In this article, we’ll focus on the various receiving strategies within the DATASCOPE software. We’ll walk through the different ways a product can be received into the warehouse, starting with a fairly simple purchase receipt and going into more complex versions of receiving that exist within the DATASCOPE software.
There are 7 receiving strategies we’ll be looking at:
- Standard Purchase Order (PO) Receipts
- PO Receipt All (with Receipt Palletization)
- PO Pre-Receipts
- Scanner-Based PO Receipts
- Landed Cost Tracking (LCT) Shipment Receipts
- Simple Goods in Transit (GIT) Out / In
- Supply Chain Transfer (SCT) to GIT
STANDARD PO RECEIPTS
The standard PO receipting process has several stages: physical receipt, DATASCOPE PO receipt, lot entry, GRN and label printing. To give a background of how this process works, imagine a delivery coming in from a supplier. After taking the product off the delivery truck, you’d take the delivery note, double check it against the product being delivered, then sign for the product. From there, the product gets loaded onto pallets on the floor, manually making note of what products have gone onto which pallets. The delivery note is then taken into the local receipting clerks office for processing, including allocating each pallet and what is on the pallet.
After processing the receipt from within the DATASCOPE software, we would automatically process the Goods Receipt Note (GRN) and print out each individual TrackID — a unique label for each pallet. Once the labels are on the pallet, the forklift will pick them up and take them into the warehouse. Note: the GRN happens after packing out the product on the floor, and the put- away can only happen once the GRN is completed and labels have been put on each pallet.
PO RECEIPT ALL WITH RECEIPT PALLETIZATION
Slightly different from the standard PO receipt is the PO Receipt All. The scenario is the same as the standard PO receipt: the truck arrives with the product and delivery note, you check the note and sign off. However, now, when taking the delivery note into the receipting clerks office, you would get a receipt of those quantities upfront all at once. Receipt All will take those quantities and receive them straight out, giving the GRN and one TrackID — a single, master tracking ID — rather than individual TrackIDs for each pallet. This master TrackID is a full document with a list of all products that have been received and a number barcoded at the top, instead of a label. You would then go to the scanner and print a number of new, blank tracking IDs and, using a function called Receipt Palletization, scan the product onto the pallet one by one.
The main benefit of giving each pallet a unique ID is that if you have a large receipt, as you build up the pallets, immediately the first pallet is ready to be taken by the forklift into the warehouse and put away. There’s no need to wait to process the entire receipt because SYSPRO has the inventory and the GRN available already. This method also helps with clearing space on the warehouse floor, especially if your space is limited.
PO PRE-RECEIPTS
The PO pre-receipt is a complete blind receipt. In this method, the delivery truck arrives, you take the delivery note, double check the product and bring it to the floor. But now, the pallet is built before doing anything else. After printing the pallet labels, scanning them and building up the pallets, the software can view what’s been received. It will check that what was delivered matches the purchase orders you have on file, show you where any issues are (if any), then process the receipt.
It’s possible for the truck to arrive with a product from multiple purchase orders, so the software will compare what you have to what is in SYSPRO and then process the GRNs. The entire receipt must be completed before putting the product away. One caveat for this method is, during the build-up of the pallets, you need to know the PO number. Normally, the delivery note and PO numbers will be barcodes given by the supplier, making it easier for you to scan. As you pack the product out, you’ll need to reference the original PO number barcode.
SCANNER-BASED PO RECEIPTS
Scanner-based PO receipts are used very effectively in situations where a few high-volume suppliers are consistently delivering products to you. You would ask the supplier to label the products with unique TrackIDs or LPNs and print it onto their barcode. That way, when the product finally gets delivered, there is no need to put your own TrackID on it. Ultimately, this makes the receipting process extremely simple.
This functionality is also useful in situations where you’re getting large deliveries on a regular (hourly) basis throughout the day. The operator can easily scan the TrackIDs and process the receipts immediately from the truck. (Our system will validate that the unique TrackIDs don’t exist already.) The important part of this is that when the supplier labels the product, we also ask them to have the PO number and the delivery number barcoded on the delivery notes so it’s easier to scan. Ideally, the PO number would be on the label of the physical product itself. Note: this can only work with suppliers you can trust to get the labeling right on the inbound side.
