General Accounting Module

Accounting is made easy with visibility of transactions across the system, powerful searches the ability to drill throughout the system and Reports to review performance of the business.

These are areas in the Accounting Module:

• Chart of Accounts shows how the chart is a hierarchy to n levels, can be shared across Business Entities and explains the management of Financial Years
• Host Company (your business/s) explains how to configure your organisation including Departments, Sales Channels and Branches with the associated Journal impacts and other company wide settings
  
  • Branch visibility - Central users can see across branches, branch users see only their branch for Employees, Customers, Suppliers, assets, journals orders, bookings and many other items
• GL Control Accounts explains the GL Control Accounts including Tax, Sales, Purchasing, Stock and Manufacturing control accounts
• Foreign Currency Transactions (fx) explains Foreign currency purchases and sales orders, invoices and payments in foreign currencies
• Bank Accounts - Creating and Managing shows setup how to use bank accounts and merchant accounts including import of bank statements, fuel cards and other business credit cards, and how to manage foreign currency bank accounts.
• GST Explorer for BAS shows the BAS elements with ability to drill to related journals
• General Journals, Journal Templates, Shows how journals are created in the system including from excel and templates.
  • Journals can be linked to Branches, Departments, Stock Articles, Services, Jobs, Projects, Companies, Persons, Other Journals, Promotions, Stock, Order lines and others depending on your configuration
  • Department expenses simplifies cross department expense allocation
• Standard Financial Reports Module include Balance Sheet Report, Profit and Loss (Monthly) Report, /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054926, Trial Balance Report and GST reports.
• Banking Batches to batch transactions together in the system that are a single line on the bank statement or cash amounts collected from customers
• Journal Journal Batches to batch transactions together for many purposes example single payment to the bank across multiple suppliers
• Supplier Claims based on supplier funded promotions, Customer Returns, Stock Write offs for damaged or expired stock manages the claim process for Returns, Write offs and Promotions by Suppliers
• Follow /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054919 when expanding or purchasing another business
  • Later if you plan to collapse ABN's into an associated company there is a process to manage that and keep history

Accounts Receivable Module (AR)

Used to track who owes you money, the terms your customers have (Prepay, COD, # Days from invoice date, End Of Month) and provides easy to use lists to call and collect aged debts.  

Your Debtor may be a Company or an individual Person - each Company or Individual may also be a Creditor.   If you have a customer approval process then the New Accounts Dashboard enables a review and activation of proposed accounts.

You can setup the number of days Terms you want to manage for Customers and Suppliers and Manage Stop Supply using the workbench

• The terms on the Customer or Supplier will be applied automatically from the journal date of the invoice to create a due date.  
  • Changing the Debtors Terms will update due date on all open invoices.  You can manually extend the due date on any invoice.
• You can send regular statements (email or print) with personalised messages to non-zero debtors automatically when invoices become overdue
• List all debtors out of terms with grace days then put them on Stop Supply
• Elegant end of trading process for companies that cease trading using Stop Supply so you can continue the collection process and automatically archive them from active lists.  See Managing end-dated Debtors.

General features

• Manage who in a company hierarchy will receive invoices and pay
  • For example if one company pays another companies invoices.
• Elegant customer on boarding process allowing simplified information entry including initial sales order at COD status then tracking the Credit Application process as they move to being an account customer including companies that have changed hands and are using a very similar trading name.  
• Track company ownership and directorships to get a clearer picture of total funds owing across a group.  
• Credit card payments on sales orders, the Webstore Module or Customer Portal Module using Eway Credit Card Gateway Module are grouped and matched with the bank statement as a single match.  
• Manage repeating or regular invoices using Journal Templates to quickly create invoices
• Manage Large Buying Groups remittance advice uploads and allocations
• Delivery runs dashboard to update sighting of signed invoices, cash and cheque payments collected by delivery drivers and manage "orders not delivered" rollbacks

See also Accounts Receivable, Refunds, Payment with Advice, Debtor Credit Notes and /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33055156

Eway Credit Card Gateway Module

Transactions from sales orders and the website are passed real time to the Eway gateway and confirmations received in real time confirming funds or problems while the customer is still on the phone, website or customer portal. The Eway reference is held against the payment transaction and invoice for future reference and you can easily process refunds as well.

Transactions typically appear on your bank statement as a consolidated single charge - the system batches up the days transactions automatically to simplify the transaction matching with the bank statement.

Integration to other credit card gateways available on request.

Customer Finance Module

For expensive purchases you can track the finance approval process with an external finance company while keeping your customer informed and tracking the progress directly in the system. Details are on the Customer Sales Order Finance Tab and managed through the Finance Dashboard

Assets Generally

Assets can owned by your company or another company and can be tracked at your locations or other locations such as customers or suppliers.  Certifications can be tracked with expiry dates.  They have a Calendar that tracks activity in the system.  They may have maintenance schedules, Odometer tracking and issues reported, tracked and resolved.  Multiple documents and photographs can be attached.

