Sage 100

I was at a customer's today, trying to work through various inventory issues, one being warehouse transfers that are in transit for a period of time. You can enter an inventory transfer transaction but then one of the warehouses is incorrect while the inventory is in transit. If you do it when it leaves warehouse 1, the quantities in warehouse 2 are incorrect - not good for salespeople who need to know whether they can ship something or not from that warehouse. If you do it when it arrives at warehouse 2, then warehouse 1 is short quantities - what if a count is done and the inventory is adjusted?? We discussed invoicing the items out through SO then processing a PO - wait, that won't work. You can invoice them out at zero to the customer but you can't receive them in at zero cost - you lose the value in inventory. You could receive it in at cost then receive a zero-dollar invoice but then you have to mess with the PO variance..... After discussing several other possibilities, this is what we came up with for this client: 1) Create a warehouse transfer customer and invoice the items being transferred through sales order with zero unit prices. (This customer allows you to use the NONTAX tax schedule and allows for monitoring the transfer activity.) 2) Create an RMA referencing the invoice from step 1. The customer action is Credit, the item action is Stock with the warehouse is changed to the receiving warehouse. (Yes, you would have to have the RMA module.) 3) When the receiving warehouse confirms receipt, RMA receipt entry is processed, creating a credit memo. Once updated, inventory is ""transferred"" to warehouse 2 WITH THE EXACT SAME COST as the original invoice, thus no variance. (Remember to reference the original invoice!) Granted, you lose the value of the inventory in transit on the balance sheet during the transit and recognize it in cost of sales but that is then reversed when the credit memo is updated. And both warehouse managers are happy. I'm sure there are other workarounds - I'd love to hear yours if you have one - and I'm sure I missed other shortcomings of this approach but this seems to do the trick. TLDR - a way to process warehouse transfers that are in transit for a length of time with correct IM quantities in both warehouses and no cost differences.

ACS Group has a transfer program to account for in transit tracking. It is part of the multi-bin, but he has extracted it for me for a customer to work standalone in version 2013. Not sure if he makes that available generally, but I would think so. They use SO and PO functionality for the tracking and in-transit warehouses. There's some more to it, but it may be worth looking at or discussing with Ron Jacobs.

I mentioned there might be an enhancement (or two) but they don't want to go there as they are looking at several already for other purposes. (Can you say ""budget issues""?)

Therese, in Sage 500 there is an option to set up transit warehouses. You could do something similar in 100. Transfer the goods from the source warehouse to the transit warehouse when they are shipped. When the goods arrive at their destination, process another transfer. I would recommend a transit warehouse to track transfer between two unique locations. That way, if you have more than 2 warehouses, costs don't get co-mingled. The biggest challenge here is if you have multiple transfer outs before you have a transfer in and are using average costing for an item. The cost layers for the transit item can get averaged and adjust the value of inventory. This isn't as much of an issue if you are using FIFO or Specific Item costing. This is easier than processing sales orders and PO receipts or SO Invoices and SO Returns but you don't get to embrace the shipping and receiving processes. Costs will be managed a little more accurately using the transit warehouse as well. I don't think 100 returns items to inventory at the same cost they were relieved at but I could very well be wrong. Good luck and let me know what you end up going with!

How about using 3 warehouses? warehouse 1 (WH1), in transit (ITR), warehouse 2(WH2). Transfer inventory from WH1 to ITR when it leaves warehouse 1. Transfer inventory from ITR to warehouse 2 when it arrives at warehouse 2.

One thing I forgot to mention is that they also want to be able to print out picking sheets and BOL's (they deal with chemicals so need to have the proper documentation). Using the SO option allows for both. Transfers to and from transit warehouses do not. And I tested the RMA process - as long as you referenced the original invoice, it brought it back in at the same cost. I wondered about that as each warehouse has its own costs - last, average, etc. The warehouse I credited it to had no history for this item but used the cost from the invoice. I also did a receipt at a different cost prior to processing the RMA, just to see if it would change the cost used on the credit memo. It did not.

