customer may also buy the same paper & toner all month long as needed. They need to automatically get one case of paper & toner on the monthly billing for free but for the additional items purchased during the month the customer will pay their regular price. Different item #’s are needed for the toner & paper for the monthly billing (these are the Component Items). As an example, let’s say the item # for the toner is “490-115” KIP 7000 TONER.
1. The item # for the monthly billing for this item may be MON-490-115 with the description “MONTHLY/KIP 7000 TONER”. The Sell-by & Stock-by will be the CASE & master units 1. The cost of item, i.e. 490-115, will also need to be on this item.. Price will be zero. Item type is Material & the Dimensional Type is N (Non-dimensional).
2. This item “MON-490-115” will be the toner component in the “Bill-of-Materials” for the parent item MON-MTP, MON-MTPS, or MON-1234.

Go to:

Inventory (Module 5)
- Add New Items (Task 1)
  - Enter New Item Record (Sub-task 1)
  - Be sure to Post the item after they are entered.

Step 2. The next step is to create the “Bill-of-Materials” for each of the Items posted in Step 1, b. and c. above. Identify the "component" items (these are the actual items that are ordered repetitively) that will be grouped with the parent item. Go to:

Inventory (Module 5)
- Bill of Materials (Task 28)
  - Bill-of-Material Maintenance (Sub-task 1)
    - Enter New Bill-Mat Record (Option 1)

01. Parent Item: use the "parent" item number that was setup in Step 1, b or c above, example: MON-MTP, or MON-MTPS, or MON-1234

02. Sequence #: use 010, 020, 030, etc. This establishes the order the components will appear on the sales order.

03. Component #: one of the "component" item numbers, either the real item #’s, 490-115, or the items created in Step 1e, i.e. MON-490-115.

04. Quantity: quantity of the item (i.e. customer always orders 5)

05. BOM qty-type: use P or A

P: Per # of parents specified on the sales order. (i.e. if 4 "parent" items are ordered, 20 (4 “parents” x 5 quantity from field 04) of this item will added to the order)

A: Absolute Quantity. (i.e. Only the `Quantity' -from field 04 - will be added, not the customer's ordered quantity. Therefore if 4 “Parents" are sold, just 5 of this `Component' item will be added.)

06. Assem Time: (do not use)

07. Assem Cost: (do not use)

08. Process: (informational label)

For the “parent” item MON-MTP, Sequence 010 might be Component # 100-Meter Clicks, then Sequence 020 might be Component #490-115 or MON-490-115, then Sequence 030 might be Component #XER-PAPER.

Note: If a dimensional item were included in the grouping as a component, the dimensional quantity would need to be specified in the order. If the dimensions are not specified, they will default to zero.

Step 3. Set up a contract record for the repetitive billing customer. Go to:

Order Processing (Module 6)
- Customer Contract Item File (Task 21)
  - Enter New Contract Record (Sub-task 1)

*01. Customer # : 00250

*02. Alt ship-to#: if applicable

*03. Contract Key: MON-MTP MONTHLY-METER CLK,TONER,PAPER (from Step 1b above)

04. Cust/item# : MON (from Step 1a above)

05. Type ($/%/T): $

06. Price / Disc: 500.00 Month

07. Price level :

08. Exp date :

11. Application : O

12. Allow EOM : Y (if applicable)

This record indicates when customer 250 is entered with the billing code MON, the system will translate it to MON-MTP, which in turn will add all of the ‘component’ items set up under the ‘parent’ item MON-MTP to the sales order. Also being this contract record is set up for $500.00, that is the price the customer will be charged. If the customer gets additional items (i.e. toner), those items can be added to the order under the regular item number (i.e. 490-115) and billed at the customer’s normal price.

Step 4. Check the parameter file. Go to:

Inventory (Module 5)
- System Management Functions (Task 32)
  - Modify Parameter Files (Sub-task 22)
    - Bill of Materials (Option 2)

Look for: AUTOBUILD'BOM= Set this parameter to YES. This will ensure that the items are pulled into a sales order during order entry.

Step 5. Holding the order open for billing every month.

The best way to accomplish this is to create an item that always has a backorder status on the order. Doing this allows the order to be invoiced as often as deemed necessary.

