Before you use this function you should ensure that the system is set up ready for your use.

This function uses Security Profiles, see: Global Options

There is a Global option in Security Profiles:

Only deliver allocated stock

If this option IS selected Users with this Profile will only be able to process deliveries for Sales Orders for which Stock has been allocated.

If NOT selected the Stock Allocation function will be switched off and Users with this Profile will be able to process deliveries of Sales Orders regardless of any stock allocations.

It is recommended that all Users have the same setting and that this option is used as a master control to enable you to turn the whole process on or off, to ensure that it works best for you.

See: Stock Options – Records Tab

Allow Negative Stock

If this option IS selected you will be able to allocate stock to Sales Orders even if this means that the Free Stock quantities will go negative. You will also be able to process Deliveries which will make the Physical Stock quantities negative.

If this option is NOT selected you will only be able to allocate stock to Sales Orders until the Free Stock is zero. The balance will be shown as the Unallocated Orders quantity.

FIFO and Stock Allocations

The System maintains four different methods of Stock Valuation:

FIFO, Average Cost, Latest Cost and Weighted Average.

Whatever is selected here will be the default, though Stock can be valued by any of these methods, selectable when revaluing.

If your Method of Valuation is FIFO and your Profit Cost method is set to FIFO then, when allocating stock either manually or via an Auto Allocate routine, the oldest stock will always be allocated first. The oldest stock is identified by having the earliest movement in date.

N.B. Your auditors should approve any change to Stock Valuation Methods.

Stock Quantity

Stock quantities can be shown as Physical Stock or as Free Stock.

Physical This is the actual quantity held in stock

Free You can select to Show Quantity as: Free, there are two ways of calculating Free Stock:

Free = Physical - Allocated Stock - Unallocated Orders

Free = Physical - Allocated Stock - Unallocated Orders + Order in Include Stock ordered, not yet received, as being part of the Free Stock Quantity.

Each Customer can be given a priority level; this determines how important they are in the Stock Allocation process.

There is an Auto Allocate routine that applies the Customer Priority. If selected this will assign as much stock as possible to the Customer with the highest priority and then to Customers with lower priority until all stock has been allocated or all orders have been fully filled.

Within the Stock Allocation window you can sort your outstanding Sales Orders by Customer Priority, assisting you in allocating your stock to the most important Customers first.

The Customer Priority is set on the Info window on each Customer Record.

Customers - Info

Enter a number from 1 (highest priority) to 99 (lowest priority).

Customers who are not given a priority level will default to 99 (lowest priority).

Orders - Options

If your User Profile is set so that you can Only deliver allocated stock all SOP transactions will be batched unless you select Allocate Stock in the Order Options.

Automatically Allocate Stock

If selected the stock will be allocated until the order is filled or all the available stock has been allocated.

If there is insufficient stock to complete the Allocation of the order and Allow Negative Stock has NOT been selected, the maximum amount possible will be allocated; the balance will be shown in the Unallocated Orders quantity (see example below).

If not selected and you can Only deliver allocated stock the transaction will be batched and the quantity added to the Unallocated Orders quantity.

Serial Numbered Stock If Serial Numbers are entered onto a Sales Order, the stock will always be allocated at the point of saving the order, irrespective of the transaction options set.

Batch Order

If the SOP transaction is batched, the Stock can be allocated immediately by selecting Allocate Stock or selectively from the Stock Allocations window.

The Unallocated Orders quantity is the quantity of Stock on undelivered Sales Orders that has not been allocated or could not be allocated because Stock was not available.

For example:

There are 100 items in stock of which 75 are allocated to undelivered Sales Orders. All undelivered Sales Orders have been allocated. The Unallocated Orders quantity is zero.

A Sales Order for 50 items is created and the stock is allocated immediately using the Allocate Stock option.

There is insufficient stock to complete the allocation of the order and Allow Negative Stock has NOT been selected. Only 25 items can be allocated; the balance of 25 will be shown in the Unallocated Orders quantity.

Allocated Stock is now 100 and the Unallocated Orders quantity is 25.

If Allow Negative Stock had been selected, the allocation would have been completed, the Allocated Stock would be 125, Unallocated Orders quantity would be zero and the Free Stock quantity will go negative.

When additional stock is available, the balance of the order can be allocated to the Sales Order using the Stock Allocations window. The Unallocated Orders quantity will be zero.

If your User Profile is set so that you can Only deliver allocated stock:

When processing a Sales Order Batch, only Orders for which Stock has been allocated will be displayed.

Part allocated Orders will be displayed but you will not be allowed to complete the processing until the Order has been fully allocated.

If not set:

You can process Sales Orders which do not have Stock allocated to them.

You may select to display only the Orders for which Stock has been allocated, so that you can quickly deliver these orders.

When processing batched Purchase Orders, there is an option on the Process Batch window to Allocate Stock Now, this enables you to allocate new Stock received directly to outstanding Sales Orders in one continuous process.

Process Batch - for Orders and Deliver Orders.

When you click on OK on the POP Batched Orders window (or if you select Detail, and then enter an amount To Receive and/or To Invoice), the processing of the selected Orders starts by displaying a window where you can select the options that are to apply to each of these Orders in turn. The option to Allocate Stock Now is found on this window (see POP Batched Orders OK button).

If this option is selected, when the batch processes are complete the Stock Allocations Selection window will open for the stock codes that have been updated from the Purchase Orders just processed.

You can enter additional search criteria before loading the list of Sales Order detail lines for the allocation of stock.

For Purchase Orders created from Back To Back Sales Order Processing, you are able to Allocate Stock from the Customer Waiting window.

From the POP Process Batch window, press to open the Customer Waiting window.

Select the Allocate Stock option, the stock received from processing the Purchase Order will be allocated to the Sales Order lines of the Customers Waiting for this stock.