Some Asset Features related to finance

• Asset Type - makes it easier to track and analyse different types of asset example delivery truck, sales rep vehicle.
  • Use of the Asset - for example as a vehicle in delivery runs, bus runs etc. to provide overall history of use
• Any journal can be linked to an asset - for example purchase, additions, service, fuel, depreciation, disposal.
• Location of the Asset at customer for tracking for assets provided to or rented to customers.
• Owner of the Asset (useful when tracking assets owned by others such as promotional stands or fridges)

Fixed Assets Module

Fixed Assets are any Asset that is owned by your company.

The Fixed Asset Register and deprecition tracks fixed assets.  

After configuring the Asset Groups and the associated Asset and Depreciation Accounts.  Each asset owned by the company can be depreciated using either Prime Cost or Diminishing Value (unless in the low value pool).

The Depreciation Journal is written as a single journal each month manually from the dashboard - it can be rolled back if you need to adjust the created journal (for example if you sold and asset and it should not have been depreciated).

Expenses Module

Employees often spend money while they work. Expenses allows tracking of the expenditure and for employees that are carrying cash it allows netting off between cash collected and expenses through a claim, approval and payment process.

An example of use is for sales reps or delivery drivers to Expenses - Back Office on /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33055150 where they drive around and visit customers.

Sales Module General Information

The Sales Module deals with the settings and processes for revenue creation and managing sales order fulfilment.

Sales channels

1. 1. Manage Employee Reps or Agents assignments and annual leave cover
   2. Sales Rep Portal Module
   3. /wiki/spaces/SE/pages/32638139 and Tele Marketing Campaigns
   4. Customer Portal for known customers to easily order and re-order
   5. Webstore for unknown or infrequent customers
   6. EDI Sales Orders directly into the system from trading partners
   7. Mass upload from other systems

Configurations

1. 1. Services General Overview, Event Tickets, Memberships or other recurring charges can be sold as well as Stocked Items
   2. /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054894 and Promotions Module
   3. Sales Order Status options

Order entry

1. 1. Recently ordered items list not yet added / recent order history
   2. Multiple customer addresses
   3. Departments within a customer who regularly order (like a sub customer)
   4. Stock availability / expected dates / stock reservation
   5. Simplified entry for colour / size / style - see Clothing
   6. Tracking a finance process (automatically sending related emails) 
      • for expensive items where customers apply for finance to track the approval process
   7. Customer specific pricing and Complex pricing based on price lists, volume pricing, Moving Annual Total discount, and complex promotional pricing management. See Pricing when you sell products
   8. Debtors Account management
      1. Credit controls including total allowed outstanding, paid by parent, and terms based on invoice or EOM (end of month)
      2. Credit card payment - authorised immediately or transacted once the goods are shipped see Eway Credit Card Gateway Module
         
   9.  Cartonising process to calculate expected cartons and track actual packing
   10. Freight pricing lookup through Temando - providing quotes from multiple freight companies booked and confirmed in seconds
       
   11. Picking / Packing / shipping
   12. Delivery methods such as own vehicles, externally owned vehicles or couriers
       
       1. Grouping of orders into delivery runs for picking onto and later off a truck
       2. Grouping of small orders for a bulk pick process

Analysis

1. 1. A BI download is available of Invoice information for analysis in an external reporting tool
   2. Ad-hoc Reports can be created by month/Week/Quarter for $/Units grouped at 3 levels by Branch, Sales Channel, Customer Category, Sales Rep, Visit day, Delivery day, Suburb, Product, Product Category, Manufacturer, Brand and Customer and referenced to previous year information.
   3. Screen reports including Sales by Supplier, Item, Held Orders, State of the Nation (by branch, branch/channel or sales rep - discounts, % discounts, net sales, cost, GP, GP%, # invoices and average sale)
   4. /wiki/spaces/SE/pages/32638092 used for analysis and pricing purposes
   5. Sales reporting across Sales Channels, Brands, customer groups and geographies
   6. Trend Analysis Activations Attritions  for repeat customers to look for increases / decreases from historical buying patterns
   7. Special reports - for example Sales Order Fulfillment for scarce stock allocation when attempting to empty a warehouse shows the % and $ amount you can ship now of orders (ie partially ship orders now) between two dates - and what you will have left in the warehouse after they all ship.

EDI Sales Orders Module

EDI Sales Orders allow direct collection of orders from EDI partners. All details of the EDI document is visible in the Edi Register with the ability to reprocess the orders.

The system manages outgoing as well as incoming EDI documents. Some EDI partners require you to provide SSCC and ASN documents with rules such as only one product/expiry combination per pallet (eg Coles) and this is managed by the system

• ASN = advance shipping notification documents
• SSCC = Serial numbers for each pallet or container sent EDI notification emails can be sent also

Note: Each EDI trading partner will involve us to do configuration unless you use a central EDI hub.

Anonymous Transactions Module

"Anonymous transactions" are created when a person has not been required to login and authenticate to the system before doing a transaction and are called Anonymous Requests.

Often the person may be known to you already - so to avoid creating duplicates in the system the screen Anonymous Transactions is used to match transactions entered without a login - with a user in the system using the Reconcile Anonymous Person Data. You can then merge the transaction and other information collected with an existing contact in the system or create a new contact.

This is heavily used in the Specialist Event Management Module for tickets sold online to events without login in order to merge known persons records easily and quickly.

