Creating Buy Lines

Buy lines are groups of products that you purchase together to meet the vendor target. Generally, buy lines are created for specific vendors. For example, you may purchase all your drill bits and accessories from the same vendor. You can create a buy line containing all those products and increase the time to meet a vendor target. See How the Minimum Order Cycle Works for a full explanation of expanding and contracting to meet vendor targets.

The fields in the Calculated Values section remain blank until the buy line has been used at least once. The system extracts the calculated values from the purchasing history after the buy line has been included in a purchase order.

To create a new buy line:

  1. On the Purch > Maintenance menu, select Buy Line Maintenance to display the Buy Line Maintenance screen.

  2. In the Buy Line ID field, type New. A prompt displays.

  3. Enter a unique name and press Enter.  Buy line IDs cannot contain the following characters:

Note: Buy line and a super buy line IDs must be different.

  1. In the Description field, enter a brief description.  

This description is printed on reports and used in searches. The system limits the description to 30 characters.

  1. In the Procure Group field, select a procurement group to assigns the buy line to a specific procurement group. This field is optional.

  2. In the Br/Terr field, enter the branch or territory to which the buy line is associated.  

  3. In the Buyer field, select a purchasing agent to assign to the buy line. This field is optional.   

Note: Assign buyers to buy lines if you want to select and sort the Suggested P/O queue by buyer.

  1. In the Target field, enter the vendor target using the following options:

Target

Description

Dollar Amount

Currency in dollar amount. Defaults to US Dollars. To use the system default cost basis and currency, as defined in Control Maintenance, leave the fields blank.  The Target Base screen prompts for the Global Basis Field and Currency to use for creating a Suggested P/O.

To change the default press F10 and make a selection.

Weight

Target in pounds, such as 675 lbs.

Pieces

Whole number of items, such as 300 each.

Load Factor

Target in cubic feet, such as 100 ft.

Days Supply

Number of days. By setting the target unit to Days Supply, you can create a Suggested P/O that considers a specific period of time.

This entry overrides the line buy minimum order cycle value established for the buy line. For more information, see How the Minimum Order Cycle Works.

Note: The Ln Buy Cycle field is the order cycle calculated in the Suggested P/O program.  It is a display only field.  

  1. Change the following field defaults as needed:

Field

Name

Description/Default

Dflt LdTm

Default lead time

The number of days required to process a purchase order and receive product.

The default is 7.

Ovrd LdTm

Override lead time

Use in place of  the calculated lead time. This option provides the flexibility to change the lead time for a product when it is taking longer than normal to procure.

The default is 0.

Xfer Grace

Transfer excess grace days

The number of days that a branch keeps stock before it is considered surplus and transferred to the parent branch.

The default is 999.

Min Cycle

Minimum order cycle

The minimum days supply to use when calculating order quantities.

The default is 14.

Dflt LFctr

Default lead factor

The number of most recent purchase orders the system uses to calculate the median lead time.

The default is 0.

Min Sample

Minimum days sample

The minimum number of purchase orders the system uses to calculate the median lead time.

If the minimum number of purchase orders does not exist, the system uses the lead time set in the control maintenance record Default Lead Time Days If Product & Buy Line Have None.

The default is 0.

  1. In the Suggest On All field, type one of the following:

  2. Yes – The buy line is included when the Suggest PO program runs. Use Yes for fast moving items or products you want to monitor closely and always have appear on the suggested PO.  

  3. No – Then the buy line is excluded when the Suggest PO program runs. Setting this to N is useful when you have created a test buy line and do not want the products included for purchasing.

  1. Press Esc to save your buy line and return to a blank Buy Line Maintenance Screen.

Deleting a Buy Line

You can delete a buy line if it is no longer needed.

  To delete a buy line:

  1. On the Purch > Maintenance menu, select Buy Line Maintenance to display the Buy Line Maintenance screen.

  2. In the Buy Line ID field, enter the name of the buy line you want to delete and press Enter.

  3. Use the Delete hot key. Confirm the deletion at the prompt.

  4. At the prompt, type delete and press Enter.

  5. Press Esc to return to a blank Buy Line Maintenance screen.

  6. Press Esc to return to the main menu.

Searching in a Buy Line

If you have many buy lines and the list extends past the viewable screen, you can search for the branch in a buy line you need.

To find a branch in a buy line:

  1. On the Purch > Maintenance menu, select Buy Line Maintenance to display the Buy Line Maintenance screen.

  2. In the Buy Line ID field, enter the name of the buy line you want to search and press Enter.

  3. Use the Find hot key to display the selection screen.

  4. Enter the branch or territory number you want to find and press Enter.

The buy line information sorts and the cursor moves to the top of the information found.

  1. Press Esc to return to a blank Buy Line Maintenance screen.

  2. Press Esc to return to the main menu.

See Also:

Buy Lines Overview

Buy Line Maintenance

Identifying Vendors for Resupplying Buy Lines

Calculated Buy Line Values