Customer consignment

With customer consignment, your own stock sits at a customer's site: implants on a hospital shelf, parts in a workshop, goods in a shop. The stock is still yours, so it stays in the normal item ledger at a location that is linked to the customer. The customer pays only for what it uses. Bitta Consignment adds the site setup, replenishment proposals, usage reports, site counts, stock returns and a statement, all built on standard transfer orders, sales invoices and item journals.

Before you start

1. In Consignment Setup, in the Customer Consignment group:
   • Site Template Location: a location whose settings and inventory posting setup new sites copy. Give it an inventory posting setup that posts to an "inventory at customers" account if you report site stock separately. The template must be a simple location: Create Consignment Site refuses a template with Bin Mandatory, Require Receive, Require Put-away, Require Shipment, Require Pick, Directed Put-away and Pick or Warehouse Mode, because site stock is moved with plain transfer orders.
   • Replenish-from Location: the warehouse that sites are replenished from and returned to.
   • Post Usage Invoices: switch it on to post the sales invoices of usage reports and site counts right away. Leave it off to review them first.
   • Shortage Handling: the default for new consignment customers, Invoice Customer or Write Off.
2. Make sure transfers between the replenish-from location and the sites can be posted: create a location with Use As In-Transit selected, or set up transfer routes.
3. On the customer card, in the Consignment group, switch on Consignment Customer. Shortage Handling takes the setup default; change it per customer if needed. The consignment actions of the customer card (except Create Consignment Site) show only for consignment customers.

Create a consignment site

1. On the customer card, choose Consignment > Create Consignment Site.
2. In the dialog, choose the Ship-to Code where the site is. Leave it empty to use the customer's main address.
3. Check the proposed Location Code and Location Name and choose OK.

The new location copies the template location's settings and its inventory posting setup rows, and is linked to the customer through Site Customer No. and Site Ship-to Code on the location card. A customer can have several sites. The Consignment Sites FactBox on the customer card lists each site with the Quantity and Value at Cost (LCY) of your stock there, the Last Usage Report, the Last Site Count and the Open Usage Reports. Choose the value to open the Consignment Site Stock report of the site.

Replenish a site

Send stock to a site with a normal Transfer Order from the replenish-from location, or let the app propose what each site needs:

1. Set up a Stockkeeping Unit for each item at the site location with a Reorder Point and a Maximum Inventory (or a Reorder Quantity).
2. On the customer card, choose Consignment > Suggest Site Replenishment.
3. The page shows, per site and item, the Quantity to Transfer first, then the Projected Inventory (stock at the site plus in transit plus open transfer orders to it), the Reorder Point and the Maximum Inventory. Change a quantity right on the page, or set it to zero to skip the item.
4. Choose OK. The app creates one transfer order per site and tells you in a notification; choose Open Transfer Orders to see them. Post them with Ship and Receive as usual.

An item is proposed when its projected inventory is at or below the reorder point. The quantity fills up to the maximum inventory, or else the reorder quantity, or else the reorder point. The native planning worksheet also works when the SKUs use Replenishment System Transfer.

Site delivery note

When a transfer shipment to a site is posted, open it in Posted Transfer Shipments and choose Site Delivery Note to print the Consignment Site Delivery Note, or the arrow next to it > Send Site Delivery Note to email it to the customer. On the transfer order, Print Site Delivery Note prints the delivery notes of the shipments already posted for it. The note shows the customer and the site address, every item with its lot, serial, package and expiration date (Show Serial and Lot Numbers), and the clause that the goods remain your property until they are invoiced, with signature blocks for delivery and receipt. The actions show only for transfers to a consignment site; other transfers keep the standard transfer shipment print. The report uses the usage Consignment Site Delivery Note on Report Selection - Sales.

Usage reports

A usage report records what the customer used from the site and invoices it.