Loyalty Discount Module

Used by the Sales Rep in the store to track information about the store presentation and ranging of the products to provide discussion points and a resulting discount. Discount can be calculated based on any information presented such as Fridge Facing %, Number of items from a base range, order volumes or $ etc.

Webstore Module

Webstore: Anonymous or known Customers purchase in our shopping cart and website

Customers login to the website, a secure environment where they can purchase items at their specific pricing. Images and detailed pages are stored at the item or category level and easily managed by you.  Customers can search for items, filter and drill to details. You can enforce login before seeing products and or prices or allow anonymous shopping.  Any information in the system can be provided to external websites securely - for example "where is my nearest retailer" that checks to see retailers near a postcode who have ordered a product in the last 10 days.

A Web Sales Order for consumers tends to be smaller orders you might want to group together using the B2C / Web Order Dashboard for picking using Pick Imploded Orders Batch 

Retail Point of Sale Module

A Retail POS (or till) is used in a retail outlet to capture orders quickly, apply promotions and recognise customers.  

• Connect a computer to a touch screen, handheld barcode scanner, till draw, scale and receipt printer. 
• Use touchscreen to quickly find items, update quantities and calculate change in a POS Sales Order
• Recognise customers and allow sales on Account
• Inventory draws from the store Warehouses and Stock Locations
• If you sell more than exists in stock 
  • The system automatically looks for stock in a linked location
  • if not found a flagged stock transaction creates the stock on the fly to ensure stock never goes negative.
• Regularly Stock Take to ensure stock levels are correct
• Create re-order/ move orders to restock
• Credit cards can be captured directly in the system or by reference to a POS device. 
• Counting and reconciliation process for closing the till.  
• Printout shelf tickets

See Retail Store with Retail POS Overview process flow

Outbound Freight booking Module

Once a customer has provided the items they want to order the next question is the freight charge - which depends what is being sent, to where, when and using which carrier.

If you use external carriers the simplest way is to use the Outbound Freight Booking capability.  The system will:

1. Use the Cartonising process to calculate the cartons required.  
2. Send the number of cartons, their weights and volumes along with the shipping dates and addresses to external freight companies to quote on.  
3. Provide quotes in real time so you can provide your customer with choices of cost / time / preferred carriers as you finalise the order.  
   1. Note: The quotes can be provided also during the checkout process on the Customer Portal and the Webstore
4. The customer decides confirms choice and payment.
5. The carrier is then booked directly and the order ready for picking.  Note: Requires an account at Temando (http://www.temando.com.au).  

note that integration can be built directly to preferred companies (if they support it), each case will need to be reviewed with the freight company to determine suitability and cost.

Customer Portal Module

The customer portal provides a place for your customers to login to the system and do things themselves.  It is made easy for a casual user by using pictures and simplified screen flows.  It is configurable and you can decide what your customer is able to do and the rules that apply.

Landing on a dashboard that highlights the things you want them to action your customer can:

• See high level messages from the company - for example links to ads created
• Navigate brands and Product Categories drilling to detailed SKU information
• Review existing and previous sales orders and Debtor Invoice invoices, make payments
• See the pricing they get (rather than generic pricing)
• See stock levels - or - see 'out of stock' messages - or - see only available items
• Review Promotions Module including product bundles, discounts and "run out stock" specials
• Update their information - contact details, department, sales visit day, delivery day, addresses etc
  • Add delegate people with limited rights (for example able to create order but not confirm it.)
• Orders - Enter new orders, Adjust existing orders (you can impose limitations), Copy a previous order, count stock on the shelves so system recommends a refill order, Select from a shortlist of items ordered in last 3 months, Browse catalogue of images to add to an order,  be shown freight costs and checkout using account or credit card depending on terms.
• Review recommendations - top 10 sellers, selling in your area, not sold in your area, stock run outs, Brand / Item Category browsing
• Steps required to get a bigger loyalty discount
• Create and monitor Returns and other claims
• Review messages sent to them from you

Purchasing Module

Stock and Non-Stock Purchase Orders track purchasing in the system

1. Purchase orders can be created based on sales history and expected sales 
2. Purchase orders can be for multiple warehouses or stores
   1. Received by one Warehouse from the supplier
   2. Distributed to the other warehouses by automatically created move orders

Entering Purchase Orders is made easy:

• The system remembers all items this supplier has provided for you previously and provides them in a drop down list.
• Lead time and quarantine time are looked for on the Article and if no value then Supplier defaults are used
• History is available on the supplier and also on the Article
• Previous price or standard price can be used to default to the price

Purchase order Status

Track your Purchasing cycle using a number of statuses.

