Introduction

The Direct Receipt feature in Aeros ERP's ICS system was designed to create one direct receipt of inventory at a time. Given the current levels of volume that our customers wish to achieve in their production, it becomes almost impossible to keep up with all of that new inventory. Our goal with this feature is to allow users a way to bulk import direct receipts of inventory from a file. This process is similar to other imports that we create.      

Prerequisites

To perform a direct receipt of inventory, we will need:

• Affiliation to divisions with inventory locations, and possibly inventory lots.
• Inventory items and classes.  

Setup and Security

Master → Security → User Profile

Under the Module Permissions for Inventory, we will need to give each user who will perform imports access to the "Direct Receipt Import" feature. These users, of course, will also need to have access/affiliation to the divisions that they will import for.

Inventory → Utilities → Direct Receipt Import

Once we are granted access, we can find the import on the "Utilities" screen for inventory. Utilities are located under the "Tools" category.

Importing a File

The import accepts an Excel (.xlsx) file.

Headers are not necessary in the file, but the values we wish to import must be in a specific order, the values accepted by the import are:

1. Division Code (Column A): String value, 3 character max length.
2. Inventory Location (Column B): String value, 10 character max length.
3. Receipt Date (Column C): Date field.
4. Inventory Code: String value, 50 character max length.
5. Inventory Weight (Inventory Units): Decimal field, five points of precision.
6. Inventory Cost Per Unit: Decimal field, five points of precision.
7. Comments: String value, 60 character max length.

Once we have a file we'll navigate to it and click "OK" to perform the update.

The import will accept files with multiple sheets. however, only one sheet can be imported at a time. If more than one sheet is found, users will be prompted to select a sheet.

If anything is wrong with the file, there are two outcomes we can expect:

1. If the file is empty or missing many columns, we may get a general software error. At this point, the import will finish, and the error will be logged into the database.
2. If columns are missing or invalid, the batch screen will load with errors. In the example to the right, we can see a file I imported that was missing the unit cost column and had a receipt date that was not in a valid date format. Imports with any errors cannot be committed.

Validating the Import

When the file is imported we'll see any errors immediately. The file is parsed and validated on load. The entirety of the file must validate to proceed. We'll need to close the form, resolve the issues and resubmit the file. Values cannot be edited onscreen.

All fields must be in the correct format. The dates must be entered in a valid date format, weights and prices cannot contain alpha characters, etc.

All fields but the comments field are required. Failure to set these fields will result in an error.

There are column-specific validations as well:

• The Division field cannot be inactive or missing. Having invalid affiliations to the division will give us this error as well.
• The Inventory Location field cannot be inactive or missing. Having invalid affiliations to the division will give us this error as well.
• The Item Code cannot be inactive or missing.
• The Weight cannot be less than or equal to zero.
• The Price cannot be less than or equal to zero.

Once we have a valid import we will receive no errors on screen. We're ready to commit direct receipts.

Committing the Import

When we have imported a file with no errors and are ready to create our receipts, we will click the "Save" button. The screen will be unavailable while the inventory is created.

At this point, there are a few things that can fail with an import, but there is one thing to consider. We cannot import inventory into an accounting period that is closed or invalid. The entire import will fail on save if any accounting periods are invalid.

When our save is completed, we'll be redirected to the "Inventory" tab of the screen. This tab is a review of what we have inserted. On this screen, we can see

• Receiver #: The receiver number that was created.
• Receiver ID: The id of the record in the database. This id is assigned to the inventory to track its receiver.
• Inventory ID: The id of the inventory record created in the database.
• Company
• Division
• Item Code
• Accounting Period ID: The database id of the accounting period to the inventory creation was assigned.
• Comment
• Quantity
• Pack: The pack is calculated using the equivalent configuration on the item.
• Location
• Receipt Date
• Unit Cost: The cost/price per unit.

Clicking the "New" button will open the dialog to prompt us to import another file. This is a quick way to import another sheet if we are importing a multi-sheet file. If we have not saved the current file we will overwrite the one we have already loaded to the screen.

Clicking the "Close" button will close the form. We will not be prompted to save before closing, so make sure your receipts are imported!

Proofing the Results

Inventory Transactions

Inventory → Report Wizards → Inventory Transactions

The Inventory Transaction reports are our best bet to prove the newly added transactions. We open a wizard and chose the "Receiver Direct Receipt" transaction type, for the dates that we created the receivers.

The report will list the transactions for our review.

Inventory Balance

Inventory → Report Wizard → Inventory Balance Transaction Register

Running this report for the time period will show us our transaction's impact on the outstanding value and balance of the inventory.

General Ledger

If your inventory items are configured to post to GL the direct receipt import will call the stored procedures that post inventory to GL., These postings can be seen under the journal entries for the GL Accounts associated with division inventory.