Creating Branch Records

Create a record in Branch Maintenance for each branch at your company, and assign parameters that associate the branch with system events and procedures. Associate branches with a customer record, so you can track branch activities and you can use the branch for transfer orders. Also, assign a home branch to users, customers, and vendors for pricing, accounting, reporting, and tracking purpose. For more information about setting up a branch for company use, see Setup Requirements for Company Branches.

Branch Maintenance is not the only place in the system where you enter branch-related parameters. The system has at least 15 screens where you set branch-related parameters, such as Product Price Maintenance, Buy Line Maintenance, and Procurement Group Maintenance. You can identify screens throughout the system that have branch-specific parameters by the Hierarchy hot key.

To create a branch record:

From the Files > Branch menu, select Branch to display the Branch Maintenance screen.
Complete the following fields, as needed:

Field	Description
Branch ID/New	Do one of the following: Enter the code, up to four characters, used to identify the branch. Press F10 and select a branch ID. Enter New. At the prompt, enter the up to four-character code that identifies the branch.
Short Desc	Enter the name of the branch, using up to 10 alphanumeric characters.
Long Desc	Enter a detailed description of the branch, up to 35 alphanumeric characters.
Br Entity	Enter one of the following to map the branch to the branch's customer record: All or part of the branch name, as it displays in customer maintenance. The last four digits of the branch phone number. The branch record ID preceded by a period (.). The Entity ID field displays the branch's customer ID. If you have not created a customer record for this branch, use the Edit Ents hot key to create a record. For more information, see the hot key table, below. Note: For each branch customer record, set up Customer/Group/All sell matrix cells so that no gross profit percentage is calculated on transfer orders.
Remit To	Enter one of the following to indicate the branch that receives payments for this branch's transactions: Part of the branch's name. The last four digits of the branch phone number. The record ID preceded by a period. The Remit To ID field displays the selected branch's customer ID.
P/O Bill-To	Enter an alternate bill-to entity to display on purchase orders. The P/O Bill-To ID field displays the bill-to entity ID entered in the P/O Bill-To field. Note: The P/O Bill-To and P/O Bill-To ID fields display only if the Allow Alternate Branch Bill-To Address control maintenance record is set to Yes.
Default Price Class	Enter the branch's default price class. If you assign a default price class in Customer Maintenance, the customer's setting overrides this setting.
Stocking Branch	If this branch handles product, enter Y; otherwise, enter N. In addition to performing money related tasks, users at a stocking branch can perform tasks such as, entering orders, adjustments, pricing, and edit product parameters. To limit the products displayed to those with on-hand quantities or on transactions at the stocking/shipping branch, activate the Display Active Primary Index Products First In Product Search control maintenance record. This setting can increase system performance when searching for products. Note: If you change the stocking branch status, you must run the Delete Branch Cache Files utility. Run the utility after hours to avoid slowing the system during business hours.
Branch Manager	Enter the name of the manager of this branch. To display a list of users that match your entry enter part of the manager's name and press Enter.
Cost Center	Enter this branch's primary function, such as Distribution, or Showroom. Cost center types are defined in the Valid Cost Center Types control maintenance record.

Press Esc to save the information and clear the screen for the next entry.
Use the following hot keys, as needed.

Hot key	Description
CC Proc	Set up credit card processors to be used by the branch.
Edit Ents	Use this hot key to do one of the following: Edit the customer record associated with this branch. Create the customer record for this branch. Select one of the following: Branch Entity – Displays the customer record associated with the branch. Remit-To – Displays the branch's remit-to branch, if one exists, otherwise the branch's customer record displays. Note: For each branch customer record, set up Customer/Group/All sell matrix cells so that no gross profit percentage is calculated on transfer orders.
Del Br	Delete the branch. The system prompts to confirm the deletion.
Inv Inq Brs	Display the Inventory Inquiry Brs screen, where you enter all of the branches to associate with this branch. When the displayed branch is your home branch, you can view information for these branches in Inventory Inquiry. For example, your home branch is Denver, but you need to view all Colorado branches in Inventory Inquiry. When the Denver branch is displayed on the Branch Maintenance screen, use this option to list all of the Colorado Branches. Then when you display inventory in Inventory Inquiry, the system looks to your home branch, and displays only information for that branch and its associated branches.
ShipVia	Assign the branch's default method of transporting product.
Check Verification	Set up a check processor for the branch.
Matrix	Set up a pricing hierarchy for your branches. Use this if your company uses branch-specific matrix cells for pricing.