• Plan - entered but not yet committed
• Sent - has been sent to supplier
• Confirmed - is a confirmed order with supplier (track also Inco Terms 
• Shipped - Supplier has told us they have shipped the goods (tracks also the Broker/Transport company, the Container number, vessel, departure port and date etc)
• Received - we have received the goods. Note that we may not have received all the goods yet
• Closed - No longer active
• Cancelled Status changes are created in a number of ways in the system and each change is flagged on the back of the purchase order with the date or time and user

IncoTerms

Track the Inco Terms you have with your supplier. International Commercial Terms are a series of pre-defined commercial terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)

There are certain terms that have special meaning within Incoterms, and some of the more important ones are defined below:^[12]

• Delivery: The point in the transaction where the risk of loss or damage to the goods is transferred from the seller to the buyer
• Arrival: The point named in the Incoterm to which carriage has been paid
• Free: Seller has an obligation to deliver the goods to a named place for transfer to a carrier
• Carrier: Any person who, in a contract of carriage, undertakes to perform or to procure the performance of transport by rail, road, air, sea, inland waterway or by a combination of such modes
• Freight forwarder: A firm that makes or assists in the making of shipping arrangements;
• Terminal: Any place, whether covered or not, such as a dock, warehouse, container yard or road, rail or air cargo terminal
• To clear for export: To file Shipper’s Export Declaration and get export permit

The below is reproduced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incoterms#Rules_for_any_mode_of_transport

EXW – Ex Works (named place of delivery)

The seller makes the goods available at their premises, or at another named place. This term places the maximum obligation on the buyer and minimum obligations on the seller. The Ex Works term is often used while making an initial quotation for the sale of goods without any costs included.

EXW means that a buyer incurs the risks of bringing the goods to their final destination. Either the seller does not load the goods on collecting vehicles and does not clear them for export, or if the seller does load the goods, they do so at buyer's risk and cost. If the parties agree that the seller should be responsible for the loading of the goods on departure and to bear the risk and all costs of such loading, this must be made clear by adding explicit wording to this effect in the contract of sale.

There is no obligation for the seller to make a contract of carriage, but there is also no obligation for the buyer to arrange one either - the buyer may sell the goods on to their own customer for collection from the original seller's warehouse. However, in common practice the buyer arranges the collection of the freight from the designated location, and is responsible for clearing the goods through Customs. The buyer is also responsible for completing all the export documentation, although the seller does have an obligation to obtain information and documents at the buyer's request and cost.

These documentary requirements may result in two principal issues. Firstly, the stipulation for the buyer to complete the export declaration can be an issue in certain jurisdictions (not least the European Union) where the customs regulations require the declarant to be either an individual or corporation resident within the jurisdiction. If the buyer is based outside of the customs jurisdiction, they will be unable to clear the goods for export, meaning that the goods may be declared in the name of the seller by the buyer, even though the export formalities are the buyer's responsibility under the EXW term.^[13]

Secondly, most jurisdictions require companies to provide proof of export for tax purposes. In an EXW shipment, the buyer is under no obligation to provide such proof to the seller, or indeed to even export the goods. In a customs jurisdiction such as the European Union, this would leave the seller liable to a sales tax bill as if the goods were sold to a domestic customer. It is therefore of utmost importance that these matters are discussed with the buyer before the contract is agreed. It may well be that another Incoterm, such as FCA seller's premises, may be more suitable, since this puts the onus for declaring the goods for export onto the seller, which provides for more control over the export process.^[14]

FCA – Free Carrier (named place of delivery)

The seller delivers the goods, cleared for export, at a named place (possibly including the seller's own premises). The goods can be delivered to a carrier nominated by the buyer, or to another party nominated by the buyer.

In many respects this Incoterm has replaced FOB in modern usage, although the critical point at which the risk passes moves from loading aboard the vessel to the named place. The chosen place of delivery affects the obligations of loading and unloading the goods at that place.

If delivery occurs at the seller's premises, or at any other location that is under the seller's control, the seller is responsible for loading the goods on to the buyer's carrier. However, if delivery occurs at any other place, the seller is deemed to have delivered the goods once their transport has arrived at the named place; the buyer is responsible for both unloading the goods and loading them onto their own carrier.

CPT – Carriage Paid To (named place of destination)

CPT replaces the C&F (cost and freight) and CFR terms for all shipping modes outside of non-containerized seafreight.

The seller pays for the carriage of the goods up to the named place of destination. However, the goods are considered to be delivered when the goods have been handed over to the first or main carrier, so that the risk transfers to buyer upon handing goods over to that carrier at the place of shipment in the country of Export.

The seller is responsible for origin costs including export clearance and freight costs for carriage to the named place of destination (either the final destination such as the buyer's facilities or a port of destination. This has to be agreed to by seller and buyer, however).

If the buyer requires the seller to obtain insurance, the Incoterm CIP should be considered instead.

CIP – Carriage and Insurance Paid to (named place of destination)

This term is broadly similar to the above CPT term, with the exception that the seller is required to obtain insurance for the goods while in transit. CIP requires the seller to insure the goods for 110% of the contract value under Institute Cargo Clauses (A) of the Institute of London Underwriters (which is a change from Incoterms 2010 where the minimum was Institute Cargo Clauses (C)), or any similar set of clauses, unless specifically agreed by both parties. The policy should be in the same currency as the contract, and should allow the buyer, the seller, and anyone else with an insurable interest in the goods to be able to make a claim.

CIP can be used for all modes of transport, whereas the Incoterm CIF should only be used for non-containerized sea-freight.

DPU – Delivered At Place Unloaded (named place of destination)

This Incoterm requires that the seller delivers the goods, unloaded, at the named place of destination. The seller covers all the costs of transport (export fees, carriage, unloading from main carrier at destination port and destination port charges) and assumes all risk until arrival at the destination port or terminal.

