How to Use Multiple Locations

Evo~ERP allows you to maintain independent inventory data for your products at up to 250 different locations.  The Locations feature can be highly useful.

In addition to handling a second or third warehouse or manufacturing plant, locations can be setup with distinct GL account or department codes so that you can use them as profit centers to derive information about the financial performance of each Location.

Locations allow you to track the units on hand, on sales order, on purchase order, on work order, allocated, and the inventory value for each Location in your system.  Cost information will apply consistently to an inventory item regardless of location.

Locations designated as Service, RMA or Quality (S, R or Q as the Location Type entered in IN-L-B Enter/Assign Locations) will be ignored by the stock availability calculations so you can use these type Locations for segregated inventory.

You can create sales orders and purchase orders for multiple Locations by line item.  Work orders can only be created for a single Location but components issued to a work order can be pulled from a different location.

As with any system-wide procedure, you should consider how you name and setup your Location codes so that they will be easier to use as your inventory changes or becomes more complex.

The examples below cover three possible situations for handling your inventory.

You have a single Location for all your inventory.

You have set up your inventory without any Location information and then find it necessary to add Location information for a few products that will be stored away from your original Location, such as with a consignment inventory.

You have units of the same product stored at multiple Locations, and you want to set up specific Locations as you enter each inventory item in your system.

In all examples, the inventory record is created without entering any information about units on hand, etc.  Instead, you will use sales orders, purchase orders, and work orders to update your various inventory balances after the Locations for each item are created.

Cleaning up Invalid Locations

To remove invalid Locations and transfer any stock or orders to your primary default Location, use UT-K-E  Consolidate Inventory Locations

Example 1: A single inventory location.

Even if you have only a single Location, it is recommended you use IN-L-B  Enter/Assign Locations,or UT-K-E  Consolidate Inventory Locations to assign all parts and orders to a single named Location and delete any reference to a blank Location.

Example 2: Adding a 2nd location after setting up your inventory.
You are already using the system and have been following the procedure above to maintain all inventory information using a single Location. However, you are now adding a second Location for a few larger items in order to cut down on some shipping costs.

The first step is to go to IN-L-B, Enter/Assign Locations, and create the Location.  Then go to SM-C, Enter Item classes, and make sure that all item classes to be used at the new location are defined with GL account codes.  You can then go back to IN-L-B, Enter/Assign Locations, and assign individual item numbers to the new Location, or you can assign ranges of item numbers by item class or inventory type.

The new Location will now appear in the pop-up window whenever you click on the Lookup icon (or press F2) at a Location field.

When creating purchase orders, sales orders, or work orders, any time you leave the Location field blank, the Location assignment will automatically default to your original Location.  If you want the order to relate to a Location other than the default Location, enter the Location name or select a Location by clicking on the Lookup icon (or press F2) at the Location field.

Example 3: Setting up a multiple location inventory system.
In this example you are maintaining separate inventory items at multiple Locations and want to ensure that the system reflects these Locations accurately.  Develop short, identifiable names for the Locations that will be easily recognized by employees using the system and that will allow a logical range selection for your reports; for example, if you have two Locations in a specific state and would some times need summary data based on the state, you could name the two Locations using the state ID as the first part of the Location code.

Create all locations through IN-L-B, Enter/Assign Locations.  Next you must go to SM-C, Enter Item classes, and define GL account codes for all applicable item classes within each location.  Finally, inventory items are then assigned to locations in IN-L-B, Enter/Assign Locations.

 

Using Your Multiple Inventory Locations

Now that you have set up the Locations for the inventory items, you can use the purchase orders and work orders to receive items for the new Location.

When using PO-A Enter Purchase Orders, the Location field should have your new Location specified for any items to be received there.  The Location address will pull into the PO Ship To block.  The Location entered on the PO header will default to the PO Lines but different location can be entered per line item.

In a similar fashion, you will specify a Location for the items in a sales order using SO-A  Enter Sales Orders.  When you request a line item for the sales order, the transaction will be calculated against the inventory for the Location specified at the top of the sales order or entered specifically for the line.  All backorder tracking and on sales order values will be maintained separately for each Location.

After you have units on hand for multiple locations, you may see information about a product for all locations by viewing IN-A, Inventory Inquiry, or through IN-D, Print Reorder Report, IN-J, Print Physical Check, or IN-K, Adjust Physical Levels.  To move inventory from one location to another, use IN-L-J  Transfer Inventory or IN-L-M Batch Transfer.