You could enter a sales order then auto create a PO from the sales order. Ship and update the sales order removing inventory from warehouse 1. Change the warehouse on the PO to the in transit warehouse, so you know that POs with the in transit. When the goods arrive at warehouse 2, change the warehouse code on the PO from in transit WH to warehouse 2, receive the PO into warehouse 2.

Yes, what @DougHiggs suggests is similar to the ACSG transfer enhancement.

I mentioned the auto create POs idea and they do NOT want to change who does what - apparently, only Purchasing is responsible for PO's. And what about the costing differences?

Why would there be costing differences?

How do I know the costs to put on the PO until I have updated the invoice? Do I print out the gross margin report to get the exact costs? Who's responsible for updating the costs on the PO? These people don't want to think that much but I appreciate the ideas/perspectives!

@DougHiggs there could be a shipping cost for the transfer that they want to consider rolling into the item for that whse. I think the ACS transfer does consider that or can. But if they don't want to spend money that could be a issue.

LOL THINKING is not a prerequisite for a job now a days.

Gee, thanks @DianeRuth I hadn't thought of that - and neither have they - yet!

Oh yeah had a client that wanted to add that into the cost because it was a reasonable amt when it went to the whse on the east coast from the west coast.

Wow, lots of different ideas being tossed about. Sadly, Sage 100 doesn't (and probably never will as long as it is call Sage 100) provide what should be a basic warehouse distribution functionality (isn't this supposed to be THE sweet spot). Yes, there is warehouse transfer functionality but where is the paperwork (and process) to call in the truck, transport the material, then receive it at the other end (and maybe even account for the transportation cost). I would like to know more about the ACSG transfer functionality but it isn't available for general release. I have used the transfer that @ShawnSlavin suggests, but where is the paperwork to get it out the door? @DougHiggs sounds nice but seems cumbersome from a processing standpoint (especially figuring out the costs). From a pure ease standpoint, @ThereseLogeais has a great solution using SO and RMA in tandem. The in transit numbers could be problematic, but that is a bridge to cross later. The beauty of Sage 100 is that it can do most anything if the reseller is creative. But this is also the curse if the reseller doesn't spend the time to add value to the process. The MLB All Star game is in Minneapolis tonight and I think she hit a home run with this idea..................

There is a rudimentary landed cost feature in PO that you can use for basic shipping costs. Doesn't work well with international custom classification codes. You need a developer add on for that.

Well thanks @JeffSchwenk and I don't think it will be raining for the game tonight. Last nights home run derby was another thing but if you watched it, did you see the rainbow???

The ACSG transfer has significant potential if it prints the picking/packing/bill of lading information, prints similar paperwork at the receiving end and provide a way to include landed costs in the new cost valuation. Oh, AND be dirt cheap AND be a no brainer to use....

@ThereseLogeais ""How do I know the costs to put on the PO until I have updated the invoice?"" When using the PO program ""Auto Generate from Sales Orders"", there is a cost valuation option. The cost will populate the purchase order. See attached.,

If they are using FIFO or LIFO and you are worried about using the wrong cost tier (another sales order invoicing before this one could potentially ""steal"" your cost tier), then that may be a valid concern. Something you would need to discuss with Sage or test. The correct procedure would be for the sales order to allocate the cost tier so that the PO that is created will always use the same cost.

Didn't Dawn have essentially a similar issue for container shipments and she used shipping warehouse during the time the items were at sea?

Not to ignore the topic at hand but here is the rainbow from last night.

Sorry, can't add via phone apparently.

Dawn??

And here it is!

Wow! Gorgeous as any Hawaiian rainbow I've seen.

This is going to make the year in review photo montage....

One last comment on the original issue - I've created forms using the IM Transaction Entry files to print BOL/PS type forms for a client who transfers between warehouses.