Distributors typically have rules regarding branches from which the customers can order products. For example, your customers who live in Florida may be allowed to order products only from branches within the southeastern region of the United States. If none of the branches in that area carry a requested product in stock, the standard procedure is to transfer products from a branch in another region to your branch.
Virtual Supplier is a companion product that you can use to create sales orders in your branch that appear as if they were ordered from another branch, thus bypassing the rules and avoiding the transfer process. Payments made on products ordered from another branch are credited to that branch's account.
Virtual Supplier includes two methods for obtaining product from another branch:
Sourcing - Use this method to process orders through another branch.
Routing - Use this method to create a direct order to an outside vendor. The vendor ships the items directly to the customer and then sends you the invoice.
You can automate the process of sourcing and routing orders through Sales Order Entry, or by using the New Direct Order activity trigger for customers ordering remotely. For more information see Sourcing Product Sales to Other Branches and Routing Direct Sales to Vendors.
Your method of sourcing or routing sales orders may be unique to your company. The following scenarios are provided to show how the process might be performed:
Your company has no physical branches and does not carry inventory. You can use Virtual Supplier to route customer orders to vendors. The vendor ships the order directly to the customer, and Virtual Supplier makes a direct generation for each vendor that supplies goods.
Your company has a physical branch that supplies product for each product line that they carry, for example, electrical and plumbing. You can use Virtual Supplier to source each product on an order to the proper branch, and Virtual Supplier makes a generation for each branch supplying goods for the order.
Your company has several functional groups within one physical branch, and each functional group is responsible for sourcing product. You define a branch for each functional group and use Virtual Supplier to route each product to the proper functional group branch. Virtual Supplier makes functional group generations for each branch that supplies goods.
See Also:
Setup Requirements for Virtual Supplier