1. On the customer card, choose New Document > Consignment Usage Report. You can also open Consignment Usage Reports from the customer card (Navigate) or by search, and choose New.
2. Choose the Site. Enter the Posting Date and the customer's reference in External Document No.; the sales invoice takes it as its external document number.
3. Enter the lines: Item No., Variant Code, Quantity and Unit of Measure Code, one line per item. For a tracked item, choose Line > Item Tracking Lines (Ctrl+Alt+I) and enter the serial numbers and lots that the customer used; the lookup lists your stock at the site. Or choose Import Lines from Excel. See Import usage from Excel. At the customer's site, choose Scan Lines and scan the item barcodes, serial numbers and lots with a scanner or the phone camera; see Scan and count.
4. Optional: choose Preview Posting to see the item ledger entries and, with Post Usage Invoices on, the customer, G/L and tax entries of the sales invoice that posting will create. Nothing is posted or created.
5. Choose Post. The confirmation says whether the sales invoice is posted right away or left open for review.

The Ship-to Code of the site is under Show more: the site already decides it. Once the usage report is released, its header can no longer be changed; choose Reopen first.

Release and posting refuse a line whose item tracking lines do not add up to its quantity; choose Set line quantity to the tracked quantity in the message, or fix the item tracking lines. Posting checks that the site holds every reported serial and lot and creates a sales invoice for the customer at the site location, with one invoice line per usage line, one item tracking line per serial or lot (with its expiration and warranty dates), and the prices from the customer's normal prices. With Post Usage Invoices on, the invoice is posted at once; otherwise it stays open for review. The card closes, and a message says what was posted and asks Do you want to open sales invoice ...? (or the posted sales invoice). Choose Yes to open it. The invoice shows the usage report in Consignment Document No. To refill the site, choose Suggest Site Replenishment on the customer card.

Usage confirmation

The Consignment Usage Confirmation is the print of a usage report for the customer to sign: what was used from the site, with serial and lot numbers and expiration dates.

• On the open usage report, choose Print Usage Confirmation to have it signed before you post. It is marked Not posted and has no prices.
• After posting, open it in Posted Consignment Documents and choose Print, or Send to email it to the customer. It shows the sales invoice number and, with Show Prices, the unit prices and amounts with a note on VAT; without it those columns are left out.

The report uses the usage Consignment Usage Confirmation on Report Selection - Sales.

Import usage from Excel

The workbook needs a heading row and these columns, in this order: A Item No., B Variant Code, C Serial No., D Lot No., E Package No., F Quantity, G Unit of Measure Code.

Each row becomes a line with its serial, lot or package number on the line itself, and posts that way. To change the tracking of an imported line on Item Tracking Lines, clear its Serial No., Lot No. and Package No. first.

Site counts

A site count compares what the item ledger expects at the site with what is there, and settles the differences.

1. On the customer card, choose New Document > Consignment Site Count, or open Consignment Site Counts and choose New. Choose the Site.
2. Choose Calculate Expected. The count gets one line per item and variant, with Qty. Expected (Base). For a tracked item, every expected serial number, lot and package is a row of the line's item tracking. Qty. Counted (Base) starts at the expected quantity.
3. Choose Print Count Sheet if the counter works on paper: the Consignment Site Count Sheet names the customer and the site. Switch off Show Expected Quantities for a blind count.
4. Enter what was found. For an untracked item, enter it in Qty. Counted (Base) on the line. For a tracked item, choose Line > Item Tracking Lines (Ctrl+Alt+I): Count Item Tracking Lines shows each expected serial and lot with Qty. Expected (Base) and Qty. Counted (Base). Type the counted quantity, count a missing unit 0, and add a unit you found as a new row. A serial number can be counted as 0 or 1 only. Entering 0 on the line itself counts every serial and lot 0; any other total must be entered per serial or lot. Or choose Scan Lines, answer Yes to count from zero, and scan what you find; lines and serials you do not scan count as missing.
5. Check Difference (Base). Optional: choose Preview Posting to see the adjustments and the sales invoice entries that posting will create, without posting. Then choose Post. The Count FastTab shows, read-only, the customer's Shortage Handling and the setup's Post Usage Invoices, and the posting confirmation repeats what happens to shortages and to the sales invoice.

• A shortage is invoiced to the customer or written off as a negative adjustment, as the customer's Shortage Handling says. A write-off uses the line's Reason Code.
• After posting, the card closes and a message says what was posted. When a shortage invoice was created, it asks whether to open it.
• A surplus is posted as a positive adjustment, valued at the item's unit cost.