Switching between these different PO receiving methods — standard PO receipt, PO receipt all, PO pre-receipt, scanner-based PO receipt — doesn’t require a huge configuration change within the software. You have the ability to pick and choose different methods based on the different suppliers or stock codes you’re receiving.
LCT RECEIPTS
The LCT receipt module in SYSPRO is built for customers who are importing a large amount of product in containers. Essentially, the module will build up the shipment information upfront so you know the shipment reference number and what products are in that shipment. After the delivery truck drops off the container, there are 3 main strategies for receiving the pallets, but the packing list import option is the most commonly used. However, this receiving strategy is only applicable if your supplier palletizes the product inside the container.
For example, if the containers are coming from China, and the product is palletized in China, the supplier can send you a packing list upfront telling you what’s in the shipment, what’s on each pallet, etc. That packing list can be directly imported into the receiving screen of the DATASCOPE software, which does all of the allocation work to track the product IDs for you. You then process a full receipt of that LCT, print the barcode and TrackIDs for all pallets, and do put-away.
Normally, on these types of pallets and shipments, the put-away process can be very long when you’re destuffing containers of product. The primary benefit of the LCT receipt is that, by getting the shipment upfront, you’re able to build the shipment in SYSPRO and get the packing list before the container arrives. When it does arrive, you can import the packing list, get the receipt and print all the labels. As the product comes out of the container, you can match the TrackID to the pallet and put it away immediately. It’s a much faster and more efficient way of processing the receipt.
Getting the packing list beforehand involves going to your suppliers and asking for an advanced shipping notice (ASN) file. Every time they ship to you, they would generate an ASN file to be picked up by an EDI messaging service and later dropped off on your side. When the shipment arrives, you’ll be able to import the file in SYSPRO, pre-populate the receipt and then process it. This is a good step towards automating the EDI connectivity between your supplier and your DATASCOPE receiving department.
There are a couple of alternative processes for LCT that function exactly the same as the PO side. We allow you to process an LCT receipt the same way as a standard PO receipt while keeping the functionality consistent: what you can do in the PO receipt screen you can also do on the LCT screen, just using slightly different methods.
GIT SOLUTIONS
GIT OUT / IN
On the GIT side, there are 2 different strategies: simple GIT out/in and SCT to GIT. The simple GIT out/in method is typically used in situations where the factory and the warehouse or distribution center are in different locations. In this case, you can scan each pallet onto the delivery truck, drive the truck to the distribution center and scan each pallet off the truck there. The dynamics of the pallet don’t change. As each pallet is received, it gets a label and is moved from point A to point B with a GIT out/in, with all of the proper documentation. This strategy allows you to scan multiple pallets onto a truck, get the documentation, then take them to the distribution center where they’ll be scanned and unloaded there.
SCT TO GIT
The more complex GIT solution is very different. Here, the distribution center picks orders for a sub-distribution center. For example, imagine you have a large distribution center that fulfills orders into your branches, and a smaller distribution center or retail shop in the field. The smaller distribution center places orders regularly on a daily or weekly basis with the main distribution center. Those orders would go into SYSPRO as a normal sales order process, but it would get flagged as an SCT order and then the full picking process is followed.
Because it’s a sales order marked as an SCT, it drops down into a proper picking slip and enters the normal picking and checkout processes. Upon completion of the checkout, a GIT out is processed, completing the SCT and creating a GIT in SYSPRO. You get a GIT document that goes on the truck and is taken to the distribution center. Back at the distribution center, we already know the pallet configurations because of the picking process beforehand, which means on the receipt side, at the sub-distribution center or retail store, you can easily scan the GIT document and then scan each pallet and put it away into the stock right away. It’s a very quick and easy process.
GS1 BARCODES
Use of GS1 barcodes is becoming increasingly common. The nature of a GS1 is such that it’s a single barcode but has multiple data elements inside of it. The barcode could contain, for instance, the supplier’s SKU number, lot number and quantity. Traditionally, this was difficult to deal with in the Windows-based scanning version of the software. Now, however, the new HTML5 screens can be easily scripted by copying the PO pre-receipt to create a custom version, and then the design kit can add some logic to it telling you which part of the supplier’s barcode is stock code, lot number, quantity, etc. The fields get pre-populated and take you straight to the post button.
You can watch the full webinar here where you’ll be able to see demonstrations of each of these receiving strategies within the DATASCOPE software. If you find the webinar useful, please share the link. If you have any questions about the different receiving processes, don’t hesitate to reach out!