The terminal can be a Port, Airport, or inland freight interchange, but must be a facility with the capability to receive the shipment. If the seller is not able to organize unloading, they should consider shipping under DAP terms instead.

All charges after unloading (for example, Import duty, taxes, customs and on-carriage) are to be borne by buyer. However, it is important to note that any delay or demurrage charges at the terminal will generally be for the seller's account.

DAP – Delivered At Place (named place of destination)

Incoterms 2010 defines DAP as 'Delivered at Place' – the seller delivers when the goods are placed at the disposal of the buyer on the arriving means of transport ready for unloading at the named place of destination. Under DAP terms, the risk passes from seller to buyer from the point of destination mentioned in the contract of delivery.

Once goods are ready for shipment, the necessary packing is carried out by the seller at their own cost, so that the goods reach their final destination safely. All necessary legal formalities in the exporting country are completed by the seller at their own cost and risk to clear the goods for export.

After arrival of the goods in the country of destination, the customs clearance in the importing country needs to be completed by the buyer, e.g. import permit, documents required by customs, etc., including all customs duties and taxes.

Under DAP terms, all carriage expenses with any terminal expenses are paid by seller up to the agreed destination point. The necessary unloading cost at final destination has to be borne by buyer under DAP terms.^[15][16]

DDP – Delivered Duty Paid (named place of destination)

Seller is responsible for delivering the goods to the named place in the country of the buyer, and pays all costs in bringing the goods to the destination including import duties and taxes. The seller is not responsible for unloading. This term is often used in place of the non-Incoterm "Free In Store (FIS)". This term places the maximum obligations on the seller and minimum obligations on the buyer. No risk or responsibility is transferred to the buyer until delivery of the goods at the named place of destination.^[17]

The most important consideration for DDP terms is that the seller is responsible for clearing the goods through customs in the buyer's country, including both paying the duties and taxes, and obtaining the necessary authorizations and registrations from the authorities in that country. Unless the rules and regulations in the buyer's country are very well understood, DDP terms can be a very big risk both in terms of delays and in unforeseen extra costs, and should be used with caution.

Rules for sea and inland waterway transport

To determine if a location qualifies for these four rules, please refer to 'United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations (UN/LOCODE)'.^[18]

The four rules defined by Incoterms 2010 for international trade where transportation is entirely conducted by water are as per the below. It is important to note that these terms are generally not suitable for shipments in shipping containers; the point at which risk and responsibility for the goods passes is when the goods are loaded on board the ship, and if the goods are sealed into a shipping container it is impossible to verify the condition of the goods at this point.

Also of note is that the point at which risk passes under these terms has shifted from previous editions of Incoterms, where the risk passed at the ship's rail.

FAS – Free Alongside Ship (named port of shipment)

The seller delivers when the goods are placed alongside the buyer's vessel at the named port of shipment. This means that the buyer has to bear all costs and risks of loss of or damage to the goods from that moment. The FAS term requires the seller to clear the goods for export, which is a reversal from previous Incoterms versions that required the buyer to arrange for export clearance. However, if the parties wish the buyer to clear the goods for export, this should be made clear by adding explicit wording to this effect in the contract of sale. This term should be used only for non-containerized seafreight and inland waterway transport.

FOB – Free on Board (named port of shipment)

Under FOB terms the seller bears all costs and risks up to the point the goods are loaded on board the vessel. The seller's responsibility does not end at that point unless the goods are "appropriated to the contract" that is, they are "clearly set aside or otherwise identified as the contract goods".^[19] Therefore, FOB contract requires a seller to deliver goods on board a vessel that is to be designated by the buyer in a manner customary at the particular port. In this case, the seller must also arrange for export clearance. On the other hand, the buyer pays cost of marine freight transportation, bill of lading fees, insurance, unloading and transportation cost from the arrival port to destination. Since Incoterms 1980 introduced the Incoterm FCA, FOB should only be used for non-containerized seafreight and inland waterway transport. However, FOB is commonly used incorrectly for all modes of transport despite the contractual risks that this can introduce. In some common law countries such as the United States of America, FOB is not only connected with the carriage of goods by sea but also used for inland carriage aboard any "vessel, car or other vehicle."^[20]

CFR – Cost and Freight (named port of destination)[edit]

The seller pays for the carriage of the goods up to the named port of destination. Risk transfers to buyer when the goods have been loaded on board the ship in the country of Export. The shipper is responsible for origin costs including export clearance and freight costs for carriage to the named port. The shipper is not responsible for delivery to the final destination from the port (generally the buyer's facilities), or for buying insurance. If the buyer requires the seller to obtain insurance, the Incoterm CIF should be considered. CFR should only be used for non-containerized seafreight and inland waterway transport; for all other modes of transport it should be replaced with CPT.

