About Shipping

Overview

• plan a load for shipment, see About Load Planning
• add material to the load that has a Shipment Status of “Ready”,
• print the shipment documents (automatically)
• pick and ship the load, relieving inventory of the material shipped. – See About Load Shipping

• maintain carriers and carrier freight rates,
• maintain customs brokers, and
• maintain customs duties.
• maintain default freight modes and weights

See Flags That Affect Shipping for details on how company settings affect shipping processing.

In addition, the default FOB point for customer pickups is set in the General Company Setup (STCOMP), General tab.

Documents to be produced on shipping are set up as part of company information in the customer profile.

About Production

The production process has a number of very useful capabilities that manage the complexity of production and support accurate planning and scheduling processes. In general, the journey from input materials to finished goods follows a pattern or sequence, with plenty of variation possible.

The production process is initiated by two demand streams:

1. Sales Orders
2. Independent Work Orders

(Note that a number of flags affect production processes.)

Normal Production Sequence

1. A sales order is entered and confirmed, specifying the required finished items, (or an Independent Work Order is created).
2. For each requirement, a SOI is created, requesting a weight or number of pieces of finished material product.
3. For each SOI, a WO is created, specifying the work steps and sequence that are required to process from the input material to the required finished material.
4. Each step requires specialized processing that is accomplished at a work center with the appropriate equipment to perform the required operations.
5. The work center’s list of grouped work orders  is called a Production Order. A single production order may contain work steps from a number of work orders for different customers or for a number of  Independent Work Orders.
6. A processing plan may be associated with a Production Order  to provide details of exactly what to do at each step in production. There are four types of process - Manufacturing, specifiying production Recording, Packaging to describe the packaging process, Transfer, to transfer inventory between locations and Shipping to request and schedule shipments
7. A group of production orders is scheduled through a Production Schedule.
8. Production demand planning is used to monitor the work steps for each work order through the production process, including the allocated input and output material weights from each step.
9. Production Recording is performed as each Production order is processed. Production Recording records start and stop times, the materials actually used and the WIP produced. It also specifies the production loss or wastage that occurred during the production process.
10. Specific material tags can be allocated to the work steps at any stage: during sales order entry, in the Production Order,  or when production recording begins. Production cannot be recorded without the application of real material, however production planning can use dummy tags or generalized ICI specification as placeholders to plan production processing in advance of the actual tagged material being known. As real tags are created, they replace the dummy tags orICI specifications in the production process.
11. When all works steps preceding  the ship or transfer step have been completed, the finished materials are packaged (if packaging is required) and if the production is for a Sales Order, shipped using the Load packaging and shipping process. Finished materials for Independent Work Orders may be added to inventory or transferred.
12. If the production is for a Sales Order, Invoices are created when the material is shipped.

See About Production Processing Exceptions for details about variations to the standard production process

About Shipping

The Shipping Management application includes the functions that are required for managing shipments:

• create a load for shipment,
• add material to the load that has a Shipment Status of “Ready”,
• print the shipment documents
• maintain carriers and carrier freight rates,
• maintain customs brokers, and
• maintain customs duties.
• ship the load, relieving inventory of the material shipped.

See Flags That Affect Shipping for details on how company settings affect shipping processing.

In addition, the default FOB point for customer. pickups is set in the General Company Setup (STCOMP), General tab.

Documents to be produced on shipping are set up as part of your company information.

Glossary Entries

Shipment Status

Shipment Status denotes that inventory material is ready to ship or not.  There are two values Not Ready and Ready.

Shipping Documents

Shipping Documents includes; Bill of Lading (BOL), Invoice, and Shipping Tags.

Bill Of Lading

The Bill Of Lading (BOL) document is issued by the shipping department and specifies the material that is being shipped on the load.

Invoice

The Invoice document is a bill issued by the seller to the buyer indicating the quantity of material provided to the buyer.

Shipping Tags

The Shipping Tags are barcoded tags attached to each piece of material shipped on a load.

Load

A Load is a single shipment on a single vehicle (truck, ship, rail car, etc).  Each load has one or more Bill Of Ladings.  A load can be created for any routing step that has a process code with a category of Transfer Instruction or Shipping Instruction.

