Chapter 9 - Warehouse Appointments

Warehouse Appointments offers an alternative to Purchasing, allowing you to organize your delivery schedule without creating purchase orders for goods that you plan to receive. A single receipt is generally entered into either the Purchasing or the Warehouse Appointments, but not both. Using both would cause unnecessary data duplication and would result in the same delivery appearing in two separate areas of your system. For example, if the same warehouse receives deliveries both from outside vendors and from a mill of manufacture within its own company, this warehouse would use Warehouse Appointments to schedule deliveries from the mill of manufacture and Purchasing to track deliveries of goods that were purchased from outside vendors. You can use Almyta Control System's Warehouse Appointments to enter appointment-specific information about suppliers, carriers, creation and delivery dates, reference and process numbers, and specific handling instructions. You can also capture instructions for any special dock door, equipment needs, or special warehouse location needed to facilitate proper put away or cross docking. Warehouse Appointments can also be used to track information about your suppliers. For example, you can record the number of late or under-supplied shipments you receive from a specific supplier as well as recognize which of your suppliers are consistently on time.

9.1 Warehouse Appointments Screen

Figure 9.1 - Warehouse Appointments Screen

Label	Description
1. Appointment Header	The “Appointments” screen is broken up into four tabs. The “Appointment” header contains most of the details about the appointment itself.
2. Warehouse	If you are using the multiple warehouses feature (Options screen, System tab), you will need to select which warehouse the appointment is for. You must enter all your warehouses in the “Inventory Locations” list in order for them to appear in this list box. See Section 3.2 for information on how to set up and edit this list.
3. Cancel	Click this to cancel a current appointment. Cancel orders with caution because you cannot return them to outstanding status.
4. Add New	Click this to add a new appointment. The system will assign a new appointment number or prompt you to enter one based upon your “Administrative Tools/Options” setting for appointment numbering. See the “Numbers” heading of Section 4.1 for more information on numbering within Almyta Control System.
5. Appointment Number	This is the list of all appointments that fall under the status currently on the screen. If “Outstanding” is selected, this box will contain all outstanding appointments.
6. Line Items Tab	The “Line Items” tab is where you will enter the items on the inbound warehouse appointment. On this tab, you can enter serial numbers for the items, the number of units, and expiration dates. This information will be stored with the unit when it is received into inventory.
7. Delivery	Quoted shipment delivery date.
8. Actual Delivery	Actual delivery date. It is populated automatically at a warehouse appointment receiving time.
9. Instructions Tab	This tab has a large text field for entering any receiving notes the warehouse staff may need.
10. Filter By Supplier	Filters are ways of separating data based on a value you select in this field. You can filter by supplier in this module. If you select a supplier in this field it will show you the appointments for the supplier you select. The order status also plays a factor in this. If “Completed” is selected as the order status and “Supplier ABC” is selected in the “Filter” field, the “Appointment” list box will only contain orders that have been completed for Supplier ABC.
11. Additional Information Fields	These fields are all alphanumeric text fields. They can be used to type in information about the appointment. None are required fields.
12. Custom Tab	The “Custom” tab contains fields that can be activated and named. You can use these to store more information about your appointment. To make fields visible, go to the Custom tab and click on the “Click” hyperlink. To make a field visible, right-click it and select “customize” from a popup menu. Rename the field and assign appropriate attributes.
13. Status filter	The “Status” box has three choices: “Canceled,” “Received,” or “Outstanding.” “Outstanding” is the default; when you open appointments, “Outstanding” will always display. The status selected here filters the orders you will see in the “Appointment No.” field.
14. Receive button	Starts the receiving process.
15. Supplier	For third party logistics businesses, “Supplier” is a client. Choose the supplier that is shipping the items from the list box that appears in this field. See Section 3.3 for information on compiling and editing the list of suppliers that appear in the field. Please note that in order to assign a supplier to a particular item in Warehouse Appointments, the supplier and the item must already be associated on your Item Master List. See Section 5.1 for information on assigning a supplier to an item.
16 Carrier	The “Carrier” field is a list box shared with shipping. Choose the company that is transporting your stock—in order for a carrier to appear in this list box, it must be entered in your “Carriers” list. See Section 3.5 for information on creating and editing this list.
17. Print or Preview button.	Outputs a document depending on selections below.
18. Preview	Shows a document on screen.
19.Printer	Send a document to the Windows default printer.
20. Document Type	A list of available documents: pick lists, packing slips, etc.
Total Boxes/ Total Pallets/ Total Weight	Enter information about the number of boxes, the number of pallets, and the weight of the expected shipment in these fields.

