The Purchase Queue
The Purchase Queue ("Q") is a feature unique to Service 2.0. It solves a common issue
with selling parts, the inherent conflict between tightly controlling your
inventory levels and selling into the negative. Simply put, you can't have both;
until now that is.
The queue acts as a holding pen where parts that have been requested for
sale, but are not in stock, are placed. By making inventory, the document, and
the purchasing system all "queue aware", we are able to continue the sales
process without requiring the user to handle the writing of purchase orders at
the same time. The parts are simply put into the queue and can then be managed
at a later date. This system allows the service writer to produce a complete
service order before any parts are actually ordered; and at the same time
maintain strict inventory control to keep costs low.
The Rules
Use of the queue is almost seamless so there is very little that needs to be
understood before using it. That said, there are some basic rules of how the
system works that can help with understanding what is going on behind the
scenes.
- Parts in the queue are directly linked to a real part line on the
document. In fact, they are clones of each other. Therefore, deleting one
will also remove the other.
- Parts in the queue are considered "requested" but not "ordered". Once
they are placed on a Purchase Order they are considered "ordered" (from then
on they follow the typical train of the PO from received to posted).
- When a part has been ordered (i.e. placed on a PO), the parts QTY can
not be edited (either from the document or from the purchase order). This is
because it is assumed that the order has already be placed with the vendor
and it therefore is locked down. The workaround for this issue is to place
another instance of the same part on the document. But don't worry, the
system expects this situation and will afford you the opportunity to merge
the two instances together once all the parts have been received (you can do
this at any time, but it will also ask you when you invoice the document).
The Benefits
- No bottleneck when building a document because parts are not in stock.
The service writer is completely unencumbered.
- Because parts are ordered in batch (i.e. larger groups of parts), it
makes it much easier to increase the value of the PO (many vendors discount
based on the PO value).
- With parts ordering centralized, it allows for more control over
purchasing and vendor selection
- Importing parts from 3rd party databases no longer need to create its
parts as non-inventory parts.
- Invoice pricing is more accurate because it relies less on estimated
prices.
The Process
As said before, the use of the queue is almost seamless. Because it works in
the background, you don't need to interact with it until you are ready to order
parts, so now you handle purchasing on your own terms.
- A part is added to a Service Order. You've requested 3 of them to be
sold but only 1 is in stock.
- The part that is in stock is immediately pulled from inventory and
placed on the document. At the same time it notes that you requested 3 and
pulled only 1 from stock (the Service Order actually shows Qty 3, the other
numbers are tracked internally).
- The parts that were not in stock (Qty 2) are placed in the purchase queue to be
handled later.
- Once the parts in the queue have been ordered and received, the Service
Order is updated to show that all of the requested parts are now available.
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