Process Code

A Process defines the transformation of material that changes or adds properties to the material.  Process Codes define the capabilities of a company to transform material.  Each Process Code has a category of; Manufacturing Instruction, Packaging Instruction, Shipping Instruction, or Transfer Instruction.

Routing

The sequence of process codes (steps) required to produce a product.  This is in addition to the current glossary definition that is for BOM only.

The SEMS 4.5 version extends and enhances the Shipping Management capability by providing:

Load Planning	Load Planning provides the capability to plan a load as soon as the Work Order is confirmed, even if material is not available to ship.  Load Planning plans one or more loads based upon the ordered weight.
Intracompany Transfers	Intracompany Transfers extends Inventory Transfers (XFRLOADS) by treating transfers as regular loads; which makes them available for Load Planning and Load Shipping.
Load Shipping	Load Shipping is a more controlled version of the Shipping Schedule Maintenance form (SHSCHEDL).  Developed for the shop floor, the process only displays those loads that are scheduled and only displays the material that is assigned to the load.

About Sales Order Entry

Overview

SEMS Sales order entry provides a powerful and flexible capability to record, manage and effect customer requirements. There are many set up options, defaults and preferences that impact the behaviour and enforced business rules within the Order Entry process.

This guide is intended to provide a broad overview of the components within the Sales menu, without too much detail for each functional element. Each of these is described in greater detail in linked documents.

The Sales Menu

Master Orders Entry Releases Contract Management	Pricing Rate Tables …Definition …Price Rates Rebate Codes Pricing Schedule listing Pricing Schedules	Queries Offer / Order Query Sales by Customer by Year
Orders Entry Query …Orders …Inquiries …Line Item Query Closing Status Task List	Sales Agents	Storage Program
Offerings	Shipment Shipment Invoice Invoice Registry	Sales History
Invoices Shipment …Shipment Invoice …Invoice Registry Service Invoice Storage Invoice …Storage Code …Customer Invoice List …Service Invoice	Documents Order Shipment Invoice Service Invoice

Master Orders

Master Orders are used to record and plan on-going customer requirements. They can describe demand for several months or years ahead, with expected delivery weights for each month. A master order describes the needs of one customer, with potentially multiple ship to addresses.

• Records and sets a standard price
• Describes what will be required and when it should be shipped
• Standardizes a production process
• Is basically the same data as a sales order with the additional concept of planned release in the future. Each release creates a sales order for that release.
• Automates the distribution of weight to be delivered over a period of time
• Tracks releases versus commitments
• Lists Sales orders related to each master sales order
• Releases are used to decrement the Master order quantity by creating Sales Orders

Releases

• Lists Sales orders related to each master sales order
• Releases are used to decrement the Master order quantity by creating Sales Orders

Contract Management

Provides on-going management information related to the master order, including Tag reservations, Receipts, Sales Orders, Service Centers, Purchase orders

Orders

Sales Orders are used to record purchases by customers. The Order is comprised of a header which records standard information and some of the default values used in all order lines, and details which record the requirements for individual products.

The Header

• Records the status of the order
• The Customer and ship to address
• The ship from location
• The standard terms
• The shipping and delivery date and terms
• Various reps and agents
• The rules for documentation
• The billing address, currency and terms

The Detail

• Specifications for the product required
• Shipping detail variations
• Weight or pieces required, Standard and Grade, bundle size
• Dimensions and Tolerances
• Properties, Standards, Chemistry and Tests required
• Special instructions
• Pricing and costing
• From the detail form there is easy navigation to associated work instructions and work orders, inventory applied and associated production orders
• Substitute local product names to customer product names
• Relationship to the customers PO

Query

Orders

• List all of the Orders and the associated Detail items
• By using SEMS QBE all sales orders for specific criteria can be listed and “drill down” used to review details.