9.2 Create a new Warehouse Appointment

Create a warehouse appointment as soon as you know the scheduled delivery date for a shipment. Then, when the shipment is actually delivered, you can receive the items into inventory directly from the “Warehouse Appointments” screen while at the same time updating the status of the appointment to “Complete.”

Follow these steps to create a new warehouse appointment.

1. From the main menu bar select “Purchasing,” then select “Warehouse Appointments.”

2. Click the “Add New” button. Click “Yes” to confirm your choice.

3. Depending on your numberings settings, Almyta Control System will either generate a new appointment number or will prompt you to enter a number for the new appointment. See the “Numbers” heading of Section 4.1 for information on numbering schemes in Almyta Control System.

4. Enter information about the scheduled delivery on the “Appointment Header” tab.

5. Click on the “Line Items” tab. This tab collects information about each line item contained in the shipment. If you do not have this information yet, skip to the next step.

§ Item ID: Type the item ID listed on the packing slip.

§ Units: Type in the number of units scheduled to arrive.

§ Packages: Type in the number of packages you will be receiving.

§ Serial: Type in the serial number.

§ Serial 2: Type in the second serial number if applicable.

§ Expiration: Type in the expiration date if applicable.

6. Click on the “Instructions” tab. Use this tab to specify detailed instructions regarding the shipment. This field can help to track abnormal requests.

7. Save your new appointment.

9.3 Receive an Existing Warehouse Appointment

Follow these steps to find and modify an existing warehouse appointment. This function can be especially useful when changes are made to appointments at the last minute.

1. Go to “Warehouse Appointments” and locate your appointment.

2. If you have not yet completed the “Line Items” tab for the appointment, see step 5 above.

3. Verify all information listed with the appointment against the load itself or a packing slip depending upon your procedure.

4. Click on the “Receive” button located at the bottom left side of the screen. Almyta Control System takes you to the general receiving screen with the adjustment code already populated.

5. Information can also be edited on the receiving screen. See Sections 5.12 and 5.14 for more information about this screen.

6. Click the “Receive” button on the bottom of the screen. All items are received and the receiving screen closes.

9.4 Cancel a Warehouse Appointment

Use this function to cancel a warehouse appointment.

1. Go to “Warehouse Appointments” and locate your appointment.

2. Click on the “Cancel” button located to the right of the “Appointment Number” field. A pop up box will appear asking you to confirm your choice. Click “Yes.” The system displays the next outstanding warehouse appointment in chronological order.

9.5 Warehouse Appointments Reports

You can easily print the following reports. Use these reports to manage and optimize your receiving operations. You can plan for days when heavy or light receiving will occur. Additionally, if you diligently create appointments, using these reports will allow you to capture important statistical information. For example, you could track suppliers that are usually late or early and whether or not they are usually over- or undersupplied.

1. Outstanding (Future) Appointments

2. Received Items

3. Overdue Appointments (Missed)

4. Canceled Appointments

5. Today’s Appointments

To print appointment reports directly from the “Warehouse Appointments” screen:

1. From the main menu bar select “Purchasing,” then select “Warehouse Appointments.”

2. On the bottom middle of the screen there is a dropdown box. Select “Report” to print from the box.

3. Make sure the printer button is selected and click the “Print” button to the left of the dropdown box.

See Chapter 14—Reports for more information on the reports available through Almyta Control System.