Generic item codes

In a number of industries or environments there are situations where one-off item codes are required (i.e. a part is needed for a job and the same item will probably never be used again).

Creating an item code inside SAP Business One for each of these items results in the item master becoming full of unnecessary items.

Due to the nature of actual costing used by Eralis Job, you are able to use generic or miscellaneous item codes rather than create a separate item code for each item.

Scenario:

For a particular job a company requires two parts which they have not used before and are not likely to ever user again.

Inside SAP Business One, the user creates an item code Misc, which is set to be an inventory item which is costed using average costs. (Per standard Eralis Job system configuration requirements, SAP Business One must be configured to calculate costs per warehouse for this approach to work.)

On the Quote tab of the job, the user enters the item code Misc twice and changes the description on each line to reflect the part that is required. On each line the user can set the vendor they will be purchasing the item from along with a cost for the item (this would have to be obtained directly from the supplier).

The user can then use the Stock Check function to generate purchase orders to those suppliers for the costs set on each of the lines on the quote. To be clear, if the items were being purchased from the same supplier, the purchase order would have two lines on it with the same item code but using the description and cost for each line taken directly from the Quote tab.

If the items were being purchased from separate suppliers, then each purchase order would have a line using the Misc item code, and the description and cost for the specific line taken from the Quote tab.

When the purchase order is copied through to a GRPO or to an A/P invoice, each of those lines will create a line on the job at the cost specified in the GRPO / A/P invoice (which would have originally been the cost price defined on the Quote tab of the job). This will result in the job having job lines with the same item code, but different descriptions and unit costs.

When the lines are then invoiced out, Eralis Job will process the standard adjusting journal entry to the SAP Business One A/R invoice journal, to alter the COGS value that is posted to reflect the cost value of the lines on the job.

This has effectively allowed the user to set the cost price on the Quote tab of the job, and have the cost flow through to the purchasing documents and finally though to the A/R invoice COGS value.

In the above scenario, we have used the Stock Check process to create the A/P document; however, the A/P document can also be created manually and linked back to a job. Once again, on the A/P document you can specify the same Misc item code multiple times, each line having a different description and unit cost, and each A/P line will create a line on the job with the specific description and unit cost.