Inquiries

• Show Inquiry details and expiry date – an inquiry is a quote in a pre-order state
• Drill down to the Inquiry

Line Item query

• Provide QBE ability to find specific orders line item detail without going through the header,
• Can launch the detail screen directly
• Searches for order details based on sold to or shipped to
• Provides the ability to close orders at the detail level based on shipments being completed.
• Works in two stages: 1 – select the items to close, click View selected items, 2 – close items
• [Note review is needed of the menu (only one option) and two stage process (View selected items) seems redundant]
• Provides a one page snap shot view of order status
• Includes all details for the order including releases, production status and shipment

Closing

• Searches for order details based on sold to or shipped to
• Provides the ability to close orders at the detail level based on shipments being completed.
• Works in two stages: 1 – select the items to close, click View selected items, 2 – close items
• [Note review is needed of the menu (only one option) and two stage process (View selected items) seems redundant]

Status

• Provides a one page snap shot view of order status
• Includes all details for the order including releases, production status and shipment

Tasks List

• Provides an overview of the progress made on selected sales orders
• Shows status at the order header level and at the associated line item level
• Is used for review and drill down to items that need attention

Offerings

• An offering specifies items that are available for sale that are offered at a special price to a specific customer.
• The offering is created, approved, released then printed to send to the customer via Fax, Email or by Mail
• When a customer accepts an offer, the offering can be converted to a sales order or added to an existing sales order
• Offers can be related in a parent/child relationship to link a series of offers for the same inventory to different clients or to link a series of offers to the same client.

Pricing

Pricing is used to maintain a complex pricing capability, based on the product, dimensions and processing required. See [About Pricing]

Rate Tables

• Contain various values, ranges and associated multipliers that are compared to sales order values in order to work out the multipliers from base price for the product in the order being priced.
• An unlimited set of customizable pricing rules can be applied
• Any sales order value can be used as a parameter to pricing

Definition

• Lists the price tables and their parameters
• Provides a drill down to pricing detail amendment

Price rates

• Direct entry and update of price table details
• Generally a carefully controlled access item to avoid inadvertent pricing errors
• Lists the rebate codes that can be used in sales orders and the associated GL segment codes to be associated with the rebate
• Can amend an existing rebate code or add a new code
• Lists the price schedules that are available
• Provides drill down to price schedule maintenance
• Is the sequence of calculations used to determine a price for a specific ordered requirement
• The sales order detail item specifies which price schedule to use in Price table in the pricing area.
• Can be edited or listed
• Are like a spreadsheet calculation, they are of unlimited size and complexity
• Each step in the schedule returns a value that becomes input to the next step unless it is a final result to be displayed
• Uses the rate tables to return values based on the current sales order line
• Can be used to display intermediate totals on the invoice

Rebate codes

• Lists the rebate codes that can be used in sales orders and the associated GL segment codes to be associated with the rebate
• Can amend an existing rebate code or add a new code

Price Schedules Listing

• Lists the price schedules that are available
• Provides drill down to price schedule maintenance

Price Schedules

• Is the sequence of calculations used to determine a price for a specific ordered requirement
• The sales order detail item specifies which price schedule to use in Price table in the pricing area.
• Can be edited or listed
• Are like a spreadsheet calculation, they are of unlimited size and complexity
• Each step in the schedule returns a value that becomes input to the next step unless it is a final result to be displayed
• Uses the rate tables to return values based on the current sales order line
• Can be used to display intermediate totals on the invoice

Invoices

Shipment

Shipment Invoice

• Used to create an invoice based on a shipment from a sales order
• A load is identified, which is flagged as ready to ship. The invoice is based on the shipped quantity or weight, referencing the shipment see [Load Planning and Load Shipping]
• Tag numbers are specified
• UOM may be adjusted to suit the customers requirements
• Freight charges, Additional charges, Rebates and Duty can be updated or calculated

Invoice Registry

• Lists all invoices to be printed/emailed/faxed
• Can selectively approve invoices and print or send them

Service Invoice

• Used to create an invoice for service items such as storage or toll processing
• Tags are not required, however if SEMS Tags are specified, they can be associated with full inventory genealogy, grade, standard and dimensions etc. The customer tag can also be specified.
• It can be important to record tags due to a potential for claims if the inventory is alleged to be damaged during toll processing. Any inventory that is officially received into SEMS can have full testing and quality recorded.
• Invoice amounts based on per qty, or per time, multiplying a unit price
• Additional charges can be added
• Taxes can be charged (The customer has to be set up in AccPac with tax codes)
• The shipping costs are charged on another invoice if required – mostly customers pick up toll processed or stored items so they are not shipped.

