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 purchasing manager at Nueces Bottling calls in their monthly order:
"12 of the Ball bearing 6200 open, BRG-6200, and 6 of the ORB hose fitting 1 hose x 1 thread, FIT-ORB-1616. On the FIT-ORB-1616, I'm sure we paid less last time. Knock a few dollars off so it's right this time. PO PO-26749."
Nueces Bottling has contract pricing. Enter the Order at the correct prices.
Step by step in Order Entry
- 1.
Open Orders [Order Entry] from the Menu.
- 2.
Type 100350 in Customer ID and press Tab.
The customer drives everything after it: prices, ship-to, which branch ships, and credit.
- 3.
Type PO-26749 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.
Line 1: type BRG-6200 in Item ID and press Tab.
- 5.
Type 12 in Qty Ordered.
- 6.
Line 2: type FIT-ORB-1616 in Item ID and press Tab.
- 7.
Type 6 in Qty Ordered.
- 8.
Open the Prices tab under the lines.
This is where you see where a price came from, before the customer asks.
- 9.
Base Unit Price is list. Net Unit Price is the contract price, lower than list on both lines. That is the price they agreed to.
If a customer disputes a contract price, their sales rep sorts it out. You don't type a different price.
- 10.
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.
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 price
Overcharging a contract customer triggers a dispute and a credit memo; undercharging gives away margin that never comes back.
Unneeded manual price override
Overriding the system price bypasses contract and quantity-break pricing and is the most common source of margin leakage.
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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