EncomPos Retail is designed to utilize reorder settings for each item in inventory along with sales data to generate suggested order data. There are several key fields that must be set on the product for it to become part of the reorder cycle. In the Inventory Form View, the fields to address are the following:

1. The supplier must be assigned to the product in inventory
2. The Reorder By field can be set to either Use Min/Max or Replace Quantity Sold
3. If Min/Max is the reorder method, then the Min/Max fields must also be set

If your supplier utilizes Minimum Order Quantities, Multiples Of or Pack Quantities, those values will be used in calculating the reorder quantity. Try to keep the required ordering parameters in mind when setting Min and Max numbers - if the Max is less than the Pack Qty it will still order the number of products in the pack, but the Max has no real value in that scenario.

Once your products have those specifics defined, they will then go into the reorder analysis. Order data is generated twice daily automatically, just before and just after midnight. It can also be forced any time of day for a specific supplier or for all suppliers. For some stores, the process of refreshing the entire inventory may take several minutes, but for most, expect it to run for up to one minute. When the order data should be refreshed will depend on the time of day the order is being made.

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 prior to beginning the order to get the most up to date numbers. The following methods can be used to run the suggested order data:

Using the PO to generate suggested order data: This is the easiest method of refreshing a single suppliers ordering needs or if the supplier is set up as a Cross Supplier, it will refresh all Cross Suppliers, including that which you are writing the order for. Begin a new PO by clicking the first icon in the Purchase Orders toolbar. In the PO wizard, there is a filter to see only suppliers that have reorder data or all suppliers. Use the list to select the supplier and click the Next button to continue.

There are two options to select from when creating a purchase order, either to Build An Order Based on Product Replenishment Settings, or to Manually Write an Order. Manually writing an order will start a blank order with no suggested order data. You cannot begin a manual order and then run the order analysis tool and have the products come onto the order. In that case, delete the first order and create a new one, selecting to use the replenishment settings just generated.

When a purchase order is started for a Cross Supplier, there is a 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. See the help topic on Cross Supplier Ordering for more information.

With the option to build the order using the replenishment data, click the Finish button and the order will be created and all products needing re-ordering will be listed in the Purchase Order Details window.