In this post, I’ll describe how to create replenishment rules and how to use them with cross docking and buyer push orders. I’ll also talk about two other distribution methods available for creating buyer push and cross docking transfer orders.
Restocking rules
Let’s talk about the restocking rules first. These rules are used to define distribution to different retail channels when buyer push or cross docking orders are created (we will discuss these orders later in this post).
To create a replenishment rule, you must first create a replenishment hierarchy (organizational hierarchies type) or a retail store (this is the only type of retail channel supported; online stores cannot be used with replenishment rules). The replenishment hierarchy is created by going to Organization Administration-> Settings-> Organization-> Organization Hierarchies. Be sure to assign the purpose as Retail Replenishment. Retail sores are created here: Retail-> Common-> Retail Channels-> Retail Stores.
When adding a channel to a rule, the default weight is taken from the Weight field of the Warehouses form (Retail tab).
The default percentage is calculated based on all channels and hierarchies included in a replenishment rule.
If you include the replenishment hierarchy, the default weight is calculated as a sum of all the weights of the retail stores that belong to the selected hierarchy. For example, the following hierarchy includes 2 stores with Weight 15 and 25 respectively.
Therefore, the default hierarchy weight is 40.
The full purpose of the replenishment rules is the ability to modify the default weights. Simply enter a new weight for a store or hierarchy and the new percentage will be calculated.
Now the big question: how is this weight value used? The value is used to determine the quantity of product distributed to each store during the creation of transfer orders with direct or cross-shipment from the buyer. This is quite useful when a retail organization has a large number of stores and a large purchase order must be distributed to each store based on size, season, or other factor. That’s where weight comes in.
Note: If you create a rule that only has replenishment hierarchies, the quantity distributed to each store in the hierarchies is calculated based on the default weight for each store marked as Store.
Now let’s talk about how to use the replenishment rules to create multiple transfer orders that will distribute products to multiple stores.
Cross docking
Cross dock orders can be created from the purchase order form (Retail tab).
Or from the Retail module itself (Retail-> Common-> Replenishment-> Cross docking). The advantage of using the purchase order form is that all products in the selected purchase order are automatically included (don’t worry, you can exclude any purchase order lines or even limit the quantity that will be distributed).
Let’s examine PO with a line (quantity 100):
The way of cross docking will look like this.
First we will specify the amount of line that we want to distribute to the stores. Simply select the line and enter the quantity in the Quantity to distribute field (Lines tab).
I decided to distribute a quantity of 30 out of 100 from the single PO line.
Next, on the Location tab, I’ll select Replenishment Rule and click the Calculate button. The rule is used to calculate the quantities for each store.
Note: You may receive an error stating that the replenishment rule is not specified for a product or product category. You can work around this problem by selecting Product Category Retail (Retail module) and selecting an existing rule for a main product category.
Lastly, I will click the Create Order button to create 2 transfer orders for specific quantities.
Note: The original PO line must have a different warehouse than the one you are trying to distribute. For example, the rule includes 2 stores (201 and 202) that are linked to stores STD and KW-STD 202 respectively. My PO line must have a different receiving warehouse. This will allow the rule to create 2 TO: one for each warehouse in the store from the receiving warehouse.
Click Yes to the message.
And here you go: two transfer orders are created.
Once you have done this and close the information message, you can view each order by selecting store on the Location tab and clicking the Oder button. This will open the Transfer Orders form.
The replenishment rule is just one of three methods that you can use to distribute products and create transfer orders. The other two are: location weight and fixed amount for all.
The bin weight method will allow you to select the existing replenishment hierarchy. Transfer orders will be created for each store that belongs to the hierarchy based on the default weights for each store in the store.
The fixed quantity for all methods will evenly distribute the cross dock quantity among all stores in the selected hierarchy.
Alternatively, you can specify a store in the Location field and the entire quantity will go to that store. This will produce the same result as creating transfer orders manually from the warehouse on the PO line to the warehouse that is linked to a store. Kind of defeats the purpose of using cross docking in the first place.
Note: After each distribution method modification, you will need to click the Calculate button to see the changes.
Buyer push
Buyer push works much like cross docking, except that it distributes existing on-hand inventory to stores. You can open the form by going Retailer-> Common-> Replenishment-> Buyer Push.
The difference is that you have to select the products you want to distribute by clicking the Add button (adding products one by one) or the Add Product button (adding multiple products at the same time).
Once the products are selected, the process is identical to that used to create cross dock transfer orders.
That is all for now. In the next post, I’ll talk about why and how to calculate and post retail statements, as well as various issues you may see when doing this.