Enter a test sales order. The first line item entered on the order should be the backorder item created in Step 1d above, i.e. INT-BKORDER. The quantity for this backorder item should be 1. Ensure that the number shipped for this item is 0 and the backordered quantity is 1. Once this is setup on an order, it need not be changed. This will keep the order open and ready to be used over and over.
The second line item should be the "parent" item created in Step 1a, i.e. MON
- The system will find the Customer Contract Record and convert the item on the order to MON-MTP, MON-MTPS or MON-1234.
  - Then it sees item #MON-MTP, MON-MTPS or MON-1234 is a Bill-of-Materials item and it puts all the related component items on the order.
  - If using the Customer Service Module the correct department will need to be used on the first screen.
  - Also you will need to go up to the meter line item and enter in the meter reading #.

After the initial setup, the backordered/open order can easily be found by using one of the function keys on the front screen of a sales order. Or an open order report can be printed for item #INT-BKORDER (Order Processing (Module 6), Open Order Status report (Task 9).

Also after the initial setup, the Bill-of-Materials can be adjusted if the standard item quantity specified changes. This is done by simply changing the quantity for the component in the Bill-of-Materials setup. Additional items can also be added to the Bill of Materials. In the event that one month the customer requests more or less quantity of one or more of the times used in the Bill-of-Material or additional items need to be added, the "quantity" of the component can be adjusted on that month's sales order.

After the initial setup, the customer contract records can be updated as needed.

Note: Keeping the quantities correct for the regular items, i.e. 490-115 KIP 7000 TONER

When the item MON-460-115 is automatically added to the monthly billing invoice, the quantity will go negative. Item #490-115 is the actual item sold to the customer, but the quantity won’t change. In order for the quantity of item #MON-460-115 to go back to zero and the case of 490-115 to be deducted from its on hand quantity a “Bill-of-Materials” will need to be created. Go to:

Inventory (Module 5)
- Bill of Materials (Task 28)
  - Bill-of-Material Maintenance (Sub-task 1)
    - Enter New Bill-Mat Record (Option 1)

06. Parent Item: MON-490-115

07. Sequence #: 010

08. Component #: 490-115

09. Quantity: 1

10. BOM qty-type: P

P: Per # of parents specified on the sales order. (i.e. if 4 "parent" items are ordered, 4 of this item will added to the order)

A: Absolute Quantity. (i.e. Only the `Quantity' -from field 04 - will be added, not the customer's ordered quantity. Therefore if 4 `Parents" are sold, 10 of this `Component' item will be added.)

06. Assem Time: (do not use)

07. Assem Cost: (do not use)

08. Process: (informational label)

Go to:

Inventory (Module 5)
- Bill of Materials (Task 28)
  - Automatic manufacture of needed inventory items (Sub-task 12)
  - Are you sure you want to do this? (YES/NO):YES
  - Please enter – starting item #:All

The system will look for Parent items with a negative on-hand quantity, change the on-hand quantity to zero, find the component of that specific parent and subtract the negative quantity from the on-hand quantity. For example, item MON-490-115 is automatically put on 20 orders, when the orders are invoiced, the quantity on the item goes negative 20 on-hand. When this sub-task is ran it finds the negative 20 on-hand in MON-490-115, changes it to zero, then goes to the component item 490-115 and subtracts the 20 from its on-hand quantity. (This will only work if the Parent and component items DON”T have a dimensional type of R (Repro no-quantity) in the Item Master file.)

The “Automatic manufacture of needed inventory items” can be set to automatically run each night during the backup procedures. For this go to:

Inventory (Module 5)
- System management functions (Task 32)
  - Modify parameter files (Subtask 22)
    - Bill of materials (option 2)

Look for BUILD’ITEMS= set this to Y to have it run automatically during backup each night. Also look at QTY’TO’MAKE’= set this to HND.

Other things to consider:

Make sure Purchasing knows the quantities needed for the monthly billings.

If these items all have the Prefix of MON a report can be printed to see the profitability. To print these reports, go to:

Order Processing (Module 6)
- Special Item History (Task 15)
  - Item / customer / date (Subtask 6) IHSITN or any report that meets your needs.

By putting an expiration date on the Customer Contract Item record for the MON-12345 item or the MON-MTP item, you can print a report for the contracts that expire each month. This report may be used to see if new contracts need to be signed. This report may be used to print other reports for these customers to see the profitability of these customer’s contracts.