The example
The steps below use a sample distributor, Lone Star Industrial Supply. Your customers, items and numbers will differ; the window and the fields won’t.
The buyer at Sabine Poultry is on the phone.
"Hi, I need 45 of the Ball bearing 6302-ZZ, part BRG-6302-ZZ. We need them here by Wednesday, March 4. Put it on our PO PO-59926."
Enter the Order.
Step by step in Order Entry
- 1.
Open Orders [Order Entry] from the Menu.
- 2.
Type 100360 in Customer ID and press Tab. The customer's name appears in the gray box beside it.
The customer drives everything after it: prices, ship-to, which branch ships, and credit.
- 3.
Type their PO number, PO-59926, in PO.
Their AP team matches every invoice to a PO. An invoice without one sits in their exception queue and you get paid late.
- 4.
Set Required Date to Wednesday, March 4, the day they need it.
Required Date is the promise. The warehouse picks and ships to it.
- 5.
On the first line, type BRG-6302-ZZ in Item ID and press Tab.
The description and available quantity fill in. Check the description matches what the customer asked for.
- 6.
Type 45 in Qty Ordered and press Tab.
- 7.
Leave Unit Price as it is. The system priced this line from the customer's price list.
Typing over a price is a price override. It needs a reason and a manager, and it is the most common way margin leaks.
- 8.
Press Save on the ribbon (or Ctrl+S).
Mistakes that cost money
These are the checks Simetta’s scored test makes on this task, and what each mistake costs a distributor when it happens for real.
Order not entered
No order means no allocation and no pick ticket. The customer is waiting on a shipment that nobody knows about.
Duplicate order
A second order allocates the same stock twice and can ship the customer double, followed by a return, a credit memo and an annoyed buyer.
Wrong item
The customer receives the wrong part, which means a return authorization, restocking, a second shipment and a day or more of downtime on their line.
Wrong quantity
Short ships leave the customer waiting on a second delivery; over-ships tie up stock another customer needed and come back as returns.
Wrong required date
The warehouse picks by required date. A wrong date either rushes an order that could wait or misses the date the customer was promised.
Customer PO number missing or wrong
Many customers' AP departments reject invoices without their PO number. The invoice sits unpaid until someone chases it.
Unneeded manual price override
Overriding the system price bypasses contract and quantity-break pricing and is the most common source of margin leakage.
Shipped from the wrong location
Shipping from a farther branch adds freight and transit days, and pulls stock that branch had promised to its own customers.
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