November 2011
Last Updated May 2014
Accounts Receivable - Allocations
In GrowPoint, the term allocation is defined as ‘assigning inventory locations to a line item on a Sales Order’. What this means is that each item shipped on a customer order comes from one or more item locations.
When a customer orders an item, the Item Code is entered on a Sales Order. For a regular or cash sale, the system commits the quantity to inventory and reduces the quantity available for sale. If the inventory item uses locations to track different quantities, the system needs to ‘allocate’ or assign these items to locations so that the proper location is also committed.
As an example, here is a single inventory item, ACER rubrum 'Red Sunset' 1 1/2" and a list of its item locations. Notice that the on hand amount is 282? This is the sum of the ‘sellable’ locations?
| Item Description | Onhand | Committed Available | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abies concolor | 5’ | 282 | 15 | 282 | |
| Location | Sellable | Priority | Onhand | Committed | Available |
| FD02 | Y | 2 | 25 | 15 | 10 |
| FC01 | Y | 3 | 25 | 25 | |
| FD01 | Y | 4 | 51 | 51 | |
| FE01 | Y | 5 | 56 | 56 | |
| FM01 | Y | 6 | 25 | 25 | |
| FM02 | Y | 7 | 65 | 65 | |
| FN01 | Y | 8 | 35 | 35 | |
| FP01 | N | 99 | 124 | 124 | |
| FH01 | N | 99 | 45 | 45 | |
Each time an item is sold to a customer, it must be allocated to one or more locations. In this example, the line item acknowledged quantity is 15. When the system ‘auto allocates’ the item locations, only sellable item locations are used in the calculation. The system looks through the list of location for each item and arranges them into ‘priority’ order, starting with the lowest priority, which can be 0.
In this example, the order needs 15, so it looks at the available quantity in FD02, which has 10 available. Although this is not enough to fill the entire quantity, the system creates an Item Allocation record for this item location and quantity.
The next item location, FC01 has 25 available. The order has 5 remaining to be allocated so it allocates all 5 to FC01.
Here is the result of the auto allocation:
| Item Description | Onhand | Committed | Available | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abies concolor | 5’ | 282 | 15 | 282 | |
| Location | Sellable | Priority | Onhand | Committed | Available |
| FD02 | Y | 2 | 25 | 25 | 0 |
| FC01 | Y | 3 | 25 | 5 | 20 |
| FD01 | Y | 4 | 51 | 51 | |
| FE01 | Y | 5 | 56 | 56 | |
| FM01 | Y | 6 | 25 | 25 | |
| FM02 | Y | 7 | 65 | 65 | |
| FN01 | Y | 8 | 35 | 35 | |
| FP01 | N | 99 | 124 | 124 | |
| FH01 | N | 99 | 45 | 45 | |
Allocate Inventory Locations to Line Items
When locations are set up in the Inventory Module for each item, the item location must be allocated to each line item on a Sales Order so that inventory quantities are updated for item locations. There are three methods for allocating item locations to a Sales Order:
- Automatic allocation when an item is added to an order.
- Manual allocation when an item is added to an order.
- Use the Allocate All button to allocate all items on an order.
Automatic Allocation
The system has the ability to automatically allocate locations when a sales order is created.
In the A/R Setup>Defaults tab, there is an option called Automatic Allocation. Or when a sales order is created, there is the option of turning the automatic allocation feature on or off by clicking the Auto Allocate button located in the upper middle section of the sales order screen.
When a line item is added to a sales order, the system checks the Auto Allocate setting of the order screen. If the setting is check on, the system automatically allocates the item locations as described above. The system will use available quantities and auto allocate by the priority assigned to the item location starting with the lowest number.
The ‘A’ will remain black until acknowledged amount is entered. When the line item is allocated correctly, the ‘A’ will turn green. It the system is unable to allocate the line item, the ‘A’ will turn red.
Notes:
· While in edit mode, click on ‘A’ to view or edit the allocation. User change of the acknowledged and/or shipped quantities will change the allocation from auto to manual. Accounts ReceivableAuto Allocate Shipped Only (selected in A/R Setup>Defaults tab)
works the same as automatic allocation, except that the system will not allocate until a shipped quantity is entered.
Once a line item has been allocated, the system does not reallocate or change the existing item locations.
Manual Allocation
In the event that you don’t want the system to automatically allocate item locations, make sure the Auto Allocate checkbox is not checked when entering a line item. The ‘A’ will not change color until the user manually clicks on the ‘A’ and allocates the items.
Notes:
· If an item that has been manually allocated is substituted, the new item will need to be allocated manually even if auto allocate is turned on. · The user may manually allocate an invalid auto allocation in a valid allocation. Manual allocations are always valid.Allocate All Button
In some situations, you many not want to allocate locations at the time the line item is added to a sales order. This may be because the locations are not known until the order is shipped. For situations like this, use the Allocate All button located near the middle right side of the sales order screen.
The Allocate All button uses the same criteria for allocating as the auto allocation method described above except all line items are processed instead of one line item at a time.
During the allocation process, any line items that have already been allocated are not changed or reallocated.
Unallocate All Button
Added spring 2014 the unallocate all button performs the reverse function of the allocate all button. All allocations are deleted - except the manual ones - and the location committed and available quantities are restored to pre allocation values. The order line items display black A to indicate no allocation exists.
Allocate by Priority
Added Spring 2014, the Allocate by Priority feature consists of two spinner boxes above the order line items. These spinners can be set to values between 00 and 99. When allocating, regardless of the method, only locations with priorities equal or between the values in the spinner boxes will be used. If the spinner box is set to 50 to 99 and the allocate all button pressed any available material in a location having a priority 50 or above will be considered. Available material in priorities 0 - 49 will not be used for this order.
There are no setup options for Allocate by Priority and the values entered on the order are not saved. The next time the order is viewed the priority ranges will be 0 - 99.
Allocate by Location
Added 2015, allocate by location is a feature that allows the user to select a specific location for allocate, allocate by priority, allocate by season, and allocate by dig method to use. All other rules of allocations apply except only the selected location will be used. If there is not an available sellable quantity at this location but there is at another location, this item will remain unallocated.
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