CIF – Cost, Insurance & Freight (named port of destination)[edit]

This term is broadly similar to the above CFR term, with the exception that the seller is required to obtain insurance for the goods while in transit. CIF requires the seller to insure the goods for 110% of the contract value under Institute Cargo Clauses (A) of the Institute of London Underwriters (which is a change from Incoterms 2010 where the minimum was Institute Cargo Clauses (C)), or any similar set of clauses, unless specifically agreed by both parties. The policy should be in the same currency as the contract. The seller must also turn over documents necessary, to obtain the goods from the carrier or to assert claim against an insurer to the buyer. The documents include (as a minimum) the invoice, the insurance policy, and the bill of lading. These three documents represent the cost, insurance, and freight of CIF. The seller's obligation ends when the documents are handed over to the buyer. Then, the buyer has to pay at the agreed price. Another point to consider is that CIF should only be used for non-containerized sea freight; for all other modes of transport it should be replaced with CIP.

Allocations of costs to buyer/seller according to Incoterms 2020[edit]

With all Incoterms beginning with D there is no obligation to provide insurance, however the insurable risk is for the seller's account.

Purchase Order Reporting

Reports provide notification of when funds will need to be paid using payment terms that may be based on a number of days from a combination of Production Start, Production Complete, Collection, Bill of Lading, Arrival into Port, and Receipt

Purchase Order Reports highlight overdue, delayed and changed Purchase orders, count vs ordered discrepancies and indicate those received and counted but not yet paid.  The reporting also provides an indication of Foreign Exchange requirements.

Landed Costing

When the stock is to be marked up by transport, duty and other costs

• use Simple Landed Costing if there are few costs and they are applied based on value only - you can enter this after the stock is received.
• use full Landed Costing if you have many costs and wish to apply them using value, weight, volume or a manual spread of costs - enter a estimate before the stock arrives, later link it to actuals.

Forecasting

There are a couple of methods of doing forecasting

1. Simple time based  Forecasting using flat sell rates, existing orders and estimating the time your stock and purchases will last
2. Complex Clothing Seasonal Sales Forecasting
3. Complex Product Forecasting Based on Sales History

Inter-company

When trading between your own companies - the Host Company (your business/s) is the Debtor and hence is automatically eliminated from consolidation reports.  

An inter-company Purchase Order will auto-create a matching sales order when the status moves from Plan Status.  An inter-company Creditor invoice will create a matching (and locked) inter-company Debtor invoice.

General Inventory Management Module

There are a number of different types of Articles that the system can manage

• Stocked items
• Kits and Assemblies (to n levels) including JIT (to 3 levels deep)
• Configurable Products configured at time of sale including stock and services options
• Perishable Items - with expiry dates and batch numbers
• Reverse BOM items (eg meat processing)
• Dual Unit of Measure items (eg meat in KG and Each)
• Serialised items
• Clothing - colour size style
• Manufactured items - both internally and externally manufactured
• Services
• Non Stocked items
• Parent items (holding shared information across a product family)
  
• Owned by others (eg supplier or customer)

All types of items share

• Can be sold on the Webstore or the Customer Portal and have icons, images and web html held at the article level.  
• Are members of Article categories that are hierarchical and can cross across Brands from different suppliers - see Article Categories
• Can be supplied by a single suppler/supplier Factory or multiple suppliers
• Can be linked to one of the Brands for reporting and analysis purposes
• can be imported directly into the system making it much easier to enter large volumes (eg a seasonal range) of all information including cost prices.
• Can be linked to Seasons or have individual availability dates
• Can be linked to Promotions
• Article Status includes Proposed, Active, Run Out and Archived
• Can be linked to MSDS documents or through Suppliers to Certificates (eg: Organic Food Growers Certifications)
• Warrantee durations
• The ability to Add New Fields that are tracked and reported on Articles
  
  

Stocked Articles

• Stocked articles have weights, sizes, packing factors (for Cartonising process) shipping UOM and selling UOM
• Can be flagged as requiring special locations (such as freezers) for storage - see Warehouses and Stock Locationss and Warehouse Module
• Have sell rates (calculated over standard or unique number of days), min days of stock levels, PO to delivery days override, useby horizon days, min supplier expiry days override
• Scarce stock can be allocated to Level 1 customers in priority to Level 2 customers with sharing or manual allocations

There are a number of Stock Reports across the system

• Stock Turns report - stock turn values at warehouse, Category and Brand level and down to SKU level
• Stock value reports - value by warehouse and across the system
• Where used recall reports - to find where suppliers batches ended up
• Aging Stock - risk into the bin
• Short stock - risk of runout
• Maximum shipment of Scarce stock - to maximise partial fulfilment of orders eg: end of season runout stock

See /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054918

3PL Warehousing Module

When you store stock in a 3PL warehouse it is treated by the system like any other warehouse.  You can define the warehouse details in Warehouses and Stock Locationss.  A 3PL warehouse requires picking and packing details and other shipping documents to be sent to them - you do this in bulk using Orders to Pick (3PL) and an email with the documents attached is sent to them.  The 3PL staff then pick and dispatch the stock and capture the tracking numbers.  You can then mass pick/ship confirm using Despatched Orders (3PL) dashboard where entering the tracking number confirms the order pick/pack/ship in a single step.  Use standard Stock Take forms sent to the 3PL warehouse staff to regularly count and check stock is accurate.

Mobile Warehousing Module

Mobile devices can be used *In the Warehouse Batch Picking on Mobile Device, QuickPicks on Mobile Device, Mobile Stock Movements, Mobile Stock Adjustment, Mobile EDI Scan/Pack *By the Driver Driver - Delivery, Record a Payment, Record Expense See an overview at /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054931 or See the mobile submenu on the /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054978

Manufacturing is making products from components - either in house or getting external companies to do the work.  See the flow in Working in Manufacturing for an overview.