Storage Invoice

Uses the service invoice with the following additional data

• Storage Code
  • Used to set up storage rates for inventory for specific customers
  • The storage code implies a grouping of rates based on Class code that applies to specific customers
  • Includes minimums, storage in and storage out rates and UOM.
• Customer Invoice List {ask Ghazi – seems not working email sent}
• Service Invoice [see metalink]
• Records Outside sales agents commission rates
• The sales agent must already be set up in the BPM area
• The commission rate can be varied from a specific start date
• Commission payments are calculated in AccPac from commission amounts reported on invoices

Sales Agents

• Records Outside sales agents commission rates
• The sales agent must already be set up in the BPM area
• The commission rate can be varied from a specific start date
• Commission payments are calculated in AccPac from commission amounts reported on invoices

Documents

Sales Order

• Generate Sales order documents for a series of sales orders based on specified criteria
• Customer, Order # range and date ranges can be specified

Shipment Invoice

• Generate Invoice documents for a series of shipment invoices based on a sales order, Bill to customer, sold to customer
• Apply a date range or an invoice number range

Service Invoice

• Generate Invoice documents for a series of service invoices based on a sales order, Bill to customer, sold to customer
• Apply a date range or an invoice number range

Queries

Offer/Order Query

• Associates all of the orders related to an offering
• Can be found via Order Number , Order ID or Offering number

Sales by Customer per year

• A quick reference to annual sales by customer and which was the best year for sales for the customer
• Used to manage all consignment inventory
• Review by Customer or by location
• Can create an invoice for storage
• Query specific tags
• Can manage storage dates and extend expiry dates
• Create a variety of reports including those items for which the free period is ending
• Release inventory
• A free form version of the sales history available in Sales Order Entry
• Review and navigate to ales orders for a specified customer
• Filter by closed, Confirmed, unconfirmed and on hold orders.

Storage Program

• Used to manage all consignment inventory
• Review by Customer or by location
• Can create an invoice for storage
• Query specific tags
• Can manage storage dates and extend expiry dates
• Create a variety of reports including those items for which the free period is ending
• Release inventory

Sales History

• A free form version of the sales history available in Sales Order Entry
• Review and navigate to ales orders for a specified customer
• Filter by closed, Confirmed, unconfirmed and on hold orders.

SEMS Overview of Flow

SEMS is a management system for processing steel from initial quote through shipping and collection of payment. Some business rules regarding the process flow can be amended by site specific flag settings, however the standard process flow is:

A sales order is created either as a quote (enquiry) or an order The sales order has one or more line items that describe the required end-product to be shipped The sales order also specifies delivery instructions, special terms, pricing, required shipping dates and methods. The required output material dimensions, specifications, chemistry, and other attributes are identified for each sales order line The inventory required may have specific attributes that are unique or the order may be a repeat of previous order requirements that have been standardized into a customer product code. The Customer part. The order line is associated with specific work instruction steps that detail what needs to be done, and in what sequence, in order to arrive at the finished product.  These instructions could be unique for this order/client, or from a pre-existing instruction set defined in the Customer product specification. The order is confirmed by the customer and approved by the sales manager, the work instructions can be converted into work orders, which are similar to work instructions but are in a finished format for production. Work orders are then included on production orders that schedule the work for each production area. A Production Order is required for each Work Center needed to perform the operation. Often a work center is synonymous with one machine or machine line. As each production step is completed, the appropriate accounting takes place. The original inventory is decremented; any hard costs accrued in the process, such as scrap, labour and transportation are added into the value of the finished goods. All accounting transactions are automatically transferred to the integrated accounting system for financial reporting and analysis. The transfer can be real time or in a batch mode subject to review and subsequent approval / posting The final production step is typically packaging and shipping. The shipping process creates all of the appropriate shipping documents or EDI transactions and confirms the physical shipping step, at which point the Invoice can be created and sent to the customer.