With EncomPos Retail, you have the ability to import an electronic version of each suppliers catalog into the software to use as a reference when ordering. If you have suppliers that offer the same products, they can be set up on the Supplier Form View to be cross referenced when placing an order.

Open the Suppliers section in the tree view and go to the List View. From there double click the supplier to see the Form View specifics for each vendor. Next to the Supplier number, there is a check box option to set each supplier as a Cross Supplier. Do not set this feature if the supplier has a unique line of products - the more suppliers set, the longer it takes to refresh the order data across those suppliers.

When a purchase order is started for a Cross Supplier, there will now be a new checkbox option when writing a PO by Building An Order Based on Product Replenishment Settings, as opposed to manually writing a purchase order. If checked, the new option will Refresh Cross Order Supplier Ordering Needs prior to building the order. So all suppliers set as Cross Suppliers will have their order data refreshed, providing you with reordering needs for all items that can be ordered from the supplier you are currently ordering from.

Cross Supplier ordering can be done through the manual purchase order process as well, but the order data will not be run at the moment of creation for any suppliers with this method. In the Ordering With Suggested Order Data help topic, we covered how order data is generated twice daily, just before and just after midnight. These numbers are part of the Perpetual Product Analysis that tracks inventory movement on a daily basis.

If you are starting an order at the beginning of the day, then there should be no need for order data to be refreshed. But if you are building an order after sales have occurred, it is recommended that the order data be rerun, either for the specific supplier you are writing an order for, or the entire store. If the supplier is set as a Cross Supplier you should run the analysis for the entire store prior to starting the manual order.

Once an order has been started, use the right mouse button in the Purchase Order Details window or click the Task dropdown to pull up the Task menu. In this list is an option to Add Products Normally Ordered From Other Suppliers. Clicking this will bring up a list of products that have suggested order data for suppliers other than who you are currently ordering from. These items exist in the current suppliers catalog and therefore can be added onto the order, taking on the order settings and cost from that catalog.

If you are running the Cross Ordering option and no products are showing on the order, re-run the order analysis either located in the Suggested Order Analysis to refresh All inventory products, or in the Supplier List View for a specific supplier(s) - (see the Ordering With Suggested Order Data help topic for details on how to run each process). Then go back to the existing order and access the task to Add Products Normally Ordered From Other Suppliers.