After posting, open the count in Posted Consignment Documents and choose Print for the Consignment Site Count Result, or Send to email it to the customer. It lists per line the expected, counted and difference quantity and, in Disposition, whether the difference was adjusted, invoiced or written off; with Show Values also the value of the difference at the item's unit cost, with the shortage invoice number and signature blocks. Only Lines with Differences leaves out the lines that match. The report uses the usage Consignment Site Count Result on Report Selection - Sales.

If stock of a counted item changed at the site after you calculated, posting stops. Choose Recalculate Expected in the message: counted quantities that still match are kept. If the count is released, the message tells you to reopen it first.

Return site stock

1. On the customer card, choose Consignment > Return Site Stock.
2. The page lists your stock at the customer's sites by item, variant, serial, lot and package, with On Hand at Site and Quantity to Return next to each other. Enter Quantity to Return right on the page, or use Return All or Return None.
3. Choose OK. The app creates one transfer order per site back to the replenish-from location, with the item tracking assigned, and a notification offers Open Transfer Orders. Post them as usual.

Customer consignment statement

On the customer card, choose Consignment > Consignment Statement. Enter the Start Date and End Date. The Consignment Customer Statement shows, per item, the stock at the customer's sites at the start of the period, what was replenished, used and invoiced, counted and returned, and the stock at the end, in quantity and value at cost. The Word layout is the statement to send to the customer, with your address and the customer's, a table per site and the site total; choose the Excel layout to analyze the same data. To email it every month, turn on Send Statement on the customer card and schedule the statements: see Vendor settlement.

For your stock at the sites at a date, by lot and serial, with value and expiry, run Consignment Site Stock from the customer card (Report > Consignment).

Confirm your stock at a customer's sites

For your year-end audit, ask the customer to confirm the stock of yours held at their sites. On the customer card, choose Report > Consignment Stock Confirmation (or the arrow next to it > Send Consignment Stock Confirmation). The action on the customer card fills in that customer on the request page, even if the last letter you printed was for a vendor. To print or send letters for many customers at once, select them on the Customers list and choose Report > Consignment Stock Confirmations (or the arrow next to it > Send Consignment Stock Confirmations). The letter lists the stock at the customer's sites as of the As of Date, per site and item and with Show Serial and Lot Numbers per lot and serial, with a reply section and a signature block. Show Values adds a Value (LCY) column at the item's current unit cost, with its total; without it the column is left out. The report uses the usage Consignment Customer Stock Confirmation on Report Selection - Sales.

Consignment stock in the customer's credit

The stock at a customer's sites is yours, but the customer holds it. The customer card shows its value at cost as Consignment Stock at Sites (LCY) in the Consignment group, and the Customer Statistics FactBox shows it next to the credit limit. Choose the amount to see the value entries of the customer's sites.

To count this stock against the customer's credit limit:

1. In Consignment Setup, on the Customer Consignment FastTab, turn on Include Consignment Stock in Credit Check.
2. On the customer card, in the Consignment group, turn on Include Stock in Credit Check.

The credit limit check of sales documents then adds the site stock value to what the customer owes, and the credit limit warning shows it as Consignment Stock at Sites (LCY) in the details. When either switch is off, the credit limit check works as before. The check follows Credit Warnings in Sales & Receivables Setup.

Find site documents

On the customer card, Navigate > Consignment Sites, Consignment Usage Reports, Consignment Site Counts and Posted Consignment Documents open the customer's records. The Open Usage Reports cue in the Consignment group of the Order Processor role center counts usage reports that are not posted yet. Everything a site posts is a normal item ledger entry, transfer or sales document, so Find entries works as usual.

Limits

• With Post Usage Invoices on, the sales invoice is posted inside the usage report posting, so sales invoice approval workflows are skipped. Leave the setting off where invoices need approval. Preview Posting on the usage report or site count shows the invoice's entries.
• The usage report checks the stock at the site but does not subtract quantities on other unposted invoices for the same site. Posting those invoices still blocks over-shipping.
• Each usage line becomes one invoice line; lines are not merged per item. Invoice dimensions come from the customer, item and location defaults.
• Site counts compare with the stock as of now; you cannot count as of a past date.
• Suggest Site Replenishment uses reorder point, maximum inventory and reorder quantity only. It ignores demand at the site, reordering policies, order multiples and lead times.
• Sites are simple locations without bins or warehouse handling (the template rule above).

What's next

Find what happened: Find entries and reports.