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 Pecos Tool & Die is in a hurry:
"We need 8 of the Cut-resistant glove A4, medium (pair), GLV-CUT-M, today. Our line shuts down without them. Just push it through, I'll sort out the account later. PO PO-05992."
Take the order the right way.
Step by step in Order Entry
- 1.
Open Orders [Order Entry] from the Menu.
- 2.
Type 100340 in Customer ID and press Tab.
The customer drives everything after it: prices, ship-to, which branch ships, and credit.
- 3.
Look at Validation Status at the top of the header. It shows the account is on credit hold.
A hold means Credit has to look before anything ships. That is their decision, not yours or the customer's.
- 4.
Type PO-05992 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.
- 5.
Type GLV-CUT-M in Item ID and press Tab.
- 6.
Type 8 in Qty Ordered.
- 7.
Press Save. The order saves on hold. There is no override to press.
- 8.
The order is in, on hold. Tell the customer you've passed it to Credit and they'll hear back today.
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.
Tried to bypass a credit hold
Releasing an order for an account already past its limit ships product to a customer who may not pay. Credit decisions belong to the credit department.
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.
Customer PO number missing or wrong
Many customers' AP departments reject invoices without their PO number. The invoice sits unpaid until someone chases it.
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