Manufacturing has a number of concepts

• Manufacturing Locations
  
  • A machine or work area that needs to be scheduled through Manufacturing Orders and Cleans
  • Has a normal start and end time to simplify manufacturing dashboard
  • Has default Employees who normally work in this location.
  • Has an overhead recovery rate - used for journal creation based on time in the room.
  • Used for internal and external (supplier) manufacturing locations
  • Locations have types that are used to allow alternative places for Manufacturing Orders to be produced (for example if you have multiple labelling machines)
    • Types have speed relationships - so a faster room will take less time for the same Manufacturing Order
• Cleans
  
  • Each location has multiple cleans depending on the sequence of products.  
    • For example Grey to White might require a full clean, but white to grey might require only a minor clean
• QA Tests
  
  • Questions that are answered before, during or after Manufacturing Orders to track QA test results
  • Questions that are answered as part of Cleans
• QA Test Groups
  
  • QA Tests are grouped into test groups to make it easier to add them to locations or Articles
    
    • Multiple QA Test Groups can be linked to each clean definition
    • Multiple QA Test Groups can be linked to an Article to be used by a Manufacturing Order
• Employees 
  • Employees can be enabled for Manufacturing Orders and QA Tests and use their initials to sign test results, raw material and finished goods checks.
• Manufactured Articles
  
  • Have a BOM of ingredients required
  • Links to the type of Manufacturing Location required
  • Links to the production QA Test Groups for production
  • Links to the supplier if externally manufactured
  • Can be purchased instead of being manufactured
• Manufacturing Order
  
  • An Manufacturing Order is the document that tracks production from plan to completed, has visibility to the journals produced, the QA tests and results and the audit trail.
  • Different views are available at the different stages (Proposed, Plan, Picking, Packing (If external), shipped (if external), Starting, producing, completing, receiving (if external), stocking, closed).  See Plan/Review Order and 
  • Different capabilities at different stages.
    • Scale the qty to be produced based on raw ingredients (to use full bags instead of partial bags for example)
    • Find alternative ingredients if some ingredients are low and alternatives exist.
  • Manufactured product cost is based on Raw Materials, quantity completed, returns, waste and time in the room and journals linked to the Manufacturing Order
• Linked Manufacturing Batches
  
  • Used to autocreate and syncronise linked manufacturing orders for JIT items that may be made in different Manufacturing Locations
    • For example to Produce Labels where the information for the labels are actually in the main Manufacturing Order and scaling the main Manufacturing Order during planning requires scaling the quantity of labels to be produced.
• Forecasting uses the normal forecasting process that understands manufactured items
  • Recommends Manufacturing Orders for manufactured items
    • Has visibility to purchase orders for manufactured items that can also be purchased as an alternative to production.
  • Recommends purchases for manufactured items and raw materials to n levels
  • Has visibility to raw materials in stock or still expected via purchase orders, and existing Manufacturing Orders
• /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054928
  
  • A review of manufactured stock based on expiry date and sell rate to recommend production orders as a simpler process to Forecasting.
• Manufacturing Dashboard
  
  • Viewed by Manufacturing Location to plan Journal Batches and Cleans sequence
  • Used by the planner to change sequences, choose Cleans required, review proposed orders, then set to plan once ready for production
  • Provides a view of history and direct access to Manufacturing Order information.
  • Manufacturing Orders float start time as the day proceeds and using the expected durations (note normal start/end times can be over-ridden)
• Production jobs are Picked for Manufacturing using a separate dashboard and process to reduce errors
• Where used Report
  • provides recall information including batches, sales orders, purchase orders and complete list of customers affected by a recall or other problem.
• Simple Manufacturing allows the system to auto-pick from stock at the start of the batch and auto-put-away to stock at the end of the batch (into default locations). A user can over-ride and adjust the values if required.

Returns Module

Customers return stock for many reasons and your responses are varied - however there is normally a returns process and rules to be followed.

The /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054938 process is configurable to suit your business.  You may organise a return courier, want only photos or expect the product to be available for a representative to pick up and inspect.  While we configure to suit your rules, there are a number of commonly used features:

1. Link to the last order for the product involved using Article and Batch number or serial number if available
   1. Used to price a credit if required based on the original order value
2. Return Reason captured (configurable)
   1. Normally include Damaged, short dated, customer rejected etc.
3. Return Actions (configurable and can be based on return reason)
   1. Normally include Return for inspection and credit, replacement, swap with alternative item, credit without return, send replacement until repaired, etc
4. Linked Replacement Order
   1. If a replacement or alternative item is to be provided an order will be required with shipping charges if appropriate so it can be picked/packed/shipped
5. /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33055152
   
   1. When an item is returned the inspection can be captured including photos and comments to assist with credit decisions.
   2. Inspected items can be stocked, scrapped or returned to customer.
6. Repair process
   1. For products being repaired and returned to customer or stock.

See /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33055154 for an overview or Managing Returns for detailed flows involved with perishable item returns and for clothing see Returns or replacement of unsold clothing seasons.

Service Module

When the products that you sell need to be serviced or you act as a service centre for other products.

1. A Service Order is created when a customer registers a request for service
   1. This can be via an inbound phone call, email, Sales Rep or Agent, Customer Portal or an online form placed onto a website.
   2. A /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054938 is created with a link to a Service Order
2. The /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054938 tracks the Shipping to your service center
   1. You can provide shipping and have the system book a courier using the Outbound Freight Booking Module
   2. The /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054938 can be added to the Daily Delivery Run to be picked up
   3. The /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054938 can be assigned to the rep or agent for them to pick up
   4. You can ask the customer to ship the item to you and reference the RA number
3. Once received by your service centre they track their work on the Service Order
   1. Determine if they have any discount through warrantee or a service agreement
      
      1. If they are your direct customer you can linked to the sales order used to sell the product to the customer to determine warrantee information
      2. If they purchased from one of your customers you can link an image of the register sale provided by the end customer
      3. If the item is serialised you will know when it was shipped and to who
      4. If they have purchased a service agreement the pricing will be referenced
   2. Fault codes and notes
   3. Time spent (service item)
   4. Parts Used
   5. Overall cost
   6. QA Tests completed
   7. Payment details.
   8. The service centre can contact your customer and track interactions and authorisations during the repair process
4. The /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054938 is then used to track getting the repaired item back to the customer
5. If your repair centre is an external party the system then calculates the payment required.

Task Templates Module

Task Templates with multiple tasks to keep track of repetitive processes

List Builder Module

To create a list of names and contact details - the list builder gives you a comprehensive tool to search and find people to add to the list.

1. Search using information about the people or companies and their related transactions using Person Picker.  For example - who placed an order in the last 2 months, or who attended the recent event, or who has not had a transaction for 3 months.
2. Searching provides a search result - names and contact details.  
   1. Select names from the search result individually, using multi-select, or all - to add to the list - then search again.  
   2. Gradually build up the list by adding from different search results.
3. Review the list and remove names that you do not want on the list.  
4. Save the list definition for repeated use.

Can then export the list in order to send an email, use in /wiki/spaces/SE/pages/32638139, or export for use in an external system - for example a Newsletter broadcast system.

Online Landing Pages Module

Landing pages are a place to send customers that will focus them an particular information you may be promoting.  Normally a link is sent to them in an email or they click on an ad somewhere that takes them directly to the landing page.

Prospects are able to download information or place orders directly interacting with the system. An example of this is a page selling tickets to anonymous customers over the internet where they do not need to register, they simply enter their credit card details and make a purchase. For more details see Online Landing Pages and Setting up the online form.

Telemarketing Campaigns Module

Telemarketing enables calling through lists of people in the system, tracking their responses and acting on requests they have using Tele Marketing Campaign.

The list of people to contact can be created using the List Builder Module.

Multiple Telemarketers can use the list at the same time - as they take the name on the top of the list it becomes unavailable for others to use.

The telemarketing tool can be used to track interactions, send emails, create follow-ups and update the persons contact preferences.

A variation is /wiki/spaces/SE/pages/32638139 which is predominantly used to call and take orders from regular customers.

Questionaire Module

You can build up a library of questions to use in tests (for example QA Tests and QA Test Groups) or to put into general Questionaires for known or unknown external persons to take a test or answer a series of questions. You can enable Anonymous Questionaire Tests or require a login and then report on the results. See /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054989

Email Templates Module

Emails are sent from the system in a number of situations

1. automatically triggered on an event - example sales order dispatch
2. When a user initiates an action - example "send copy of invoice"
3. When the user decides to send and email and chooses from a template to send. 

Email Templates can use a standard company footer and include an opt-out link.  Tags are used to merge in personal information (customer name, order number etc) to the header and email body and you can create rich html emails with images and links and preview or send a test message while building the templates.  See Email Templates and also SMS Module

Administration Module

There are many functions performed by administrators of the system for managing security access to the system.  The administrator can create new Roles in the system deciding access to screens and Secure Features and manage individuals access.  At any time the administrator can see who is logged in and send messages using the System Management = Current Users Console.  There are Audit Trails across the system allowing administrators to view changes made including central searching of all changes to GL journals through GL Audit Explorer.  See Adding and Managing Users in the System.

The administrator uses /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33054919 (ABN's) in the system and can share information across your companies (ABN's) - such as items or customers - using Shared Entity Scope features.

The administrator maintains system settings for:

• sales orders
  • Freight Zones, Delivery Zones, Sales Targets, /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33055200 settings,  Sales rep assignments, adding custom fields for capturing information, configuring email templates (see Email Templates) sent for customer events (like order confirmation etc), Relation Types (for external users such as customers, accountant, suppliers).
• Manufacturing
  
  • Rooms and equipment through Locations - Post Codes
  • QA Tests used during batches and cleans
• GL 
  • GL control accounts through GL Control Accounts
  • /wiki/spaces/SI/pages/33055287s
• Stock control
  • Perishable items and Expiry date behaviour
  • Sell rate days to use in calculations
• General settings
  • Lookups for key fields and added fields (see Adding New Fields to the system)
  • Symbols Config for key system settings